Writing Prompt #1



Writing Prompt #1

It is three weeks into your first year of teaching. You have just received your 5th grade students’ standardized test scores from the previous school year. You realize that most of your students are at least 2 years behind grade level. You know that they will need extra help to be successful and make adequate progress during the school year.

You approach your principal to ask permission to run a Saturday tutoring and test preparation program for the students in your classroom. She gives her permission, but tells you that the program cannot be mandatory and that you will need permission from the children’s guardians. She points out there is no money available to offset any costs and you cannot use school buses to transport the children. As parental involvement at the school has been low, she also mentions that guardians may be unable or unwilling to transport their children to and from school on Saturday.

Write a permission letter to your students’ guardians that informs them of specific details of the program and its importance.

Writing Prompt #2

You have been placed in a school with test scores that are among the lowest in the district. Initially, you were told that you would be teaching second grade; however, you learned the week before school began that you had been moved and were assigned to teach the sixth grade.

Your first weeks in the classroom have proven to be extremely challenging. You have yet to complete an entire lesson plan in the time allotted, and 70% of your students failed your first math quiz. Less than half of the students are handing in any homework. Your initial efforts at establishing a classroom behavior management system have failed, and your assistant principal has needed to stop by several times to help you regain control of your class.

You planned to address many of these issues with parents at ‘Back to School Night,’ but only five of the thirty families in your class were represented.

Share your goals for the coming weeks. Be sure to provide clear, concrete strategies for each.

Writing Prompt #3

It is the week before students report for the first day of school. During a teacher professional development day at your school, you are called into an “emergency” staff meeting by your principal. The principals tells the group of teachers that she has just received a memo from the district’s central office informing her that, due to the low test scores at your school the previous year, you are mandated to adopt the high standards curriculum currently used by Monroe Middle School. This mandate is effective immediately. Monroe is a top-performing school in a high-income neighborhood in your district.

Share your thoughts or opinions on adopting this high-standards curriculum. Then, brainstorm and explain 3 ideas on how the school should prepare to use the curriculum in the remaining days before school opens as well as throughout the year.

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