Resources for Improving K-12 Writing Instruction

Since it began in 2001, the Northwest Regional Professional Development Program has maintained a productive partnership with the Northern Nevada Writing Project.

Each year, the NWRPDP and the NNWP co-sponsor professional development opportunities that help Nevada educators incorporate better writing instruction in their classrooms.

We invite you to explore the resources we've created as a result of this partnership:

PD Focus: The Writing Traits and Preparing for the State Writing Examination

• Practice Prompt resources for fifth graders preparing for the state writing test
  • WritingFix's Resource Page for the Nevada Writing Examination a webpage full of ideas and resource links for the Nevada Writing examination
  • Practice Test Form designed to look like the form fifth graders actually write their final drafts on
  • Practice Prompt #1 we suggest assigning this practice prompt in September or October
  • Annotated Samples for Practice Prompt #1 provided so that teachers can assess their own student samples for prompt #1 with a fair degree of accuracy
  • Practice Prompt #2 we suggest assigning this practice prompt in October or November
  • Annotated Samples for Practice Prompt #2 provided so that teachers can assess their own student samples for prompt #2 with a fair degree of accuracy
  • Practice Prompt #3 we suggest assigning this practice prompt in November or December
  • Annotated Samples for Practice Prompt #3 provided so that teachers can assess their own student samples for prompt #1 with a fair degree of accuracy
  • Idea Development Analytic Rubric
  • Organization Analytic Rubric
  • Voice Analytic Rubric
  • Conventions Analytic Rubric

PD Focus: Writing Across the Curriculum

• On-line Resources to Encourage Writing in all Curriculum Areas
  • WritingFix's Writing Across the Curriculum Resource Page resources from the NNWP's 2005 WAC Guide, which is used in the NWRPDP's Writing Across the Curriculum Trainings
  • WritingFix's Summarizing (instead of plagiarizing) Resource Page resources to help students report learned facts in their own words
  • HistoryFix WAC resources specifically for history and social studies classrooms
  • NumberFix WAC resources specifically for math classrooms
  • ScienceFix WAC resources specifically for science classrooms

PD Focus: Constructed Response

• On-line Resources to Help Teachers Use Constructed Responses as a Classroom Tool
  • WritingFix's Constructed Response Resource Page resources from our Constructed Response Summits, co-sponsored by the NWRPDP and NNWP between 2007 and 2009.
  • WritingFix's Exit Tickets Resource Page resources from our trainings on Exit Tickets as a Formative Assessment Technique