ABSTRACT

Teaching students to write constructed responses does not have to become a test-prep chore. An intentional routine of constructed responses provides powerful opportunities to teach strategic thinking through writing that also deepens students’ knowledge about core subjects. In this clear guide from education consultant Warren Combs, you’ll learn how and why to teach students to write these short essays, no matter what subject or grade level you teach.

Special features:

  • Writing prompts that are based on Webb’s Depth of Knowledge (DOK) and provide practice for students at all skill levels
  • Practical strategies to build critical thinking and improve students’ writing, including sentence stems, acrostics, framed stories, analogies, and quad clusters
  • Student self-assessment guidelines and rigorous peer-response strategies
  • An interactive log to help you manage best practices and keep students engaged
  • Reading-Writing Modules to help you review and implement the instructional practices and strategies
  • Sample student work, at different levels, with analysis

Throughout the book, you’ll find handy tools such as rubrics, logs, and checklists. These tools are also available as free eResources on our website, www.routledge.com/9781138931046, so you can download and print them for immediate use.

part |38 pages

The Rush to Constructed Responses

part |116 pages

Critical-Thinking Strategies That Fine-Tune Constructed Responses for Emerging and Independent Writers

chapter |16 pages

Something on the Page That Helps You Remember What You Were Thinking

(Letters, Words, Phrases, Numbers, Symbols, or Drawings)

chapter |16 pages

Sharpening Understanding of Closely Related Words

(Phrases, Numbers, Symbols, or Formulas)

chapter |17 pages

Arriving in a World of Analogies

(Words, Equations, Phrases, Ideas, Events, Numbers, Symbols, or Formulas)

chapter |9 pages

From General to Specific

(Telling to Showing)

chapter |18 pages

Analyzing for Meaning

chapter |14 pages

Prepping for Arguments

part |30 pages

An Ultimate Learning Routine

chapter |22 pages

Putting It All Together

chapter |8 pages

Launching a Parting Shot