“Thriving Writers” – Emily Duvall

Emily introduced us to teaching our students about test writing. This is a very important topic because of the high-stakes tests that students are currently being responsible for passing and teachers are responsible for preparing them for. Emily taught us that teaching students the language they will encounter on tests is an important piece for preparing them to be successful on the test. This instruction doesn’t have to be boring, as Emily demonstrated when she had us all think of an invention and then do an activity related to it as a group. Teaching kids the different styles and genres of writing can be as important as teaching them how to write. They need to practice writing in a variety of different modes in able to be ready for the test questions that will be asked. There are no writing components that are tested at the Kindergarten level, but setting up the foundation for test-writing is important at every level.