Well-Chosen Words: Narrative Assessments and Report Card Comments

"I would rather dance stark naked in the teacher's room than write."

This declaration from a teacher captures the challenge and insecurity many educators face when they write about students' performance. Describing what and how individual students are learning is every teacher's job, but there are very few resources available to help with this essential task.

Well-Chosen Words gives you the best strategies and techniques teachers use to write narrative assessments and report card comments. If you spend long nights before report cards are due struggling with the comment section, this is the book you have been waiting for. And if you've moved from writing report card comments to crafting detailed narratives of student learning, this book will help you improve the quality of your narrative writing.

Using dozens of examples from master teachers, Brenda and Kelly show you how to

• write narrative assessments when you have many students;
• write strong leads;
• compile and use classroom anecdotes in assessments;
• choose the right format for reporting information;
• save and budget your time;
• build home-school connections through written assessments;
• include livelier language and examples in evaluations;
• write assessments as a teaching team.

With Well-Chosen Words in hand, you'll never again face assessments in a panic.