In 1983, English Professor Peter Biedler said, "We've got to get our students to the point where they stop asking, 'Will this be on the test?' and start asking, 'Will this be like falling in love?'"

When I was first learning how to teach in the early 1980s, I wrote that quote on an index card and put it next to my state-of-the-art Selectric typewriter. I thought there was too much testing in the schools I was visiting, and I wanted to remind myself daily of what was most important in setting up an evaluation system in my own classroom someday. Seems quaint, doesn't it?

Through the years, I stubbornly kept that quote next to my first word processor, my first desktop computer, my first laptop. Today there is more testing than ever larded into the school year, but the quote still resonates for me. When the whole world says otherwise, we have to remind ourselves - through the observations we make, the stories we share with parents and colleagues, the records we choose to keep with students - that success in literacy really isn't all about acing the test. Finding a new favorite author, speaking out for the first time in a class discussion, taking a risk by trying a new genre in writing...these are the events that matter most to those of us who love literacy, and want to inspire that passion in others. And somehow, we've got to find ways to include those moments in the evaluations we share with parents and students.

This week's Big Fresh is the first of a two-part series on personalizing literacy evaluation in classrooms, in preparation for report card season. It's a big topic, so we'll carry on with it next week with more sample forms, surveys, workshop suggestions, and stories from classrooms. Enjoy!

Brenda Power
Editor, Choice Literacy
www.choiceliteracy.com

***Free for All***

Looking for some easy, stress-free ways to improve your written assessments or report card comments? "Starting Points" has six tips and suggestions for ways to ease into more thoughtful evaluative writing:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/176.cfm

"Tracking Writing" by Andie Cunningham and Ruth Shagoury presents a detailed description of the forms used by teachers and parent volunteers to track young writers' development in the midst of busy daily workshops:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/130.cfm

I'll admit it - I despise standardized tests. The "twitch test" from Scholastic brought me up short - it's a provocative read for thinking through how our aversion to standardized tests can have unexpected consequences for students:

http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=4017

***For Members Only***

Have you ever asked parents about what they hope to learn from report cards and narrative assessments? This one-page survey is easy to print out and send home with students, and it's so brief and friendly you're likely to get a good response rate:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/177.cfm

When your students work with you to set their own goals for literacy learning, the whole classroom community has touchstones for assessing individual growth and development. Here's a simple template to help students get started in brainstorming goals:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/179.cfm

The Sisters (Gail Boushey and Joan Moser) organize their literacy records around the goals students set - here they share two recordkeeping forms used daily to track progress with individual students:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/174.cfm

In this video, Andie Cunningham assesses what students know from the writing webs they create, and where they might go next in their literacy development:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/175.cfm

Finally, a seasonal note beyond this week's evaluation theme - does Halloween bring out some ghastly topics in your writer's workshop? "Up Gross and Personal" presents some strategies for dealing with the guts, gore, and gaseous emissions writers of a certain age find so amusing, especially at this time of year:

http://www.choiceliteracy.com/members/173.cfm

That's all for this week! Look for more on the evaluation theme in next week's Big Fresh.