Pre-assessment is important in order to see where student weaknesses and strengths occur in writing. Addressing weaknesses by studying what professional writers do models better writing techniques for students. I like how the teacher in this chapter uses food and a restaurant review to help students elevate their writing and then moves onto movie reviews. These are subjects that kids know all about so they will find something they will be able to express in writing.
I am not alone in thinking the introduction is the toughest part of writing. So many students struggle with it so providing them with good examples of strong introductions to dissect in professional pieces is a good strategy. Taking the students to the next writing level by using a persuasive piece and the yes/no graphic organizer is a great transition out of the reviews writing and lets them see how an author develops an argument. It is similar to de-outlining.
I still don't know if I like the idea of peer review of writing. When we did it in this class I felt like I didn't know enough to judge someone else's writing. I do like that this teacher has the students do it anonymously.
I agree that it is important for students to internalize what good writers do, but more importantly, they need to be able to analyze the text. In the real world we aren't asked to write about everything we read, in fact we aren't asked to do much writing at all. However, we should be able to make informed judgements about what we read and the media we view. Our students will be bombarded with so much information that they need to know the best way to understand it and draw their own conclusions from it.
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