Palmyra Area School District

1. Palmyra Area School District Top Nine instructional strategies to increase student achievement Student Writing

2. Top Nine Strategies • Essential Questions/Questioning • Previewing/Advance Organizers/Activating • Summarizing • Non-Verbal Representations • Active Student Engagement/Collaborative Pairs • Extending Thinking Skills • Differentiated Instruction • Vocabulary in Context • Student Writing

3. Strategy: Student Writing Student writing is integrated in all content areas. Students write in vivid detail and focus is on both fiction and non-fiction.

4. Why is this Strategy Critical to Student Achievement? • Focuses the lesson for teacher and students • Increases and improves student’s cognitive ability • Extends thinking skills • Allow for differentiation • Fosters natural curiosity

5. How do We Effectively Use Student Writing • Focus on important learning in the lesson or extend topics after the lesson • Create a writing prompt that supports the level of desired learning • Avoid yes/no responses and expect clear, vivid detail • Students can collaboratively write or peer edit work • Writing can become a springboard for other Web 2.o projects

6. Monthly Goal •Review your use of Student Writing -Do your writing prompts/methods challenge all students? -Do you foster collaborative writing?