The National Study of Writing Instruction - University at Albany

16. How would you describe high-quality writing instruction?
Process
What are the resources and processes you use for student writing in your subject area?
17. How and to what extent do you integrate writing instruction with other aspects of your
curricula?
18. How do your students learn the underlying skills and strategies of effective writing in your
subject area ?
• What textbooks or other published programs do you use? How do these resources influence
your teaching of
writing?
• What, if any, guidelines or formats (such as the 5-paragraph essay) do you typically use as part
of instruction?
• What types of writing prompts/set-ups do you typically use? *Note that we’ll collect
samples.]
19. How and to what extent do you focus on the writing process in your instruction?
• How and how often do you typically use any of the following as part of the process?
Pre-writing or brainstorming activities Drafting and revising Finalizing and
publishing
• How often do your students write more than one draft?
• What processes do you use/encourage for revising drafts?
• What role, if any, does peer discussion play in pre-writing, revision, or presentation?
Technology
What is the role of computers in writing and writing instruction for your students?
20. How and to what extent do you and your students use computers for class writing or
instruction?
• How do you use computers as part of classroom activities related to writing?
• Where and how are computers made available for student use? How accessible are they?
• How do your students use the Internet to access information for writing in your subject area?
• How and to what extent do your students use computers in the process of writing?
21. In what ways do students’ uses of technology affect the writing they do?
Rating & Response
How well do you feel your students are learning to write in your subject area?
22. How do you evaluate student writing?
• How and to what extent do you use rubrics or similar guidelines for rating student writing?
• How and to what extent do you collaborate with colleagues in responding to student writing?
• What aspects of student writing (for example, content, organization, style, mechanics) do you
weigh heavily in evaluating student work?
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