CCSS Inspired Writing Events

Sixth grade and up will take the Next Generation Assessments provided by PARCC or SmarterBallanced testing consortia on an electronic device. In order for students to be prepared to produce and publish on an electronic device (including the use of the Internet) student's must be able to practice.

Anchor standard 6 for writing:

Use technology, including the Internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and collaborate with others.


I dont know about you but it does not sound like the old Microsoft Office can pull off something like that standard. To "produce and publish" using the Internet while collaborating is exactly what Google Docs is all about. Using our Google Apps domain each student has access to the full Google Apps package (Docs, Spreadsheets, Presentations, Drawings and Forms). Google Docs is a fully functioning word processing software that is free inside each students account.

The Writing Events:
The PARCC and SmarterBalanced test will consist of some kind of extended research project as indicated with the Anchor Standard below.

• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences.

With that in mind my middle school students are doing writing events. The writing event is scheduled as the culminating piece of writing around any project. The teachers and I (Instructional Technologist) work together to share all learning resources in a shared Google folder. The folder contains materials such as the text to read, short discussion questions and videos about the topic to bring it into focus. The students will research the topic further on their own time like in anchor 10 and use the Google Docs program to produce and publish it like in anchor 6. The Internet is used and the work is collaborative.


Google Apps is the best way to meet these standards. For more on writing events and Google Apps checkout my upcoming book from Corwin Press: Google Apps Meets Common Core 

****Access the free additional resources to the book here. Each chapter has authentic lesson plans using Google Apps and step by step how tos.