Tompkins Ch.4 Assessing Children's Writing

The goal of writing assessment is "To help children become better writers. Teachers regularly use informal monitoring procedures to keep track of children's progress" (Tompkins, 2008, p.74). There are observing, conferencing, collecting writing samples, and keeping records in informal monitoring process. Melissa (2009) indicates that "Authentic assessment tools will provide the teacher of English language learners with insights about their students' writing development and showcase their writing progress over time". That's why the development of effective evaluation is very important.

  

According to Soo Hyun Kim, teachers can help children to be better writers(sophisticated writers) to measure how well children are using the writing process by using process writing assessment. Observing, conferencing, collecting, and scoring can be the assessment tools. While reading this, I realized that the higher the quality of assessment are, the higher the reliability of assessment is. And I've decided to put my effort more into the creative and credible assessment method.

Tompkins, G. E. (2008). Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Melissa, S. (2009). Effective writing assessment and instruction for young English language learners. Early Childhood Education Journal, 37, 52-62.