Participating in Two of My Favorite Days Each Year: Writing Portfolio Assessment for Juniors at Joel Barlow High School

Yes, the 7:30 a.m. arrival time is tricky for those of us who teach graduate classes late at night, but since 2012, I've enjoyed being invited to score the writing of young people at Joel Barlow High School in Redding, Connecticut. After spending over a decade teaching students to compose for portfolio assessment in Kentucky, and actually making a career out of its success and importance, each year in Connecticut I get a glimpse of what young people are capable of when they have a faculty and administration that really digs deep in helping their students succeed as writers across content areas and genres. The district knows its college-success rate, and their graduates achieve in post-secondary institutions because they align young people to think critically about audience, purposes, idea development, genre, style and craft. 

Reading through the 167 portfolios this year is pure joy (brining me back to my Kentucky days of preparing my own students for assessment and working with Jefferson County Public Schools to promote the State of Kentucky's investment in K-12 writing. Of course, that is no longer the case, but it was the writing instruction that drew me to get my Masters in Teaching English in Kentucky in the first place. My thinking has always been, "Why aren't K-12 schools working with writers to prepare them for the thinking they'll need for achieving beyond the classroom?"

Yes, the effects of Covid have brought forth a few setbacks in the writing kids are able to do, but the school system is solid and the vast majority prove that they've been listening to their teachers. It is simply wonderful to read student work again and again and again, especially knowing the teachers it the district are investing in quality and utility up and beyond State and National mandates. 

Each year, I tell the stellar educators they need to turn this work into a book, because it should be the ways that schools get a grip on their writing programs. 

It's simply rejuvenation, hopeful, and promising. This, of course, requires the dedication of teachers, families, and administration being dedicated to what young people need to be successful.

I'm waking up this morning curious about the snow and if Day 2 will go as it was planned, and I also have obligations at the University until way past sunset (once again). I have been telling everyone I'm too old to maintain the K-16 workday, but here I am proving that I can do it once again (with a quick trip home to prompt the dog to go outside between my appointments). 

I'm awaking to check the local news for delays, cancellations, and surprises, hoping all will run as normal as it can because of the 3rd round of storms is coming through. This one is iffy, so as I post...we shall see.