Penny Kittle Q&A

Recently I was able to do a Q&A with Penny Kittle, author of one of my most recent favorite books Write Beside Them. I hope that you enjoy reading Penny's responses, and as an added bonus remember that if you comment on this or any of the posts in my Write Beside Them series you will be entered to win a copy.

Q: Grading and feedback are two of the areas that I have been reflecting about all year long. I like that you have your grading set up to have essays be the main chunk of the grade. Although you frequently read drafts and give regular feedback, you don't grade drafts. 


You mention that drafts are not graded but all drafts are due on time. How do you address issues of students not handing them in on time in order to help students stay on track? You said that you typically read and give feedback on 10 essays a night. This seems more manageable than trying to give feedback on all students' essays at the same time. How does this work? For example, do students have alternating due dates, or do you have students hand in drafts in progress?

A: I don't have different due dates. But kids are kids and some turn them late... so I read about 10 a day until they are all graded. On the weekends I try to get everything done that I can. My policy is to turn back essays within a few days of receiving them. So with drafts, I nag and press and ask for even just a paragraph to get the feedback loop started with kids. I just want to read and help, then when it comes to the finals they go quickly since I know the piece so well.

Q: Do you grade writer's notebooks? If so, how?

A: I read them every other week or so. I give full credit for a 'good faith effort' to write every time we do, to revise or find best lines when we do, etc. I have few kids who don't get full credit, but after a conversation with me, they tend to work harder. Notebooks are a small part of our course grade (10%) so not a big deal.

Q: On one of your student focus sections you mention that you have a procedures for absences. What is that procedure?

A: I have a 3-ring binder in my room that says "Did I Miss Anything?" on its cover. Inside are all of the poems we read, mentor texts, handouts, etc. My students get the two-week planner at the start of a unit that lists the poems and mentor texts we'll be studying each day (there is an example in the book) and so if they're gone on Tuesday, they can check the notebook and get what they missed.

Q: My school is a charter school that has been growing to a new grade level each year. Next year we will add the final grade and be a k-8 school. I will have the same students for reading and writing for their 6th-8th grade years. I frequently consider plans for each year. Do you have any tips on scope and sequence for me since I will have my students for a longer amount of time than you do?


A: For the scope and sequence... try the scaffold of skills (fig 3.1 I think) that has the plan for the semester as a start. Next year the course I teach will be all year, but every other day, so I'll be rethinking that some. I would still teach in genre units and I would likely spend a few weeks on poetry mid-year in preparation for the multi-genre research project. Between fiction and non-fiction, memoir, etc. I think you could spend the whole first quarter on story.

Q: Technology in reading/writing workshop is another area of interest for me. What role if any does technology play in your writing course, other than students composing on the computers?


We are into digital composition now... technology is a big part. Kids create commentaries on video and they do book trailers. It's a whole new world... very fun. But complicated!