I hope I am hitting on the right paragraph (folks you
know I have posted many -smile --Brenda take a look).
First - I sent out a parent letter at the beginning of
each trimester explaining my discipline produre:
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/Files/letter.htm
This also included my wish list for that trimester
(which varied as needed - I even changed it for
different grade levels sometimes). It told the parents
that I do writing assignments.
The writing assignment (combining several Getty list
ideas with my own):
http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/middle/contract.htm
Students could not come into class the next day
without it. I sent them to the 95/45 room to copy it.
They could use their own words the first time as long
as they clearly stated the problem and what they were
going to do about it. Some students wrote the best
explanations and what they would do (some were real
treasures - brought smiles) The second time - they had
to copy what I wrote and have parents sign - these
were few. (You will have to re-format the contract to
fit on 8 1/2 by 11 - I lost my formatting when I saved
it as html - play around with margins and paragraph
spacing to get it to fit)
I actually got the writing assignment idea back in the
80's when I was substitute teaching. Many schools did
that.
Brenda - take a gander at this file - if this isn't it
then it must be one I posted from someone else - and I
can find that one too to post to the list again.
Hope this helps - Linda - I know you can come up with
a dandy for elementary - If you do, send it my way to
share with everyone.
