Casey Gembicki

This is a very thorough rubric for a thesis-based literary analysis essay. I've used this with 11th and 12th AP and IB courses. The rubric almost works as a checklist with Yes/No options for the almost 80 specific criteria. It is objective and will communicate to students exactly what may be missing in the writing. This was extremely helpful with students entering the first year of AP or IB. I could also see it being an effective tool for students writing their first thesis papers in c

This is a partner activity. It incorporates an opportunity for teachers to present a diagnostic on some Parts of Speech in a fun way. Students will partner and interview each other in order to complete a silly, short paragraph about themselves. The PDF has three pages: (1) Directions for the teacher; (2) Guidance for the interview portion; (3) Provides the sentences and sample answers. The words are color-coded, based on the Part of Speech. This activity could take anywhere from 10-20 minut

Use this quick tool to make anecdotal observations. It has areas for specific focus areas as well as general observations. There is also an area to list the day's activities. Boxes for quick comments on physical growth and development, language development, social and emotional, and self-help and cognitive are also provided. Lastly, there is a tear-off parent update section at the bottom. You have your record and your parent has feedback all in this quick one-pager.

This is a great review activity for phrases and parts of sentence. In the document is a list of sentence parts, organized by type. The student is expected to assemble original sentences from the parts. This activity could also be used as an accommodation or alternative assessment, since the parts are already provided. The document is a single page, and the sentences would be written on a separate piece of paper or in a journal. I've used this with grades ten through twelve.