Annotated Table of Contents: Timed Writing Assessments

Teaching English, How To.... by Raymond Stopper

Part Three: Writing and Speaking

Chapter 10: Helping Students Prepare for Writing Assessments. How can teachers prepare students for writing 25-minute impromptu essays? Real writers let ideas incubate, write drafts and revise and revise and revise. But state writing assessments and now, the SAT requirement for a 25-minute writing sample, require practically spontaneous writing on assigned topics. Students are given little time to plan their writing and almost no time to revise. I will suggest methods for preparing students to "write it right" the first time.