Solution

Our 2022 Teacher of the Year, Sarah Salazar, had so many great ideas and uses for MI Write that we couldn't fit them all into one blog post. So here are the rest of her excellent tips and advice for making MI Write work for you!

In short, yes. And the answer to your next question can be found in the rest of this all-too-brief, digestible, 5-minute-read blog. 

Why should your students participate in peer review? Why is it important? 

It's a Hard Time to Be a Student
It's a fact that the Covid-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on students over the last 18 months.  

Your digital toolbox may be overflowing with all sorts of apps, websites, and programs that you added in the last year due to virtual learning. How many of those are you still using? How many are still proving to be effective? You can count them.  

Go ahead. I'll wait. 

This pandemic has had a serious impact on all of us, some more than others. Many people have been laid off and looking for another job for months. High school seniors had to miss their proms and have had “drive-thru” graduations. A lot of people are very grateful to have kept their jobs, but many have been forced to create a space at home from which they can work. No matter the situation, living in a primarily virtual world means that written communication is now a high priority, and most people could use a little help with that.

With the rising number of schools closing due to the spread of the COVID-19 virus, we’d be remiss if we didn’t continue to show our support of teachers and students. Schools may be out for up to eight weeks, which is a long time to be out of the classroom. Many of these districts and schools are looking to e-learning in order to keep up with the curriculum. We want to help!

Consistent instruction in any content area can be difficult to find in many schools, especially those which do not emphasize vertical planning across grade levels. Writing is in an even more precarious position in schools, districts, and states that put more focus and effort into the tested subjects. However, we know that writing across the curriculum can support and strengthen student comprehension in whatever the subject about which they are writing. 

If there’s anything that teachers can easily get their students to do, it’s writing, right?

::crickets::

::teachers looking around with bewildered looks on their faces and shaking their heads vehemently::

We know that teachers face so many obstacles in their classrooms every day:

Benchmarks. Mid-terms. Remediation. Math. Science. Reading. Multiple choice. Short answer. So many tests. So much grading to be done. Stacks of papers to read. When do you have the time? Can you administer a test, score it, give feedback and return it to students in time for it to be meaningful? Before you move on to the next topic, leaving those struggling students to fall further and further behind?