STANDARD(S)	OBSERVATIONS	POSSIBLE ISSUES	POSSIBLE SUPPORTS
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student's writing does not address the prompt. Student performs poorly on the Written Expression subclaim on assessments. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Does not demonstrate understanding of complex texts	Use supports from the row related to the possible issue. Teach students to analyze the prompt to determine how to respond.
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student has a lot to say in their writing, but it has no focus. Student performs poorly on the Written Expression subclaim on assessments. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Inability to organize ideas logically Lack of organizational skills in writing	Work with students on expressing ideas through brainstorming maps, evidence charts, and/or outlines before writing a first draft. Focus on one aspect of quality at a time in students’ writing. For example, if the focus of a lesson is on writing a thesis, give feedback on that aspect, not the student’s lack of sentence variety. Use shared writing to model how to organize an essay. Emphasize the qualities of a strong response during the shared writing. Create a shared organizing idea/thesis statement. Provide students with strong and weak examples. Prompt them to identify the best examples and explain why. Then, as a group, write a model organizing idea/thesis statement. Direct students to use that organizing idea/thesis statement for the task. Model how to revise an organizing idea/thesis statement to ensure it meets the qualities of a strong organizing idea/thesis statement for the type of writing (i.e., informative/explanatory or opinion/argument). For example: Provide students with a student example that needs revision and prompt them to evaluate the quality of the organizing idea/thesis statement, using questions such as: “What is this writer’s thesis statement?” “Does it have a claim and reasons?” “How can I revise this to ensure it is a strong thesis statement?” Work as a group to make revisions to the organizing idea/thesis statement. Then direct students to review and revise their own or a partner’s organizing idea/thesis statement using a similar process. Present an organizing idea/thesis statement for the task and prompt students to describe the focus of each body paragraph based on the organizing idea/thesis statement. Provide an organizing idea/thesis statement and an organizational frame (e.g., the “Painted Essay™") and direct students to use the frame as they write body paragraphs to support the organizing idea/thesis statement. As a group, create an organization template based on an exemplar student response. Then direct students to use that template as they write their own response. For example: Provide students with an exemplar response and discuss with students the structure/organization of the response by identifying the role/purpose of each sentence in the response (e.g., “How does this model begin? After restating the question, what does the writer do? What is the purpose of the next sentence? How does it connect to the first sentence?”). Then have students write a response on notebook paper. As they write, prompt them as needed by orally reminding them of the various frames (e.g., “Remember, the model started by restating the question. How would you restate this question?” or “After restating the question and providing the answer, in the model, it provides evidence for the answer/how the writer knew the answer. How do you know that’s the right answer? What evidence can you provide from the text?”).
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student includes many details which are irrelevant or unnecessary. Student performs poorly on the Written Expression subclaim on assessments. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Does not demonstrate understanding of complex texts Inability to develop and organize ideas logically Lack of organizational skills in writing Lack of understanding of relevant evidence	Analyze the use of evidence in an exemplar response. For example: Provide students with an exemplar response. Ask students to identify the writer’s organizing idea/thesis statement. Have them identify the structure of the organizing idea/thesis statement (e.g., claim and reasons) and locate evidence in the response (e.g., label or color code) which supports the organizing idea/thesis statement each reason and the claim. Discuss as a group how the evidence supports the organizing idea/thesis statement. In later grades, discuss why the evidence is relevant. (As needed, define “relevant.”) Ask students to identify additional evidence which could support one or more of the writer’s reasons and claim. In grades 7 and higher, ask students to identify evidence which opposes or conflicts with the writer’s claim. Analyze the structure of the sentence which acknowledges the opposing or conflicting claim, emphasizing the words the writer uses to refute the opposing or conflicting claim and evidence (e.g., “While…,” “Whereas…,” or Despite…”). Work with students on expressing ideas through brainstorming maps, evidence charts, and/or outlines before writing a first draft. Provide students with possible evidence to use in future essay. Ask students orally or in writing to identify the claim or idea the evidence supports and explain how it supports that claim or idea. Discuss which evidence is most relevant for the each claim or idea and why. In grades 7-12, model how evidence for the opposing claim can be used in an argument using the evidence sentence starters and transitions handout (grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12). Use shared writing and evidence sentence starters (grades 3-4, grade 5, grade 6, grades 7-12) and transitions handout (grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12) to model how to incorporate relevant evidence into an essay. Emphasize the qualities of a strong response during the shared writing.
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student has trouble getting started or student’s writing is not clear or coherent. Student performs poorly on the Written Expression subclaim on assessments. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Does not demonstrate understanding of complex texts Inability to organize ideas logically Lack of organizational skills in writing	Use supports from the rows related to the possible issues. Allow students learning English as a new language to use their home languages or varieties of language during the writing process, including working with and talking in pairs. If students are literate in their home language, give more attention to differences between that language and English and less attention to elements that transfer (e.g., leverage their cultural and linguistic knowledge related to writing, which may or may not align with writing standards in English).
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. They write routinely over extended time frames and shorter time frames for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. (W.4, W.10) Writing Guide	Student's writing is short. Student performs poorly on the Written Expression subclaim on assessments. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Does not demonstrate understanding of complex texts Limited development Limited use of evidence Lack of writing fluency Lack of keyboarding proficiency	Use supports from the rows related to the possible issues. Incorporate technology into daily lessons, including using word processing applications and submitting typed written responses digitally. Provide direct keyboarding instruction using a keyboarding program.
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student's writing lacks paragraphs. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Inability to organize ideas logically Lack of organizational skills in writing	Use supports from the rows related to the possible issues.
Students produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (W.4) Writing Guide	Student's writing lacks an introduction and/or conclusion. Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Lack of organizational skills in writing Inability to transfer skills from speaking to writing	Use supports from the rows related to the possible issues. Ask students to respond to the writing prompt orally without referencing their written response. Then, ask students read their written response. Ask: “How is what you said different from your written response?” Prompt students to add to their writing based on their oral response, focusing on an introduction and conclusion. Use shared writing to model how to write an introduction and/or conclusion. Emphasize the qualities of a strong response during the shared writing. Use the sentence stems and answer frames provided in the Possible Supports During the Lesson.
Students apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or writing. (L.3) Writing Guide	Student uses "crutches" when writing, such as “I’m going to tell you…,” “Now that I’ve told you about…,” or “I know this because….” Student receives a low score on the Reading Comprehension and Written Expression portion of the writing rubric.	Lack of organizational skills in writing Inability to transfer skills from speaking to writing Does not have knowledge of writing style and purpose Lack of audience awareness and/or understanding of differences in informal and formal writing	Use supports from the rows related to the possible issues. Give students a list of “crutches” and ask them reread their written response and highlight those crutches. Use shared writing and evidence sentence starters (grades 3-4, grade 5, grade 6, grades 7-12) and transitions handout (grades 3-5, grades 6-8, and grades 9-12) to model how to remove and/or replace the crutches in various sentences from the students’ written responses. Then ask students to repeat the process used during the shared writing to remove and/or replace the remaining crutches in their written response.

Supports Flow Chart