A Letter to the Reviewer

A Letter to the Reviewer

Reflective Writing

A Letter to the Reviewer…

• Is an important piece for your portfolio

• Is scored on an equal basis with the other pieces in the portfolio


• Provides an unifying factor that connects all the pieces in the portfolio

• Turns a folder of your best pieces into a portfolio


• Is designed for a student to assess him or herself as a writer

A Letter to the Reviewer is NOT…

• An opportunity to praise or criticize KERA

• A generic description of stages in the writing process


• A thank-you note to express gratitude to the reviewer for assessing your portfolio

• An elaborate table of content listing and/or summarizing every portfolio entry


• An evaluation of your teacher

• A list of unsupported claims about your improvement as a writer


• An unrevised, unedited piece written on the portfolio due date

• A persuasive essay to convince the teacher how much you enjoy writing


• A final attempt to “schmooze” the teacher into giving you an “A”

• A voiceless response to every item listed above

Purpose of the Letter to the Reviewer

• A description of himself/herself as a writer including:

A) Goals as a writer

B) Progress and growth as a writer through the year

C) Who or what has influenced the writing process and growth

D) Approaches used by the student when writing

Purpose of theLetter to the Reviewer

• Selection of portfolio pieces including:

A) How he/she arrived at his/her selections

B) Role of the writing folder in portfolio selections

C) Prewriting/thinking about the topic(s)

D) Revision strategies that were helpful


• Selection of portfolio pieces including:

E) Editing strategies that were helpful

F) Kinds of changes made and reasons for those changes

G) Influence of teacher/peer conferencing


• Any other comments the student wishes to make about this year’s writing

Things to Remember

• The Letter to the Reviewer…– Is the only piece written exclusively for the

portfolio.– Students have only one Letter to the

Reviewer, but have several choices regarding other categories

Things to Remember

• The Letter to the Reviewer…

- Is the final piece for inclusion in the assessment portfolio!

- is a self-assessment of the writer’s work

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A Letter to the Reviewer