💡 Short Response Guided Drafts are now available for all grade levels!
NoRedInk's Short Response Guided Draft are a type of Guided Draft assignment designed to help students of any grade level build writing skills. In this assignment, students write a paragraph one sentence at a time while guided by instructions and support that are specific to that part of the paragraph.
When creating a Short Response Guided Draft, teachers can choose between several types of Short Responses:
- Nonfiction Text Response
- ​​Fiction Text Response
- ​​Opinion Paragraph
- Nonfiction Text Analysis
- Texts by Theme
For the text response paragraph types, teachers have the option of using NoRedInk texts or their own. These assignments help students practice developing a claim about a text and finding evidence to support ideas. Opinion paragraphs allow students to improve at supporting a point generally and explaining their thinking. Ready to assign? You can read these step-by-step instructions to learn how to assign a Short Response Guided Draft.
When students start their assignment, they'll be greeted by either some of our colorful characters or a progress bar to track their completed work depending on their grade level. To learn more about what students encounter during these assignments, check out our article about the student experience with Short Response Guided Drafts.
Best practices for use in the classroom:
- Walk students through the assignment the first time. We recommend showing students the sentence frames and tips ahead by previewing from the Assignment Library and encouraging them to take advantage of the support.
- Pre-teach using tutorials or lessons. Teachers can project the interactive tutorial (by viewing as a student or from the assignment form) for an instructional overview, or use the rubric item lessons to pre-teach the parts of a paragraph. These lessons and other resources can also serve as a useful reference for teachers for teaching writing.
- Adjust how you use the assignment depending on your students needs. This assignment can be used flexibly, so you can always adjust the purpose or time spent. For instance, Opinion paragraphs could be a part of a persuasive writing unit or a weekly exercise to give students regular practice with writing and supporting their ideas. Text responses can be used to deepen students understanding of texts after reading as a class, or be used as practice for state test writing.