Created by Kentucky educators, the Composition in the Classroom document is designed to help Kentucky teachers and administrators gain a better understanding of the KAS for Reading and Writing’s Composition strand. This resource takes an in-depth look at each of the three modes of writing, the three types of writing, and authentic audiences, forms and purposes. Each section on the three modes of writing contains examples of potential instructional resources which could be used in elementary and secondary classrooms.

Text-Based Writing Across Disciplines intends to show more precisely how to ensure opportunities for students to engage in discipline-specific literacies or learning that uses reading and writing skills specific to each field to teach content knowledge, demonstrate content knowledge and publish learning. Text-based writing grounds students in complex, grade-level texts, or “anything that communicates a message” (Interdisciplinary Literacy Practice 1), meaning that students engage with a wide range of multimodal texts across disciplines and grade levels.

Each sample task below is aligned to the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for each content area as well as the KAS for Reading and Writing standards.

Use this resource to support the implementation of existing High-Quality Instructional Resources (HQIRs) adopted by school districts as well as educators teaching in districts that have not yet adopted a primary HQIR in reading and writing. The tasks should not replace adopted HQIR but should serve to supplement instruction towards the full depth and rigor of the Kentucky Academic Standards.

For more information regarding high-quality literacy curricula, districts and school leaders may access The Reading and Writing Instructional Resources Consumer Guide, a tool for evaluating and selecting instructional resources for alignment to the Kentucky Academic Standards (KAS) for Reading and Writing.

KAS Composition Rubrics provide grade level scoring elements and standards-based descriptive criteria which can be used throughout the instructional process. These composition rubrics may be used by teachers for formative or summative assessment and by students for self or peer revision. By providing grade-level markers of student progress, these rubrics can also be used throughout the year by teachers and students to monitor growth and progress on grade level composition standards.

KAS Conferencing Guides provide teachers and students with a tool that can be used to discuss student compositions throughout the writing process.  These guides may be used for self, peer or teacher feedback.  Although the guides do provide descriptors for each of the Composition Elements, students and teachers may choose to isolate one or two elements for more focused discussions throughout the formative assessment and revision process.