You don’t start out writing good stuff. You start out writing crap and thinking it’s good stuff, and then gradually you get better at it. That’s why I say one of the most valuable traits is persistence.
― Octavia E. Butler
Writing for the edTPA is a challenging and time-consuming endeavor that will require patience and tenacity to complete. As a first step, begin by writing out thorough and high-quality lesson plans for the learning segment. Try to be as detailed as possible by including potential dialogue, and being sure to outline and highlight any planned supports or assessments you will be using. Once you have written your lesson plans, taught, and filmed the lesson segment (check out our article on videotaping), it is time to start unpacking and analyzing your teaching.
Plan Out your Writing
Next, due to the sheer amount of writing you will be doing, it is imperative to schedule your edTPA writing into reasonable chunks. It is unwise to attempt any sort of marathon writing right before your submission deadline. Doing so will leave you frustrated and unable to complete the writing in a manner that is satisfactory. Depending on your schedule, attempt to write for a few hours a day, being sure to take frequent mental and physical breaks. This writing routine may last several weeks and while it may be tempting to push through and finish as quickly as possible, remember the boundaries you have set for yourself. Working on such an extensive project without giving your mind and body ample time to rest will only be a disservice to you and your writing. It is also useful to reflect on what types of places will help you be the most productive in your writing. Whether you choose your kitchen table or a coffee shop, make an effort to work on your writing in a space that is calm and relatively free from distractions.
To guide your writing, regularly use the edTPA’s Understanding Rubric Level Progressions handbook for your focus area. This edTPA resource is extremely helpful and should not be overlooked. To use it effectively, start by reading through the Understanding Rubric Level Progressions handbook to gain a better understanding of what each rubric entails. With those guidelines in mind, write your initial responses to the edTPA writing prompts. Then, reread what the edTPA scores will be looking for at a Level 3 and 4 for each rubric and reflect on the quality of your response compared to the rubric expectations. When reflecting and comparing, here are additional thoughts to consider:
Does the writing fully answer each edTPA prompt?
Many of the prompts will have more than one part that must be addressed in your response. For example, the question may ask you to describe and justify supports for “the whole class, individuals, and/or groups of students with specific learning needs.” It will, therefore, be expected of you to outline this information for each one of these groups to sufficiently answer the prompt. The same is true if a prompt has a bulleted list; be sure to address each bullet point fully in a separate paragraph within the prompt.
Is your writing clear?
Be aware of your audience and strive for clarity. Avoid using educational jargon and acronyms such as SEL, EL, etc. Instead, write out Social Emotional Learning or English Learner and be sure to provide as much as context as possible.
Have you justified your instructional planning and moves?
Don’t forget to justify and back-up your instructional moves with educational learning theories where applicable. If you come to a prompt that specifically asks you to use principles from research and/or theory to support your justifications, you must do so or risk receiving a failing score. Outlined below is a list of educational learning theories to research and potentially use in your edTPA writing:
Active Engagement
Behaviorism
Memory
Spiral Curriculum
The Role of Language
In general, the writing process takes time, it is challenging, and you have to be accepting of this reality before you begin. Remember, that while you will want to regularly push yourself, you must continue to take care of you. One teacher candidate nicely summed up the writing process:
You are going to want to cry, pull your hair out, doubt you should even be a teacher, convince yourself you’re going to fail, but that’s all part of the journey. If you need to take a break from writing, take a break. Remember self-care. If you hit a wall, it's okay to stop. I hit many walls along the way and that’s normal.
In summary, one must first acknowledge and accept the demanding nature of this endeavor by setting boundaries before diving in. Once you are ready to begin, start with high-quality and detailed lesson plans, establish a consistent writing routine early on, and leverage the edTPA’s Understanding Rubric Level Progressions handbook throughout the entire writing process. These simple yet practical strategies will put you in a more solid position to successfully address the writing component of your edTPA portfolio.
Pathway to Teaching
Themes of differentiation, networking, and organization are interwoven throughout Pathway to Teaching and aim to better prepare the soon-to-be teacher at each step. The strategies address a range of pressing topics for teacher candidates that include preparing for the edTPA™ – a nationwide teacher assessment – to providing classroom management techniques during student teaching to ideas on self-care. Pathway to Teaching also supports the aspiring teachers in finding their dream teaching job through strategies on building a professional network to preparing for that all-important job interview.
