Defining Success

Use the following questions to help you determine how well your program is working.

In the School Library

  • Are students engaged in the work?
  • Are they excited about their writing, about sharing it, and about their peers’ work?
  • Do the thematic skills—map making, writing recipes, creating cartoons—support the grade-level curriculum?
  • Have I connected the program to what is happening in the classroom? If, for instance, third graders are studying memoir, have I provided an opportunity to create cartoon memoirs?
  • Have I collaborated with classroom teachers to provide extensions for their curricula in my library classes?
  • Do my students independently choose to write during their library time after their books are checked out?
  • Do children and adults use the Writing Boxes during after-school visits?
  • Do students, teachers, and other adults have an expectation that writing is part of my literacy program?
  • Is my classroom writing experience aligned with our state standards, and does it support the Common Core?

In the Public Library

  • Are the children and young adults engaged in the work?
  • Are they excited about their writing, about sharing it, and about their peers’ work?
  • Is attendance steady or growing?
  • Are participants engaged?
  • Do they write?
  • Are their adults writing?
  • Do they seem excited to be there, or are their adults making them attend?
  • Is the topic open enough to engage writers of different skill levels and ages?

Outcomes

  • Are participants borrowing titles on display, and titles that tie in with a session’s project?
  • When materials are available at the reference desk, are writers requesting and using them?
  • Have we had requests for an expansion of the program?
  • Have community groups like the Girl Scouts of America asked to participate?

The most significant outcome of a Writing Box program is a cohort of participants who gain confidence and competency in their writing.

License

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Writing Boxes Copyright © 2019 by Lisa Von Drasek is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License, except where otherwise noted.

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