So far this year, we have covered the traits of effective writing and have begun to write regularly. We are focusing on persuasive writing and have written a pet peeve essay, editorial, and are working on personal commentaries. Students are using rubrics to evaluate their writing and are working through multiple drafts. Students worked through reading challenging non-fiction articles that express opposing viewpoints. We took a pre-test for punctuation and most students struggled, so we are focusing on commas along with careful editing.