Our Writing Checklist

Imagine this: you are on an airplane, ready to fly to a tropical island for a vacation. You have been planning this trip for months, your bags are packed, and as you buckle your seatbelt you imagine warm beaches and clear, blue water. Your pilot comes on over the intercom. "Please make sure your belt is buckled, your tray table is locked, and your seat is in the upright position. We are cleared for takeoff!" You hear the engines get louder, and the plane starts to roll down the runway. Suddenly, the engines go quiet and your plane slowly comes to a stop. You never left the ground. A crackily - and sheepish - voice comes on through the speakers: "Um, sorry about that, folks. We seem to have forgotten to get gas..."

People in many different jobs use checklists. For pilots who fly airplanes, checklists are crucially important. Before any flight, a pilot uses a checklist to make sure all of the parts of the airplane are working normally and there are no problems with the plane. Your plane would never run out of gas on your way to a tropical island, because every pilot checks the gas before going anywhere.

People in other jobs use checklists, too. Nurses and doctors use checklists to make sure their patients stay safe and get better. Mechanics who fix cars follow checklists to make sure they put your engine back together the right way. Bakers follow checklists to make sure they add enough yeast to their bread.

Checklists are a great tool. They can help you plan your day, help you get everything you need for a recipe at the grocery store, and help you know which Horrible Harry books you haven't checked out of the library yet.

We used a checklist in our writing workshop today. This simple checklist helps us go through writing that we have finished to make sure it is the best it can be. So far, we are looking for basic things: conventions, a title, star words, and feeling words. As the year goes on, the checklists will change, too. Students find checklists a helpful way to make sure you have done everything you need to do. And they help you get to your vacation on time, too.