[teachermlb]

I read my students the book First Day Jitters. It's a cute picture book where someone is very scared to go to a new school and it turns out to be the teacher instead of a student. Even my middle school kids love listening to picture books.

I tell them what gives me "jitters" on the first day of school. Then I have them write me a paragraph on their first day jitters. I give them no instructions on how to write the paragraph - they just write. This way I can see if they indent, capitalize, etc.

It's a good judge of their abilities.