Act I of The Inspector General is a good place to start assessing writing. The mayor gathers his officials, announces that an inspector is coming, and reveals just how much they have to hide. Students can already discuss theme, character, and satire after a single act.

A short paragraph draft at this stage costs students little and tells you a lot. You can see who understands the difference between summary and analysis, who chooses strong evidence, and who needs support with basic organization. Discovering these things early allows you to adjust instruction before the final essay.

The purpose of formative assessment is to inform teaching and learning, not to generate a grade. That means the feedback must be quick, focused, and actionable. A paragraph draft with a few well-chosen comments meets that goal.

Designing the Act I Paragraph Task

Choose a prompt that requires a claim, not just a description. For example, ask students to explain what the officials' reactions to the news reveal about how they run the town. A single paragraph with a topic sentence, one piece of evidence, and an explanation is enough to show their thinking.

• A clear topic sentence that makes a claim
• One specific piece of evidence from the opening scene
• Two or more sentences explaining how the evidence supports the claim
• A closing sentence that connects to a larger idea about the play
• Correct attribution of lines and actions to the right characters

Giving Quick, Useful Feedback

Since these drafts are low-stakes, feedback can be brief. A check on each of the four elements, along with one sentence of advice, is often sufficient. The goal is to give students a clear next step rather than a full critique.

Group patterns matter too. If half the class writes summaries, use the next lesson to model turning a moment from the mayor's speech into a claim. Teaching to the pattern is more efficient than repeating the same comment thirty times.

Using Technology for Speed

Because paragraph drafts are short and criteria-based, they are well suited to AI-assisted feedback. A tool can check for a claim, evidence, and explanation in seconds, and produce a brief comment for each student. You can scan the results, identify students who need extra help, and adjust the comments where necessary.

Students benefit from immediate responses because they can revise while the reading is fresh. A same-day turnaround makes it far more likely they will act on the advice. This kind of responsiveness is difficult to achieve with hand-written comments alone.

Tracking Progress Through the Unit

Keep the drafts and repeat the task after later acts. Comparing an Act I paragraph with one on Act IV shows students how their analysis has developed. It also gives you evidence of growth to share in conferences.

Finally, connect the formative work to the final essay. Tell students that the paragraph they wrote on Act I can become the seed of a body section. Seeing their early effort reused makes formative assignments feel purposeful.