Moving from assessment to Instruction

Getting to know Kendra (pseudonym) has been a delight.  Her excitement for reading and writing fiction has allowed her to write creative and interesting stories.  She currently loves to read fictional stories, particularly ones with an eye catching title.  Kendra is very aware of what material is at a "just right" level for her as she stopped reading a text I gave her and informed me the book was "too hard."  I witnessed her struggle through the first and agreed with her analysis.  The book I had brought for her was Agnes Parker: Girl in Progress, a 4.7 reading level.  On the 4th grade passage Amelia Earhart, Kendra scored below the 50th percentile.  She struggled at times with fluency and missed two of the comprehension questions; one explicit (which I gave the opportunity to look back through the text and she chose not too) and one implicit.

Based off of the informal reading conferences and assessments, I gather Kendra to be just below a 4th grade reading level.  I believe she needs to work on fluency  to get her to a 4th grade level.  If she were to increase her fluency she would be able to fully answer comprehension questions for materials at a 4th grade level, explicit and implicit questions.  Moving forward with Kendra, I am thinking about creating a lesson designed to help Kendra with her fluency.  I would like to work with her on multiple strategies that will help her to identify words and gather meaning.  This particular lesson would satisfy the G.L.E 1.2.1- Apply reference skills to define, clarify, and refine word meaning and G.L.E 1.4.2- Apply fluency to enhance comprehension.

Project 1: Analysis and Lesson Plan

Analysis

I based this analysis of a single piece of Kendra’s writing.  Her writing sample I obtained was a response to her teachers prompt “the day animals could talk.”  Additionally, I have the spelling inventory.

Meaning and Ownership:

Kendra (pseudonym) is my fourth grade buddy this quarter.  The writing sample I chose to look at was a prompt to create a fictional story about a talking animal.  She chose to write a story about her own pet crab and the one and only day it talked to her.   Although her writing sample is a prompt from her teacher I was still able to get valuable information about who she is as a person.  Kendra takes much ownership when she gets to write fictional/fantasy stories such as her talking animal story.  From the detail in her story and the length of the piece I know she enjoys writing fictional pieces.  She informed me that she had a great time with this particular writing prompt and that she likes to also write about stories where she gets something new, like a Bionicle Lego set.

6 Traits of Writing:

Kendra shows signs of being familiar with the 6 traits of writing.  The sample writing I received from her indicates she is able to create fresh and original ideas.  Her main topic is narrow and manageable.  She states her main topic at the end of the first paragraph and the end of the last paragraph.  Even though her writing sample is a fictional piece of work she still gives accurate details to help support the main ideas.  There were, however, a few moments in her story where I had to ask questions to get further clarification.

The organization in Kendra’s writing sample was very effective.  She created an introduction that caught my attention and let me know exactly what her story was going to be about.  She also left me with a sense of closure in her conclusion.  While her transitions were very clear she had a hard time determining when to indent.  I believe her writing sample had a new paragraph on each page, which I could tell from her clear transitional statements.  “Later that morning” and “later that evening” are clear transition statements, but they do lack a bit of creativity.  The lack of indenting makes me concerned that she may not fully understand the idea of paragraphing.

As for voice, Kendra’s narrative writing sample is sincere, but reflects only a portion of her individual perspective on the topic.  For example, there was a lack of emotions from the characters.  Only once did I get a sense of how the characters experienced or felt about the events taking place in the story.

In the animal story, Kendra attempts to use colorful language, but unfortunately only in one sentence (“I smiled as bright as the noonday sun”).  Despite her few successes, her writing sample is full of everyday nouns and mundane modifiers (“burgers”, “soda”, and “meanly”).  Even though Kendra needs to work on increasing her vocabulary, the words and phrases in her story are functional.

It was harder to assess Kendra’s ability to apply sentence fluency and use conventions since her work was a draft.   On her draft there were edits, but it is unclear as to whether she made the edits or if they were done by another classmate or even the teacher (the writing looks different.)  In multiple spots on her draft, sentences have been crossed out and re-worded to make sentence fluent.  However, when she read me her story each sentence flowed with accuracy.  Kendra ends all her sentences with accurate punctuation and her spelling is usually correct or reasonably phonetic on common word, for example she spelled the word slammed as “slamed.”  She also has a hard time verb tense (she will use “is” versus “was”); however, the usage is not serious enough to distort the meaning.

Spelling Development:

The animal story featured a few spelling errors such as sceamed,  wold and other words. Since this was a fictional prompt, Kendra did not have to look up an facts in a book and therefore did not copy the correct spelling of a word from a book.  The piece of writing was also hand-written and not typed so she did not have the luxury of using a word processor program to help identify misspelled words.  In the spelling inventory, Kendra missed a total of nine words, six of them were the last six on the list.  The first word she missed ( spoiled for spoil) I believe she heard me wrong even though I said it twice.  The last six words missed (seller for cellar, pleger for pleasure, forchet for fortunate, convet for confident, sivies for civilize, and opizion for opposition) were a clear indication that she had no prior knowledge of these words.  She has no prior knowledge of suffixes or base words.  Based on the inventory, Kendra’s spelling level would most likely be assessed as late within word pattern and early syllables and affixes (Bear et al, 2004).  I would help Kendra identify the suffixes of similar words and see if “reasoning by analogy” (Templeton and Morris, 1999, p.109) will help her spell new words correctly by thinking of another word that if familiar.  I think Kendra would also benefit from a review with long vowel sounds given she spelled chewed as chuwd.  

Lesson Plan

Objective:

Students will be able to identify voice within a piece of writing

Standards:

EALR 3:  The student writes clearly and effectively.

 3.2    Uses appropriate style in writing

 3.2.1 Writes with voice.

·         -Uses word choice to show emotion and interest

·         -Demonstrates commitment to topic (e.g., sustains writing, elaborates, shows knowledge of topic)

EALR 2:  The student writes in a variety of forms for different audiences and purposes.

 2.2.1 Demonstrates understanding of different purposes for writing.

·         -Write to learn (e.g. science notebooks, math explanations)

·         -Writes to explain (e.g., tells which grade was a favorite and explains why)

Materials:

Teacher preparations

Teacher will need to gather large poster paper and write out the first two paragraphs of the story along with two columns underneath the second paragraph for student participation.

Teacher will also need to create two stories; one with little to no voice and one with lots of voice. 

Have students preselected to be in charge of materials for table groups.

Materials for students

28 copies of the story “Dentist”

28 copies of the face shaped cut-out

28 sheets of white 8 ½ X 13 paper

Glue sticks

Pencils

Highlighters

Instructional Strategies:

With Kendra or in a small group, I explain the objective of learning about voice within their writing will further their writing skills and make their stories stronger.

I introduce students to voice by explaining that every story has an internal story and an external story.

• I ask students if they understand what internal and external means…gives further definitions if needed.

I explain that: the external story is the information necessary to lay out the plot, the events and actions that take place within the story and that the internal story is the information needed to develop the characters and the writer’s voice.

• The inner story takes place within the characters.  How the characters experience or feel about the events in the story.
•  emotions/feelings

I inform the students that voice is important because it makes a story more exciting and/or entertaining to read through the use of emotions.

Next I read the story Dentist and give students a minute to respond to the story by turning and talking to a neighbor about anything that popped into their mind while listening to the story.  I read the story for the second time.  This time, prior to reading it, I ask the student to pay close attention to what pieces of the writing are the outer story and inner story.  I then go through the first couple of sentences and write down which parts of the sentences where the outer story and which parts where the inner story.


 The information I am writing down is on an example 8 ½ x 13 white paper with a face cut-out glued on.  The outside of the paper (where the face is not glued on) is where I write all the information about the outside story.  The face cut-out is where I write all the information about the inside story. (This way the students can visually see the outside and inside of a story.)

I then ask the students to look at the next couple of sentences quietly (without shouting out) and find an example of the outer and inner story.  I continue to work through the 1st and 2nd paragraph with students to determine which parts of the story are the outer story and inner story.  I then inform the students that they will get a copy of the story and will be required to work through the remaining three paragraphs.  I instruct them to underline or highlight the parts of the story that represent the inner story.  Once students have went through the story they will be transferring the information to a face shaped cut-out.  I ask students if they have any questions regarding the assignment and expectations.

Since I am with a small group, I am able to be close by to guide any students that may need additional help.  I continue to monitor progress and start asking the students question to gage understanding.
Informal assessment here:  I am going to be asking each student about writing with voice.  I will be listening for the key phrases such as:
"Part of the story that further explains the characters feeling"
"The inner story that takes place within the characters"
"What the character is experiencing and/or feeling" 

             

Once students are done highlighting, I call for attention and make sure they understand what part of the story goes on the outside(remaining white part of paper) and what part goes on the inside (face cut-out).

Closure: After allowing 1 minute for clean up I will read two paragraphs, each from a different story.  I will then ask the students a series of questions. 

Q 1: Which story was more fun to listen to?  Why?

Q 2: In which story could you hear the writer voice?  Give examples.

After a brief discussion about the two stories I will repeat our goal for the lesson (objective) “to identify the writer’s voice in a piece of writing” and ask two last questions.

Q 1: Do you think we learned how to identify the writer’s voice in a story?

Q 2: Do you think you will be able to include your voice in your next story?

A follow-up to this lesson can be to give the students a writing prompt and ask them to use what they learned during this lesson to give their characters voice.

Assessment:

I will assess students ability to identify voice within a piece of writing by looking for the accurate sentences that represent the outside story and the inside story (voice) in the story Dentist while looking at students completed “outside and inside story” poster.

(I have a master copy of story that clearly identifies which sentences are the outside story and the inside story.  I will use this as a rubric to what I am looking for on the students’ posters.)

                   

Do as I say and as I do!

The idea that kids do as they see is completely true. They may not even know what it is they are doing, but they do understand that they saw a parent or adult doing it; therefore, they should do it too. My 4-year old niece, Kaylee, is the perfect example of this. A little while back she broke down into tears because she realized she didn’t know how to read and really wanted too. The few days a month I see her, my husband and I take the time to incorporate even more literacy into her daily activities. We will write our grocery list with her then go shopping. While being at home or out and a bout we will point to letters and objects and ask her to tell what it is. Most importantly, we read tons of books to her. Our weekend always starts with a trip to the library to return books and pick out new ones. I do, however, have to give her a limit on the amount of books we can check out at one; if I didn’t we would need a cart.

When reading to Kaylee, I had started incorporating ideas I later read about in Fox. For example, I always point to the title and follow the words with my fingers. Following the words with my finger has led me to automatically do reverse sweep to get to the next sentence. In the video below I ask Kaylee to read to me. Take a look at her reading skills!

I was completely surprised when Kaylee started to attempt to follow the words with her finger.  Of course she wasn't reading, merely singing and telling a story, but she has a clear concept of how to navigate around a page; including the title. Automatically my mind went back to working with my k-buddy and creating a ELP.
Kaylee
Book handling........CHECK
Title.......................CHECK
Reverse Sweep......CHECK
Letter knowledge...CHECK
Word knowledge...CHECK
I think we are off to a good start!!!

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

I can’t believe how much I resonate with Lamott. Two pages into this week’s readings and I found myself thinking “seriously, so true” and “I do that too!” For example, lets talk index cards. After reading the first page of the chapter on index cards I stopped and looked around my house. Yep, index cards and little scraps of paper everywhere; bed, computer, fridge, purse, counter. I even have paper and pencils in the car, but not because I think I am a writer and might randomly come up with some great fact or thought, but mostly because I am very forgetful. Yes I use the index cards and papers to make notes, but usually for the grocery list, something I want to look up on the web when I get home, or a homework assignment I really need to start working on. I loved her lines “If your mind is perhaps the merest bit disorganized, it probably just means you’ve lost a little ground…..when a child comes out of your body, it arrives with about a fifth of your brain clutched in its little hands…” I don’t have kids, so what’s my excuse? Lol. I think it’s safe to say my mind is a bit disorganized because of how much I have going on…that’s my story and I’m sticking to it!

On to writing groups. I used to absolutely dislike writing groups. I don't remember having writing groups in elementary school or even middle school, but definitely in high school. The thought of having my peers read my writing and then give me feedback drove me up the wall. Thoughts like "what if they don't like what I wrote" or "they will see all my grammatical errors" or even "what if they don't think what I wrote is intellectual" would race through my mind. It wasn't until college I found writing groups to be beneficial. Maybe if I would have had the experience of writing groups in my primary grades it wouldn't have affected me so much in high school. I know Lamott is mostly referring to adult writing groups, but I like the idea of having them in classroom at all levels. I am currently doing my main placement in 3rd grade classroom and hope my master teacher will let me form writing groups for the students to get peer feedback and or suggestions for topics. I am sure some students will be hesitant to want to participate in such groups, but the encouragement from fellow classmates might be just what they need to move forward with their writing.

SuperSonics Love!

Brief history:

In 1967 Sam Schulman and Eugene V. Klein introduced us to Walt Hazzard, Bob Rule, Al Tucker, and many more as the Seattle Super Sonics; the first NBA franchise for the city of Seattle.  12 short, yet so long, years later the Sonics won the 1979 NBA Championship under the lead of Lenny Wilkens.  Dennis Johnson, Jack Sikma, John Johnson, Lonnie Shelton, and Gus Williams were the starting five that helped lead the team to victory.  With Shawn Kemp and Gary Payton “The Glove” already on the team (arriving in 1989 and 1990), George Karl’s arrival in 1992 gave the team the competitive boast needed to help the Sonics get close to another championship.  While the team always got close, they were never able to obtain another NBA Championship.  In 2001 along came Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks and the head of the Basketball Club of Seattle.  He became the new owner of the Sonics, only to sell the team 5 years later (2006) to an Oklahoma City business man, Clay Bennett.  The SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City before the 2008-09 season and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.                                                 

It has only been two years since the Sonics were sold to Oklahoma.  It feels like a life time ago since I   have watched a game, yet the grief still hangs around for most Washington residents; including the three who created the video below.  There has been a massive amount of mixed results regarding Shultz’s decision to sell the Sonics and the three individuals who created the video used their literacy skills to express how they feel about the decision.

Routman and others say children learn literacy skills when they are enjoying what they are working on.  I think the same goes for adults too.  The three individual who put this video together used the literacy skills they gained as a student and the emotions they feel as adults to create a very thought out and accurate representation of the events leading to the sale of the SuperSonics.  I don’t know these individuals, but I can imagine the time and effort, the learning process, that took place to create this video.  Routman also mentions that the conventions of writing need to be perfect before being published and this video represents just.

This video came at the right time as I have spent the last week thinking about what I am going to write for my vignette and how I am going to write it. 

…now if I can only create a photostory to go with my vignette!

Why won’t my words magically appear? Need words Now, Please!

Lamott has been a great read so far.  There is so much I can connect with on a personal level.  Although I have never been a writer nor have I wanted to write for a living, all her struggles in writing I have seemed to experience while trying to write college papers.  As I was reading, I found myself shaking my head consistently in agreement with Lamott.  Everything from tapping fingers on the computer for words to magically appear and then still waiting for something magical to happen, yet nothing does…well for me anyways!  I can’t count the number of times I started “listing of things that must be done right at this moment: foods that must come out of the freezer, appointments that must be canceled or made, hairs that must be tweezed” (pg. 7)  I found every possible thing I could do that didn’t involve starting my papers. 

The need to be a perfectionist right from the beginning also really resonated with me.  I have always been stuck with my writing because I have always tried to a perfectionist.  I have always felt that it would be a waste of time if I had to review and edit my paper multiple times, but in the end I am sure I spent more time trying to get it right the first time around.  After reading Lamott, I definitely appreciate the writing process a bit more than before.  I especially found it interesting that a writing prompt of Lamotts, school lunches, could bring back so many school memories.  I think it is a great idea to get kids exciting about writing and while Routman thinks teachers should not focus to much on prompts, I do think a fun and creative prompt will help get the kids get the creative thought flowing.  Routman mentions that children need to enjoy writing and I think creative writing prompts will help with that.  That doesn't mean I support writing prompts fully; some are tedious and unnecessary.

ps. Unfortunately my words did not magically appear while staring at the screen...maybe next time!

Literacy Blog 2- sizes, shapes and so much more!

Last Tuesday was great!   I absolutely love my Kindergarten buddy.  For the sake of confidentiality I am going to refer to my K-buddy as G-man. 

When I was working with G-man I got a sense that, according to Fox’s five word learning stages, he is past the pre-alphabetic stage and somewhere in the partial alphabetic stage.  I am hoping that after tomorrow I will have a better sense of exactly where G-man is.  Before my partner and I started working with G-man, his teacher informed us that the students in her class are currently “stretching” out words to better hear the letter sounds.  That was the first time I had heard of such a technique; so when I came upon the technique in Fox I was rather happy.  It was nice to see actual techniques from text material being used in the classroom.  For the last few quarters I feel as though I have been reading a lot of material, mostly theory, but not getting to see it actually happen in a classroom.  Putting the text to practice allows for better comprehension as to what works and what may not work.  I look forward to seeing more of Fox’s techniques each time I work with G-man.

I have always known that learning how to read is a big process, but I never realized exactly how many steps children go through.  I especially had no idea children see words as shapes.  It is amazing how children see words differently based on shape and length.  I found Fox to be rather informative with the details of each aspect of learning how to read.  I also found it extremely useful that chapter 2 has so many useful activities; I plan on using them in my classroom and with my 4-year-old niece who is currently at the pre-alphabetic stage and is eager to learn how to read.

Literacy Blog 1- to read aloud or not to read aloud

I found the Sulzby and Teale article to be interesting.  It had really good ideas about how to incorporate literacy into the classroom in ways which may not initially standout as ideal methods in teaching literacy.  I particularly enjoyed reading the section on morning messages.  I first read of the idea of creating morning messages in Faber and Mazlish (1995) and have already spoke with my MT and incorporating it into our morning routine. I originally thought it would be good for children who already knew how to read, but after reading about it from the Sulzby and Teale article I see that it is still a great idea for those who do not know how to read as well.  It is amazing how so many daily activities can help children with literacy…shopping list, etc.

Before reading the Albright article I didn’t see how it would be possible and/or effective to do a read aloud to students in middle school or high school.  I do now agree that read alouds are beneficial at every grade level, but I am still not sold on every subject.  Albright references a study of a social studies unit.  Within the social studies unit a read aloud fits perfectly.  I do not however, think a read aloud would be beneficial for an upper level math class.  I am open for someone to convince me other wise!