Project 1: Analysis of Student Writing and Lesson Plan

Project 1: Analysis of Student Writing and Lesson Plan

Analysis

This analysis is inferred after reading two short writing samples of E’s (Pseudo-name) work in his class. He gave us a final draft of a writing that was assumingly from a prompt in class. He wrote about his feelings for various subjects in class. His rough draft writing piece that he supplied for use was about an adventure story where he searches for gold. The spelling analysis is based on the spelling in the writing then also the spelling inventory that we took from our student.

Meaning

E was happy to share his writing with us. He first gave us a final draft piece that is about his school work and shows his interest and skills from a personal, first hand view. In this, he explains clearly his struggles in writing are in brainstorming. His final draft shows he is a strong writer in all of the six traits, regardless of these struggles. E shared with us that his mother wants him to be a writer when he grows up because of his advanced skills so far. However, it was clear in conversation and in his writing that he does not favor it. Instead he favors math; he told us this right away in conversation and again in his writing, “I think math is really important even when you have a job!” He then showed us his rough draft pieces of writing. Some were about finding gold, animals, and other fantasy style stories. He was excited to show us his story about gold. This gave us a good look at his personal interest in fantasy and adventure. He repeatedly told us this was his favorite style of writing. He uses his personal creativity to shine in this story; you can tell he was really having fun with “The Adventure of Gold!”

Ownership

 E’s ownership is strong. He is proud of his adventure stories and enjoys showing off his creative work. His preferences are in fantasy and fiction writing. This is where he uses his creativity to grab his audience’s attention. While reading the first draft of his story “The Adventure of the Gold”, the reader can sense and feel that he is having fun trying out new possibilities with his writing.  E knows he writes well and experiments with this skill. In his final draft piece, he mentions that he gets frustrated with coming up with ideas for writing. The topics of the pieces I collected and looked through were exciting and attention grabbing. I’m wondering if he is focusing too much on picking the “perfect topic” which holds him up during brainstorming. He writes at home in journals too; there is a sense of enjoyment that he gets from doing well in his writing, even though he says it’s not his favorite.

6 Traits

                Ideas: In his final draft and rough draft work, the ideas are understandable and focused. As a reader, I am interested and able to comprehend his thoughts and ideas clearly and effortlessly. In the final draft piece, he writes of his personal strengths and struggles in school. The ideas keep me reading with anticipation and excitement. His sentence phrases are unique, and attention-grabbing, “My most serious gripe of all is when I discourage myself.” The rough draft piece was a detailed story of finding “Mt. Gold and Silver”; a treasure hunt.

                Organization: The organization of his final draft is concise and orderly. Transitions are present between paragraphs, but he could use more work with it. He writes in a controlled manner. In his rough draft, he could use work on his transitions and connections: Ex. “It made no sense to me. Then, I found myself packing for the trip there.” This part of the story was unclear to the reader, as he was switching the focus of his story. Also, pacing and sequencing make it a little more difficult to read. His creativity sometimes gets him into too much detail that can detract from the focus of the story.

                Voice: In both pieces, his writing is original and inviting. His ideas are detailed and stay focused on the writing topic. He is not afraid to take risks with what he reveals in his writing.  In the final draft he writes personally, for example, “I always take a really long time: just to make one juicy page like this.” He tries to connect with the audience with his use of voice.  In his rough draft piece, he writes with a more story telling sense, very step-by-step basis, “Then, I found myself packing for the trip there.”

                Word Choice: He uses word choice in a natural and effective way. The words are colorful and put in precise places to bring power in the piece. In both the rough draft and final, I was intrigued by his word choices: “gripe, discourage, mysterious, parchment”. They add personality, character, and interest.

                Sentence Fluency: In his final draft the sentence fluency flows well and is usually easy to follow. The sentence structure varies and is creative. Thought is put into the purpose of each sentence; for example, “All that preparing goes to waste when I get 4’s or 3’s on my not-to-good.” The effort is there, but it still comes out a bit choppy. In his rough drafts, the sentences are much more choppy and don’t always transition. There isn’t much variation in the structure, often they start with the standard, “then there was… It was… Then we…” etc. Simply telling “what happens next in the story”.

                Conventions:  Conventions in E’s final draft are used well and consistently. In the rough draft, punctuation varies. It is always correct at the end of sentences, and there is thought put into it to make it unique. There is need for more attention to punctuation within the sentence, i.e. commas and semicolons. He does attempt to manipulate conventions to use for style; however, his use is often confusing to the reader. I assume from this that he is confused about the proper places for them. Capitalizations skills need work. In the final draft it is appropriate, but in the rough draft, he struggles with capitalization of nouns; for example, “Juanita Beach and Pirate.”

Spelling

E’s Spelling is generally correct in both the final and rough drafts.  He is very advanced for a fourth grade student. The rough draft has more mistakes than the final, and it’s fair to assume he will put more effort into this during revision/editing. Spelling overall is very good. His mistakes are on complex words that show he is willing to take risks. During our spelling inventory he spelled all words correct until we got to the last four upper level words, confindnt, forutanate, civlize, oppopssion.  These spelling errors put him in the middle-late syllables and affixes spelling stage. These mistakes were close to the correct spelling, and he used knowledge of his previous experiences with prefixes and suffixes to help his spelling. He would benefit from practice with syllable junctures, consonant doubling, inflected endings, prefixes and suffixes (Bear & Barone 1989). E was on the independent level on the Examiner spelling lists for our spelling inventory up to the sixth grade word list. This shows his spelling strengths well. Even on the upper middle school and high school word lists he scored in the instructional level.

In his writing work that we collected he misspelled “unfourtulay” and “mysteryous”. These spelling mistakes are on higher level words and again show his placement in the syllable stage of the spelling development (Templeton & Morris 1999).  They also show that he is willing to take risks in order to improve his writing.

                During our conversations E had mentioned how uses the meaning of words to figure out the spelling. In the middle of our spelling inventory, he stopped to tell us how he had used the meaning of the word in our example sentences to know what spelling to use. The word was “celler” and he said at first when he heard the word he started to write “seller”, but after hearing it in the sentence he knew the meaning changed the word. This was striking to hear that he was so aware of his knowledge that spelling represents both sound and meaning (Templeton & Morris 1999).

Lesson Plan

Objectives

Students will be able to use their timeline of events as a tool for brainstorming ideas in their pre-writing of non-fiction, realistic-fiction, or fiction stories.

Standards

GLE: 1.1: Prewrites to generate ideas and plan writing.

GLE: 2.3: Writes in a variety of forms/genres.

GLE: 3.1: Develops ideas and organizes writing.

Materials

Ruler (to make straight lines)

Large paper (Construction or legal size document)

Pencil and pen or marker

Instructional Strategies

Teacher will explain to students that she is providing them with another pre-writing  tool to use while brainstorming for stories.

Teacher will model for the students how to create a timeline of events and moments in his/her life that can be plotted in order. Then transferred and modified to make into a story.

Teacher will draw a horizontal line across the paper, starting with your birth year, to present (using the pen or marker as the line for different colors).

Teacher will use short fragments to label the moments. These will be just enough information to remind him/her of the event or moment, including the year. Talk through how one could use this idea for a potential story. Be sure to expand on how they could use it for different genres of writing. The main focus is to take an event and find ways to transfer it into a story/writing.

Model at least five events.

Have students get their papers out and draw their lines. Guide the class through the first few. Give the students time to work on ideas. Ask a few to share how they remembered that and how they would use it in a story. Have them give examples of different genres.

Give students 15-20 minutes to create as many ideas as possible on their brainstorming timeline. At least ten.

To wrap up ask a handful of students to share what helped them come up with more ideas when they were stuck and what strategies they used to keep finding more ideas.

Explain your thought process when you try to get out of the moments when you feel stuck and can’t think of other ideas.

Assessment

Teacher will assess by listening to students ideas to use their memories to create plots for new stories, during whole group share and conversations with other students. Teacher will also assess by looking for at least ten events on the brainstorming timeline that could possibly be used for a fiction, non-fiction, and/or realistic-fiction story.

Con, Confer, Conference

This week I have been watching very closely; during the reading time my Dyad teacher provides for her literacy block, she used every minute of that time circulating the room having one on one conferences with each student about their writing: checking their homework and class work that is kept in their writing notebook. This time during class can last anywhere from twenty min to an hour at times, depending on the projects being addressed in their writer's notebook. The importance and productiveness of this time is crucial, and it is sensed throughout the entire room. I’ve been in awe of the work and communication she is able to accomplish with them during these times. As I pondered about this personal conference time she gives each student and settled down to get this week’s readings done, vuahlah! Regie Routman’s (Writing Essentials- and excellent read and I highly recommend it to all teachers, regardless of subject) Chapter 9 is about conferencing!  Student/teacher conferences, peer/peer conferences, class/teacher etc, all leading to the ultimate goal of creating independence to conference with one’s self! Conferencing taking place in all forms, to show the importance of each student’s needs, goals, work, etc. In the class that Routman describes the importance of conferencing cannot be missed. I love the thought of having feedback come from so many different angles, shapes, and sizes! It has the potential to lift a person up immensely!

The same morning I started reading Routman’s Chapter 9 about conferencing, I was getting ready to go to conferences at my main placement with my teacher to experience and be a part of this process. So it was a week of reflecting (what’s new?). But it was a week of reflecting about reflecting!

 Conferences were very informative to be a part of. I’ve heard of this style of conferences before and sat in on a few in upper level classes, but my main placement teacher prefers to have her conferences include, parent, teacher, and most importantly STUDENT! Don’t leave them out of the process! It’s about their work, their road, their future! Their say is crucial. During the few conferences I was a part of with the little kiddos, the input and information from the students was crucial for both parents and teacher to hear. During one conference the parents opted out of bringing their child. The difference in the goal setting and reflecting was huge. I was glad I got to see the drastic difference between the two; however, it’s disheartening that the student missed such a great opportunity to take responsibility for his education experience. These types of conferences are also giving students the tools to be able to have individual conferences, eventually with themselves. Giving students the tools, skills, and knowledge to be individual learners, full of conferencing and reflecting!

Phonics, Broccoli, and Children

Children love lots of things: candy, sprinklers, toys, Christmas, video games, broccoli, phonics....wait what? Broccoli and phonics? Well it was worth a try, and when I'm a mother I'll try to brainwash my children into liking them both, amongst many other things... However, realistically, children don't naturally like either of these two things or at least they deny it for some time. Why am I talking about this...?

Anne Lamott uses the ridiculous word of Broccoli to refer to her intuition. Now THIS is something children are famous for! Without the tainted advice and smothering from adults in their life, they are naturally pros at following and trusting their heart and intuition. Why would they doubt it? Why would they try to stop it? A foolish request from an open childlike point of view.  Lamott calls us to open back up to the childlike view and trusting of our intuition. She calls us to open our eyes and be in awe like a child. Be in AWE! "I think this is how we are supposed to be in the world- PRESENT AND IN AWE."!!! Our world is here for us to be present and in awe; it was created to stun us, to woo us. So let it! I love the invitation Lamott gives us to let go of our smothering thoughts and enjoy it for what it is. Then to take that wonder and amazement and put it on paper in our writing. To keep our intuition alive and present so that it can be a part of our writing, naturally. If only I can do this like Lamott does...or if only I had the patience to do so. Someday...I'm looking forward to continuing to read this book. It's fun, exciting, enlightening... (Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott.)

Learning about phonics while working with kindergarten buddies is the best way to experience it. I am so thankful for these two to be hand in hand. Fox is becoming a favored resource of mine! I'm very thankful for this tool to carry her with me! (Word Identification Strategies: Building Phonics into a Classroom Reading Program by Barbara J. Fox.)

Literacy in our placement! A block class of reading and writing! Oh it's glorious to be back in a classroom so rooted in literacy! We started our new placement this week and are absolutely loving it! It has rooted me. I feel calm again, confident. We have a place. A beneficial place. A place for growing, learning, and exploring ourselves as teachers! First impressions: this is not only going to be good, but great! Thank you for this opportunity!

Essential Humor and Personality

The readings this week have been very enjoyable. Anne Lammott is a clever and inviting writer. She makes the idea and reality of being a “writer” a tangible and friendly concept. Her detailed and applicable tips are fun to read and helpful to learn from. I’m enjoying her witting, sense of humor, and personal stories. They are not only interesting but insightful on becoming a writer and/or improving your writing.

My dyad MT commented on Lammott’s work, saying she also loves her humor. She is an avid reader and her husband is a writer. From what I’m noticing, literature is a huge and intimate part of their lives. She is passionate about books; she said she often reads an entire novel every night! How wonderful! I am becoming more and more curious; books and literature are clearly an intimate part of her life, so why is there so little reading and writing support for her students? Each day I notice more and more resources for them throughout the classroom, but the curriculum is vague and they don’t have the skills or time to use them. Little time during the day is given to the students to write and almost none is given to read. I’m hoping that I’ve just missed something key and maybe they are getting more on the days I’m not there. However, by looking at their work and schedule, it is questionable. I sure do miss the “good readers” and “good writers” curriculum that I was used to during September. These students need this and could truly benefit from it.

Humor and personality rang throughout Lammott’s work, and she emphasizes the importance for us writers to use this personality in our own work. In fact I think she challenges us to. Just like Regie Routman does in her book “Writing Essentials”. This book has been an excited read for me. Bringing these teaching methods into the classroom, paired with personal writings are an effective, exciting, and helpful tool to show your students. Modeling for students shows them the tools they can use, the thinking process they should use and the expectations you have for them to produce the same work. These are all building writing skills and letting them get to know you as a person and writer you are. Or that you have to be, FOR THEM. No matter the apprehension of writing I may have, this is what they need to become good writers themselves, and hopefully better than me! (Not that that would be hard…)

I feel that my main placement MT must have studied and memorized this text because it is exactly her teaching methods and beliefs for writing. Her class would be an excellent model of this; in fact, she and the principal often offer her classroom open to teachers in the school to observe how to model this type of writing curriculum. During September I was becoming so used to this style of teaching that I had quite a shock switching teachers this October. How refreshing to read a source of her crafty teaching methods. Regie Routman also emphasizes the importance of learning and coaching for colleagues. My MT is a huge advocate for peer coaching and collaborating. Working together to learn methods and improve them is a constant part of her professional career. I’m so thankful and excited that we as Cohort 15 are learning and utilizing this as well. It must stay a part of our careers throughout the years, and I’m sure we’ll all do a wonderful job of holding each other accountable to this over time.

My awareness is growing!

So I guess I haven't been looking for literacy in as many ways and places that are possible. With the help of our discussions in class and pushing myself to step out of my box, I have been able to notice more literacy and communication that I was totally missing before! It's always so enlightening to realize what you've been overlooking...

So what I've been noticing throughout my world and classroom is how strong the connection between communication and literature is. This has been more fascinating that I originally thought. We briefly talked about this last week in class, but the deeper conversations we had on Tuesday after our kindergarten visit pushed my thinking even farther. Communicating can happen in a multitude of ways: communication via language...literature via language. It's all connected.

Looking around at the communication I see broadens my understanding of literacy. I took this thinking back to my Dyad classroom and realized that I had previously been so narrow-minded. There is Language, Communication, LITERATURE throughout the entire classroom. I just wasn't seeing it in the "neat and tidy library" form that I was so used to. However, as messy as this new classroom may seem, it's actually extremely accessible and inviting in some ways. The information and posters that cover the walls are not bold as you might expect but small print that invites and beckons you to come closer, read and learn from it. Then I noticed the many artifacts around the room, they do not have any words on them, but they provoke questions that you are able to research by turning to the endless pile of dictionaries and textbooks laying around. My interests were intrigued with these forms of communication and expression of the teacher's and class's interests, they all called me to look for more information.

I did enjoy some browsing in the classroom, then I found myself in a tiny room that was "the library". Why hadn't she shown me this little room before!? These books were all hand provided for the students from the teacher. It was a tiny room but absolutely filled to brim with books of all sorts! The teacher has only been there a few years and is loaning her personal books to these students. It sounds like a sacrifice, but a noble one. After organizing the mini-library I just found myself wanting to dive into a novel of some sort. Unfortunately I had to go back to my textbooks and articles... in fact, I need to go there now...

Literacy is all around us...

Our literacy readings from this week have been encouraging us to find literacy in any and every area of life. This of course, is exciting! The point of "it's never too early to start introducing literature" was clearly stamped out of the readings and ingrained into our minds. Too me, this sounds like a lovely idea! The earlier the better! Reading to babies and young children, what relaxing and loving way to help people learn! I have had the urge to read with every child I know since reading the articles and revisiting the idea.

Throughout the week I was trying to notice the small ways literature was a part of our lives. It's a daily occurrence for me because I'm a student. I don't really have a choice in the matter of reading or not...pass or fail....earn your dream or let is slip away. Of course I enjoy reading for class, pleasure, and work, but what is it like for other people who aren't surrounded by textbooks? As I looked for all the other sources of literature, I found it was all over the place. Letters, emails, magazines, news, pleasure books (?!) etc. I felt surrounded in the grocery store when I saw all the magazines! And no I did not give into the urge to read about Jennifer Anniston!! I had textbooks awaiting my precious eyes, I couldn't waste them on that! People are indulged in literature in some way or another. Preferences and styles can sure go a long way. Communication in general. goes much farther than the constant list of "essays" (and now blogs) that I'm to write each week. I've enjoyed looking outside of my books this week.

Throughout the past month, I've been learning a great deal about the importance of writing and literacy curriculum's. Through my student teaching and with my "literacy master" of a master teacher, my mind is just spinning with all the new things thrown at me. Like the articles ring home, literacy is constant and so important throughout everyones' education, even mine still....especially mine still! This week we switched from our comfy places with our master teachers to the new and unfamiliar Dyad placements. Holly-Moley! What a difference! Here I am surrounded by raging middle school kids and in a room that has mostly just dictionaries... As helpful as they are I'm worried about the lack of writing and literacy that I have yet to see. Where is that darling class library with green and yellow reading lamps surrounding it?! Now, I am beginning to wonder, is this something I would have even noticed a month ago before I spent so much time learning from a literacy curriculum master...?? Am I just overreacting because of the combination of my September experience and the emphasis of literacy in the weekly readings? Probably...sometimes I do get a little dramatic and tend overact...just sometimes.