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Analysis of Student Work

Alicia Herrera

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

For EDEL 311, Spring 2013

Table of Contents

Abstract……………………………………………………………………………………………3

Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..4

Expectations for Third Grader’s Achievement in Reading Comprehension and Writing………...5

Analysis and Performed Assessment of Artifact 1………………………………………………..7

Analysis and Planned Assessment of Artifact 2…………………………………………………13

Analysis and Planned Assessment Artifact 3……………………………………………………17

Conclusion and Reflection……….………………………………………………………………21

References……………………………………………………………………………………….23

Artifact Figure 1…………………………………………………………………………………24

Re-Teaching Assessment of Artifact 1…………………………………………………………..26

Artifact Figure 2…………………………………………………………………………………27

Artifact Figure 3…………………………………………………………………………………28

Abstract

As partial credit for my Practicum I and the other education coursework at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, I have chosen third grade student named Jessie to gain a better understanding of students as human beings and learners. By analyzing three formative assessments (stated as artifacts), Jessie’s strengths and struggles in reading comprehension and writing will be discovered. This discovery will lead me to determine potential teaching and assessment strategies that will meet her distinctive learning style and improve her overall literacy development; but also, and most importantly, help me become a better and effective teacher.

Analysis of Student Work

Introduction

In the profession of teaching elementary education, an effective instructor has the knowledge and strategies needed to meet the standards of student learning. But before these fundamental skills are operational, the instructor must be acquainted with each student and conscious of each student’s strengths and weaknesses. This can be obtained through an analysis of student work (ASW): an understanding of a student’s academic struggles through data collecting and decision-making that will discover a more effective instructional method.

As an entry-level teacher, I conducted an ASW on 3rd grade student Jessie, to develop skills and a comprehensive understanding of students as human beings and learners. According to her teacher, Jessie was held back and is still currently struggling with reading comprehension (remembering/recalling key details like characters and plot) and writing. Although she is not completely failing, Jessie’s teacher and I both agree that Jessie has the ability to improve; Jessie just needs an instructional plan that will better meet her needs. By analyzing her academic history, past teaching strategies used to instruct the student, and three reading and writing assessments of Jessie (known as artifacts), it has been discovered that Jessie’s distinctive learning style will be met in a classroom that provides more collaborative and confidence-building projects with creative writing opportunities.

Expectations for Third Grader’s Achievement in Reading Comprehension and Writing

It is essential and expected for any student to have reading, writing, and general language art skills to achieve academic success. Although Jessie obtains a low C average and seems to enjoy reading orally and writing stories, this students does not show the necessary knowledge and skills to comfortably move forward on to the next grade. For example, Jessie’s oral reading fluency and rate is below average, scored at a rate of 78 words per minute and has a difficult time with reading comprehension. In addition to this, Jessie’s STAR Reading test is at a 2.6 (a level of an average second grader) and has a difficult time making her writing have a clear beginning, middle, and end.

Jessie’s academic history clearly shows that Jessie’s literacy development is growing slowly. However, it is fixable. Jessie must improve on her reading speed, but most importantly, her reading comprehension. This can be achieved if Jessie reads more books that engage her, but also challenge her – books within her zone of proximal development. Also, Jessie must improve her writing skills. Writing a variety of paragraphs and receiving positive feedback will achieve this.

Along with these student achievement expectations, Jessie must also improve to meet the grade level standards that will allow her to comfortably move forward onto the next grade. I believe the main standards Jessie must meet include: (1) RL.3.1-3 Students should know and be able to ask and answer questions; use details to recount stories; identify the message and know how a character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events; (2) RFS.3.4 Students should know and be able to read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension at a third grade level; (3) W.3.1-3 Students should know and be able to write opinion pieces supported by reasons; write informative texts conveying the topic clearly; and write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences; and W.3.10 Students should know and be able to write over various time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences (CCSI, 2010). It is extremely important for Jessie to meet this standards and the analysis of the following three artifacts have discovered an instructional plan that will help Jessie improve and develop successful.

Analysis and Performed Assessment of Artifact 1

Topic: Criterion Referenced Test (CRT) Narrative Reading and Comprehension Practice

Objective: Students will review the comprehension strategy of highlighting key words. Students will also review the elements of a narrative reading passage: plot, setting, characterization, atmosphere/purpose, point of view, and central problem/conflict.

Standards: RL.3.2-3 Students should know and be able to ask and answer questions; use details to recount stories; identify the message and know how a character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events. Also, (2) RFS.3.4 Students should know and be able to read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension at a third grade level.

Formative Assessment: CRT Language Reading Comprehension Worksheet

Student Performance

The student did very well highlighting keywords of the CRT practice worksheet. Jessie even volunteered to share what key words she highlighted with the rest of the class. However, when it came to reading the narrative passage and then later answering the following CRT practice questions, Jessie was not as confident and most of the time displayed confusion. It seemed that she had difficulty following the reading of the teacher, and would occasionally look around at other people’s answers to help solve the same questions on her own worksheet.

Initial Teaching Strategy: Comprehension Strategies Modeling with Read-Aloud

Jessie’s teacher initially taught the lesson by modeling a comprehension strategy, followed by a read-aloud. Before the reading of the narrative passage, Jessie and the rest of the class highlighted keywords of the accompanied questions. This is a comprehension strategy taught to students that can be used on a variety of assignments and exams. The students were allowed to use highlighters, an engaging tool of this age, to locate the key words/concepts.

Jessie’s teaching then followed with a read-aloud activity with the class. She read the narrative passage out loud while the students silently followed along on their individual passage/worksheets. Throughout the story, the teacher paused and asked students if they located any key details from the text that may help them answer the following questions. She called on a few students and continued to read till the end. Students were then instructed to independently solve the CRT practice questions.

Re-teach Strategy 1: Think-Pair-Share

Due to Jessie’s inability to solve the comprehension problems alone, I feel that the collaborative learning method Think-Pair-Share would help assure her understanding of the narrative passage. Think-Pair-Share is a three step learning method that has students silently think about a question posed by the instructor, then has students pair up to exchange thoughts, and then finally has pairs share their response with other pairs, other teams, or the entire class (Kagan et al., 2013). This will give Jessie the opportunity to seek help from her peers – known as cooperative learning – but also allow me to measure Jessie’s independent comprehension ability.

Re-teach Strategy 2: Text-To-Self

Like the Think-Pair-Share, Text-To-Self is another teaching strategy that may help improve Jessie’s comprehension skills. Text-To-Self is a reading comprehension strategy that uses questions to inevitably make students relate the reading to their own personal experiences (Lemov, 2010, p. 271). It is very engaging and can also be a great tool to measure a student’s ability to write an opinionated piece. Using this strategy will give Jessie the opportunity to creatively express her understanding of the narrative passage and give me the opportunity to evaluate her struggling writing skills.

Re-teach Strategy 3: Think-Aloud

Similar to the past two suggested re-teach strategies, Think-Aloud is another comprehension-building learning method. It consists of instructors performing for students how skilled readers construct meaning from a text – known as modeling (Classroom strategies: Think-Alouds, 2013). Essentially, the instructor verbalizes aloud while reading a selection orally (Classroom strategies: Think-Alouds, 2013). This can include describing how the instructor is monitoring or comprehending the reading. By listening to these verbalizations, Jessie will be shown how to properly monitor their own comprehension as well.

Performed Re-Teaching and Assessment Strategies: Think-Pair-Share and Text-To-Self

It was evident that Jessie struggled with word comprehension: the ability to understand a text and apply it to different situations. This could have been due to her inability to follow along the teacher. Therefore, I decided to re-teach the assignment using my first two suggested strategies Think-Pair-Share and Text-To-Self with a similar read-aloud activity. I assessed using the same CRT comprehension worksheet and included another reading comprehension assessment of writing a prompt. The additional assessment would evaluate Jessie’s understanding of the text and measure her writing abilities.

Like the previous time, Jessie and the rest of the students highlighted keywords of the accompanied questions. Then, I read aloud the story with this time, students reading out loud with me. Throughout the story, I also paused and asked students if they located any key details from the text that may help them answer the following questions. I called on a few students and continued to read till the end. Students were then instructed to work on the questions with the Think-Pair-Share structure: students worked independently, shared and worked with group members, and finally shared and worked on the questions as a whole class, respectively. In addition to this, I instructed Jessie and the class to do the writing prompt “If I had an umbrella, I would use it for…” on a separate piece of paper. Students were instructed to write at least three complete sentences with proper grammar and punctuation.

Results. Jessie did very well: she highlighted keywords and also correctly answered all the questions. Jessie seemed to like the teaching strategy and appeared to be more confident. In addition to this, Jessie read the narration also with confidence (loud and clear), and tried very hard to read at a speed of the more advance students.

Although Jessie worked well on the CRT comprehension worksheet, Jessie did not do as well on the assessment of the writing prompt (evaluating spelling, complete sentences, proper grammar and punctuation). Jessie misspelled several words that an average third grader is frequently exposed too. These include, “don’t, would, at, and days.” With days, she misused the apostrophe and wrote “day’s” on her prompt. In addition to this, Jessie’s sentences did not transition well. Although her sentences appeared to be in complete sentences, with words appropriately capitalized and a proper usage of punctuation, her sentences still were unclear. Jessie’s sentences were missing key transition words that made her sentences choppy. For example, “The reason I would use it for sunny day’s because I done’t like sun.”

Second Round of Performed Re-teaching: Think Aloud. Jessie responded well to the Think-Pair-Share and the Text-To-Self strategy by confidently reading and correctly answering word comprehension questions. However, Jessie still struggled with spelling and writing, specifically transitioning one idea to another.

I wanted to continue working with Jessie on her writing – since her word comprehension seemed to be improving – so I decided to reteach the lesson using the Think Aloud strategy. Although this method is normally used to model reading comprehension, a teacher can also use this strategy to model editing. By rereading Jessie’s sentences, Jessie can better hear the errors of her writing. And then by having her follow and read the sentences aloud herself, Jessie will develop a technique that will help her become a better writer.

Re-Checking Results. When rereading the sentences, Jessie stopped me at the same place she stopped herself. We stopped after we read “ate,” but then Jessie corrected herself and stated she meant at. I believe that Jessie wasn’t stopping due to hearing the unfamiliar; I believe she was stopping because she physically saw the error of her paper.

After I read a sentence aloud that did not transition well: For example, “The reason I would use it for sunny day’s because I done’t like sun.” However, Jessie did not think it sounded unclear. So I had Jessie read aloud the same sentence. Again, Jessie believed it sounded clear. In addition to this, she did state “day’s” as if she combine “day” and “is.” After this, I came to believe that Jessie is unaware of how unclear the sentence is because this student writes the same way she converses socially. Once I came to this conclusion, Jessie and I went over the difference of “days” (meaning plural) and “day’s” (meaning something belongs to the day), and discussed transition words. I believe she understood this short lesson, however, another teaching method and/or assessment should be use for confirmation.

Summary

Artifact 1 was given to initially model a comprehension strategy (highlighting keywords) that can be used as a test-taking strategy for the upcoming CRT. Although this goal was achieved, Jessie struggled answering the following questions due to her inability to completely follow the narrative passage while the teacher was reading aloud. By re-reading the text together as a class and using the cooperative learning strategy Think-Pair-Share, Jessie was able to understand the passage more clearly and reassure herself that the answers of the following CRT questions were correct. Also, by having Jessie write a Text-To-Self and using the strategy Think Aloud, Jessie was able to review her knowledge of key elements of a narrative text (characters, plot, setting, etc.), and was given the opportunity to better her writing skills.

Analysis and Planned Assessment of Artifact 2

Topic: Text Feature Exercise: Using a Diagram

Objective: Students will use a diagram of a previous reading to distinguish the attire of a cowboy or cowgirl.

Standards: 3.RIT.5 Use text features and search tools to locate information relevant to a given topic efficiently. Also, W.3.10 Students should know and be able to write over various time frames for a range of discipline-specific tasks, purposes, and audiences.

Formative Assessment: Yippy-Yay! Cowboy/Cowgirl Attire Worksheet

Student Performance

Jessie did great on this assignment and received 49/50 points. It appeared that she had no issue reviewing the diagram and finding the answers. However, Jessie missed a point because she again misspelled many words. There should be no reason of misspelled words because the words are in the book. Also Jessie’s answers are unclear and not in complete sentences.

Initial Teaching Strategy: Independent Worksheet and Whole Class Discussion

Jessie’s teacher initially taught and assessed the students’ knowledge of reading diagrams by instructing them to independently use it for a worksheet, and then later review the work as a class. Students were to distinguish the attire of a cowboy or cowgirl using a diagram provided in their story Yippy-Yay! by Gail Gibbons. The story was previously read by the class together and a graphic organizer was filled prior to this worksheet. After 20 minutes, the students turned in their worksheet into the assignment bin and went over the answers as a class. The worksheet was displayed on an Elmo projector and students volunteered to help answer the questions.

Re-teach Strategy 1: Three-Minute Review

Although Jessie nearly excelled, I still wanted to evaluate and help with her writing skills. I chose Three-Minute Review because I believe it is a great opportunity for students to ask questions about any concepts they may struggle with (in this case, questions about writing). This cooperative learning methods allows the teams/small groups of students three minutes during a discussion to review or to ask clarifying questions or answer questions (Kagan et al., 2013).

Re-teach Strategy 2: Three-Step Interview

Similar to the Three-Minute Review, the Three-Step Interview is another cooperative learning method that will reinforce Jessie and the other students to internalize important concept-related information. First, a member from a team to choose another member from a different team to be partners with (Kagan et al., 2013). With this step, one individual interviews the other by asking clarifying questions (Kagan et al., 2013). In Jessie’s case, she would specifically ask questions that will help her with her writing. Next, the partners reverse roles. Then finally all members share their partners’ response with their original team (Kagan et al., 2013).

Re-teach Strategy 3: Text-To-World

I finally chose the strategy Text-To-World because, like the Text-To-Self method, it is another reading comprehension strategy that uses questions to inevitably make students relate to the text. Text-To-World also focuses on writing. This specific strategy makes students relate an issue to a real event or person (Lemov, 2010, p. 271). Although students will most likely do a “text-to-media,” which is relating the text to a television show or movie, a teacher can still use this connection by asking follow-up connections like “How did the character of your favorite movie help you understand the text” (Lemov, 2010, p. 271).

Planned Re-Teaching and Assessment Strategies: Three-Minute Review and Three-Step Interview

Jessie nearly excelled this assignment, but showed struggle in spelling frequently seen words (also known as high-frequency words) and the ability to put information in complete sentences. Due to this result, my re-teaching would mainly focus on her writing ability and I would use the re-teaching strategy #1: Three-Minute Review, followed with the re-teaching strategy #2: Three-Step Interview. By grouping Jessie with peers who are advance writers in the Three-Minute Review and instructing them to edit each other’s worksheet, Jessie will be able to ask various questions about the expected writing level that that she is exposed too. The Three-Step interview is another opportunity to view various writings or to ask questions if she needs to. Along with these new strategies, Jessie’s improved writing skills will be the same worksheet. Writing skills would be assessed with the same worksheet. Note: Due to the fact that these are third graders, and do not have a strong foundation in editing, I feel that just the exposure of various writings (especially writings of their peers) will create an understanding or an opportunity to question how critical writing skills are and prepare them for editing in the future.

Planned Re-check: Text-To-World. In addition to the worksheet, I would instruct Jessie to write a Text-To-World piece to measure any improvement. Jessie and the other students would be instructed to write an opinionated piece relating the cowboy or cowgirl of the story to an important person of the real world. Like the Text-To-Self, this form of assessment will give me an opportunity to measure any improvement or locate any struggle in Jessie’s usage of correct punctuation and grammar, and the ability to write clear, complete sentences.

Summary

The original artifact given to Jessie was to assess her ability to use a diagram of a text to distinguish two subjects – text feature skills. Although Jessie nearly excelled, the artifact also pointed out that Jessie is struggling with spelling high-frequency words and writing data into complete sentences. By using the cooperative learning strategies Three-Minute Review and Three-Step Interview, Jessie will be given the exposure of expected writing of her grade level and the opportunity to solve any questions she may have on the writing subject. Also, with the following of the strategy text-to-world, Jessie will be given the opportunity to better her writing skills and to continue developing her reading comprehension.

Analysis and Planned Assessment of Artifact 3

Topic: Boom Town Vocabulary Word Exercise

Objective: Students will figure out the previously studied vocabulary word that matches the definitions provided. Students are able to use their book or the vocabulary words on the whiteboard for further help.

Standards: RL.3.2-3 Students should know and be able to ask and answer questions; use details to recount stories; identify the message and know how a character’s actions contribute to the sequence of events. Also, RFS.3.4 Students should know and be able to read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension at a third grade level.

Formative Assessment: Boom Town Character Crossword Puzzle Worksheet

Student Performance

It was evident that Jessie did not know what the answers were of the crossword puzzle. Jessie did not help her partner match any of the vocabulary words with the given definitions, and it led her partner to work with a different group. Once Jessie realized her partner was getting the answer, she tried to copy, but her partner said no. Jessie appeared frustrated and still would not use her book as a reference. Once the class did share their answers, Jessie finally worked on and completed the worksheet.

Initial Teaching Strategy: Partner Work and Whole Class Discussion

As preparation for their upcoming vocabulary exam, students were initially instructed to pair up and complete a crossword puzzle based on the previously study vocabulary words from the reading Boom Town by Sonia Levitin. The story was previously read by the class and a graphic organizer was filled prior to this worksheet. After 20 minutes, the students went over the answers as a class and filled out the missing boxes. The worksheet was displayed on an Elmo projector and students volunteered to help answer the questions. After the review, the students put their worksheet in their take-home folder to use as a study guide for the vocabulary test.

Re-teach Strategy 1: Summarization

Due to the fact that the class had previously read the story and filled out a graphic organizer, it was evident that Jessie did not know what the answers were because she could not locate the vocabulary words and/or definitions in the reading. This seems to be another indication of her struggle in reading comprehension. This is why I felt the re-teach strategy of summarization would be beneficial.

According to (2010) Lemov, this particular teaching strategy is one that will teach students a skill/tool that they will most likely use for the rest of their lives (p. 269). Asking questions like “Who can recap three most important events” or other similar questions will teach prioritization and Jessie will learn to naturally remember information that she feels is important (Lemov, 2010, p. 270). In result, Jessie will better remember the story and be better at locating information (like the character) in the text needed for an activity.

Re-teach Strategy 2: Team Pair Solo

Like summarization, Team Pair Solo helps build the reading comprehension level of students. This cooperative and mediated learning method is similar to Think-Pair-Share, but reversely performed. First, students do a problem first as a team, then with a partner, and finally on their own (Kagan et al., 2013). This will give Jessie the opportunity to progressively solve a problem alone that she unknowingly could not be able to solve without another person’s help, building confidence and aptitude.

Re-teach Strategy 3: Partners

Lastly, I picked Kagan’s cooperative learning method Partners as another re-teaching strategy that will help student’s recall key details of a story. First, the class is divided into teams of four. The partners of each team move to one side of the room (Kagan et al., 2013). The rest of the members of each team are given an assignment to master and to eventually teach the partners on the other side of the room (Kagan et al., 2013). Once the material is mastered, the members with the material go to the remaining members and teach the material (Kagan et al., 2013). The “learners” can also consult with other team “learners,” working on the same material for a better understanding (Kagan et al., 2013). At the end, partners can quiz or continue tutoring each other after an evaluation of how well the material was taught and learned (Kagan et al., 2013). Similar to the other cooperative learning strategies of Kagan, this will give Jessie the opportunity to contribute by teaching important concepts or key details, but also learn from her peers.

Planned Re-Teaching and Assessment Strategies: Partners and Team Pair Solo

Due to the evidence that Jessie did not know what the answers were of the crossword puzzle, let alone where to look for them, I would re-teach the lesson either with the cooperative learning strategies of partners or Team Pair Solo. Both techniques require students to work together, re-teach each other key details of a text, and at the end help each other solve problems that may be too difficult to solve on their own (in this case, the crossword puzzle). The methods also increase students’ levels of confidence and aptitude by somewhat forcing students to gain a sense of responsibility and contribute to the overall learning of the class. Reading comprehension would be assessed using the same worksheet.

Planned Re-check: Summarization. Along with the worksheet, I would use the re-teaching strategy summarization to assess whether Jessie has developed a better understanding of the text – knowledge of text’s characters, plot, setting, and overall message. I would instruct Jessie and the other students to summarize three important characters of the text, and to include why they are significant. The students must write at least three sentences for each person, and for the explanation to include setting and occupation of the three characters. I would also allow the students to use the text for reference but enforce that the summarization is in their own words. This will measure Jessie’s growing reading comprehension skills, and her writing abilities.

Summary

Artifact 3 was given initially to prepare students for an upcoming vocabulary exam. However, Jessie appeared to have no idea where to look in the text for the answers of the crossword puzzle. By re-teaching the lesson with either Kagan strategies Team Pair Solo, or Partners, paired with a lesson in summarization, Jessie will have the opportunity to cooperatively learn the vocabulary words sufficiently, complete the worksheet, and excel the vocabulary exam. She will also have the opportunity to develop the confidence and responsibility of her own work needed to succeed in the future.

Conclusion and Reflection

The Analysis of Student Work Project has taught me the foundational skills needed to develop effective instructional plans that will ensure a successful academic development of all my students. This experience in all honesty was at first, a bit overwhelming. However, by calmly exploring Jessie’s past academic history and current assessments, I have been able to locate Jessie’s struggle with word comprehension – key elements of text – and writing – spelling high frequency words and transitioning to make clear sentences. Also, by exploring a variety of re-teaching strategies, I was able to identify learning methods and assessments that will meet Jessie’s needs for proper literacy development. Through a combination of collaborative activities and creative writing opportunities, I have discovered that Jessie will gain a better understanding of reading through her peers, and she will have the opportunity to practice and improve her writing skills. In addition to this, Jessie will be offered many opportunities to express herself, gain a sense of responsibility by contributing to the learning of the class, and result with great confidence and aptitude.

In saying this, I believe I too developed a sense of confidence and aptitude in my future career as a teacher. As someone who has never had the opportunity to employ any learning method or assessment, I feel I did great connecting specific re-teach strategies to the real work of my students. I gave myself a great amount of time to observe and review the past assessments of my student, and I did many hours of research to find re-teaching strategies that consisted of high, meaningful expectations, included engaging activities, and also met her needs. In saying this, I feel researching was the most valuable learning that helped me get through this project and the knowledge I will forever use in the future.

Again, this has been a great experience and I am looking forward to the next Practicum. I now have a better understanding on the process of developing an effective instructional plan and also now know that research – on strategies, formative assessments other than a worksheet, or simply on your student’s personality and behavior in class – will help better teach and assess my future students.

Reference

(2013). Classroom strategies: Think-Alouds. Readingrockets. Retrieved March 20, 2013, at

strategies/think_alouds/.

Common Core State Standards Initiative. (2010). Common core state standards for English

Language arts & literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. Retrieved March 1, 2013, at .

Kagan et al. (2013). Class activities that use cooperative learning. Retrieved March 1, 2013, at

.

Lemov, D. (2010). Teach like a champion: 49 techniques that put students on the path to college.

San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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