Johanna Busch
Qualitative Evidence of Academic Growth
While students only take I-Ready three times a year, I am constantly using qualitative evidence to assess my students. Student writing is one type of evidence that I use to assess growth. Students write throughout the year in a variety of different styles including, informational, persuasive, and narrative. This year, we made our social studies and science block writing intensive. Therefore, students particularly focused on creating writing pieces using evidence from informational texts they read about a social studies or science topic. Though
Informational Writing Rubric
I used the below rubric for all three informational writing assessments. This rubric has three levels of proficiency with 3 being the highest. First, I evaluate whether or not students clearly introduced their topic. The second component is whether students supported their topic with facts and details. The third component is the organization of their paragraph. The fourth component assesses whether students concluded their paragraph effectively. The final component assesses whether students used proper conventions throughout their paragraph, which includes punctuation, capitalization and spelling.
Using this consistent, clear rubric was important for two reasons. First, using a consistent rubric allows me to better assess student growth by evaluating each writing sample on the same scale. Secondly, since I use the same rubric so frequently, students are able to internalize the expectations for their informational writing. Knowing the expectations helps students to produce high quality work.
The image above is a screenshot of the informational writing rubric I use throughout the year to evaluate informational writing pieces.
Beginning of Year Writing Samples
At the end of September, students completed their first informational writing assignment. While the assignment was not easier or harder than later assignments, I did not plan a brainstorming or pre-writing exercise. Students simply read the text and then were asked to answer the writing prompt "What did you learn about space camp?" in a paragraph using information from the text.
Students first read an informational text about space camp. Students then wrote independently. This assignment served as a diagnostic to see what experience students already had with informational writing. Completing this assignment without a lot of scaffolding and teacher support allowed me to assess baseline strengths and areas in need of improvement with regard to informational writing.
This is one of the pages of the text about space camp. Students read this text in the Pearson's second grade Reading Street Textbook.
Student 1
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Student 1 is one of the most proficient writers in my class. She began the year with a strong understanding of how to form her own complete sentences and an I-Ready score of 489, which is an early second grade level. Her diagnostic demonstrated a strong understanding of conventions. She also used two relevant details from the text. However, she lacked a clear paragraph structure and did not include an introductory or concluding sentence. Since Student 1 already has such a strong understanding of sentence structure, she is ready to start working towards writing a complete paragraph.
Student 2
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Student 2 began the year on a high kindergarten reading level according to I-Ready (411). She used correct capitalization and punctuation in both of her sentences. She was also able to choose two relevant details from the text. However, these details were directly copied rather than rephrased in her own words. This student also lack strong introductory and concluding sentences.
Student 3
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Student 3 began the year with one of the lowest I-Ready reading scores in the class. He scored a 325, meaning he was on a kindergarten reading level. This student copied one detail from the text. However issues with capitalization, spacing, and handwriting make it difficult to understand his second sentence. This student needs to work on developing and writing complete sentences.
Student 3
Student 3 exhibited the most growth based on the rubric. His score jumped from a 6/15 on the informational writing rubric to a 14/15. It was not easy to achieve this type of growth. This student often got extremely frustrated and would just give up on writing at the beginning of the year. By the end of the year, this student greatly improved his stamina and perseverance with respect to writing. While he entered second grade struggling to write in complete sentences and not understanding that the writing process involved constant revision, this student's EOY writing sample shows a well-organized informational paragraph. This student has learned how to utilize the writing process to select important details, introduce and conclude his paragraph, and revise his first draft. This buy-in to the writing process has allowed this student to start writing full informational paragraphs.
Summary of Growth
These three writing samples from three students of differing abilities show the immense growth students in my class have achieved in writing this year. Though all three came into second grade with varying writing abilities, they are all leaving able to write a well-organized informational paragraph about a topic of interest. Even students who started the year below grade level in reading and writing were able to make these gains because I scaffolding this process for them. In the beginning of the year, we focused on the parts of a complete sentence. Around the middle of the year, we worked on developing paragraphs about one topic that included only important information. By the end of the year, all students were working to use introductory and concluding sentences in every paragraph they wrote. The writing process also provides students with a scaffold, supporting them through pre-writing, drafting, revising, and their final draft. By providing explicit expectations, scaffolded support through the writing process, and many opportunities for practice and specific feedback, I was able to help students at various levels achieve dramatic academic growth in informational writing.
Student 3
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Student 3's informational writing abilities came so far since the beginning of the year. Though this writing piece is slightly harder to read, that is actually a positive sign that this student is re-reading and editing his own work. This pieces shows a well-developed paragraph with a clear introduction, supporting details, and conclusion. Most sentences are complete thoughts with an uppercase letter and punctuation. Despite these errors, this student has developed a clear, well-crafted paragraph.
Summary of Growth
Student 1
Student 1 grew from a score of 10/15 to a perfect 15/15 on the informational writing rubric. This student entered second grade already comfortable writing complete sentences. However, she did not have a strong grasp on how to organize information into a well-developed paragraph. Leaving second grade, this student can consistently choose relevant details about a topic of interest and organize them into a coherent paragraph. This skill builds a strong foundation for writing well-organized multi-paragraph essays in the coming years. This student has learned how to carefully choose ideas to include in her informational writing, ensuring they relate to her main topic, rather than just writing in a stream of conscious style.
In the future, I want to think about how I can push students who enter my class already writing complete sentences to achieve even more academic growth. While student one did grow substantially in her writing abilities, I want to continue to raise the bar even higher as I believe she is ready for even greater writing challenges.
Student 2
Student 2 grew from a score of 8/15 to 14/15 on the informational writing rubric. Student 2 began the year struggling to form her own complete sentences. By the end of the year, she was not only able to write in full sentences but organize them into a paragraph. Though her first two writing samples were fairly unorganized details drawn from texts, her EOY writing sample shows a huge progression towards a well-developed paragraph about a single topic that includes introductory and concluding sentences. Though this student still struggles to use consistent finger spacing and end her sentences with punctuation, the content and organization of her writing has come so far since the beginning of the year.
Student 2
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Student 2's growth is most evident in her ability to develop a paragraph with a beginning, middle, and end. Though Student 2 was able to organize some relevant details in her MOY writing piece, her paragraph did not have a coherent structure. Though she has made so much progress, this student needs to continue working on writing all the way to the end of each line and using punctuation at the end of every sentence.
Student 1
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Student 1 entered second grade already proficient at writing complete sentences. Her EOY writing sample shows that she is now able to organize these sentences into a coherent, well-organized paragraph. This student skillfully introduced her topic, shared multiple relevant details, and concluded her paragraph. Additionally, this student's ability to proofread and revise her own work for errors has drastically improved. Her informational writing abilities have come so far since the beginning of the year.
End of Year Writing Samples
By the end of the year, I planned an even more rigorous informational writing assignment. Rather than just writing about a single topic, students were asked to compare frogs and toads. Additionally, by the end of the year, students have learned all the elements of a paragraph. Therefore, all students should know what an introductory and concluding sentence are and be using them in their writing. For this assignment, students watched a video about frogs and toads. Then students read two different informational texts about frogs and toads. Students used what they learned from these three sources to complete a Venn diagram about frogs and toads. Finally, students wrote a paragraph about similarities and differences between frogs and toads.
Students watched the above video to start thinking about frogs and toads.
Students read the above reading about frogs and toads and underlined similarities and differences.
Students created the above mini books about frogs and toads and underlined similarities and differences.
Above are Venn diagrams that students filled out to compare frogs and toads.
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Student 3
Student 3 showed a lot of improvement between BOY and MOY. During BOY, this student was still struggling to form his own complete sentences. At the MOY, he is moving towards writing in complete sentences and organizing them into a logical paragraph. This student is still missing some of the crucial components of an informational paragraph, such as a concluding sentence, but Student 3 is moving in the right direction.
Middle of Year Writing Samples
In December, I wanted students to continue thinking about how to choose the most important details from an informational text to include in a writing sample. To practice this, students were asked to write a paragraph length biography about Abraham Lincoln. First, students watched a video about Abraham Lincoln and read a biography about him. Then, students completed a brainstorming exercise. Next, students wrote a rough draft of their biography. Finally, students completed their final draft.
This is one of the pages of the text about Abraham Lincoln. Students read this text in the Pearson's second grade Reading Street Textbook.
Here is a screenshot of a Brainpop Junior video that students watched about Abraham Lincoln.
Brainstorming
After reading a biography about Abraham Lincoln and watching a video about him, students worked in small groups to identify the four most important details about Lincoln's life that they would want to include in a biography. Brainstorming ensured that students were thinking carefully about what details should be included in their paragraph, rather than just choosing randomly.
Above are samples of student brainstorming about Abraham Lincoln.
Student 1
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Student 1 made some progress between BOY and MOY. Her MOY paragraph showed more organization, including a weak introductory and concluding sentence. She also did a better job incorporating facts and details about her topic. Student 1 did show a decline in conventions, including spelling and capital letters between BOY and MOY. Based on this, I decided to work on proofreading with her in the following months. Overall, student one is moving from writing in sentences to writing a coherent, organized paragraph.
Student 2
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Student 2 is beginning to use paragraph structures, such as an introductory sentence. She also showed progress in conventions, using finger spaces rather than starting each sentence on a new line and capitalizing the beginning of each sentence. This student also chose relevant details from sources we read to include in her paragraph. In the future, this student will need to work on using proper punctuation and composing a complete paragraph.