Writing Assessment Tools

Writing Assessment Tools

During the group discussion, we decided that there are several ways writing can be assessed. As teachers, we focus simply on what is written but not how our students understand. Twelve out of twenty is given for a written assignment, but why has the student received that? Traditionally, the writing was only assessed when students write and students used a checklist or a rubric to see if the writing had the correct mechanics. Sadly, even today with our diverse learners and their different learning styles, some teachers only use checklists only to assess their students.

Writing can be assessed in many ways. Below are five ways writing can be assessed:

Writer’s Workshop
The Writing Workshop is a student-centred framework for writing instruction that when students write frequently they learn to write best (Mulvahill, 2018).  Writer's workshop can be effective in assessing students writing because students can receive opportunities for feedback at different stages.  We as teachers can assess students writing through the Writer's Workshop through a conference, share ideas, ways to improve writing and evaluate students writing.

Journals

Writing in journals can be a powerful strategy for students to respond to literature, gain writing fluency, dialogue in writing with another student or the teacher, or write in the content areas (Cox,2012). A journal can be used to assess students writing. Teachers can easily identify issues in students writing using a journal. Assessing students' writing in journals can help teachers to plan for future instruction in writing. We as teachers can use journals can provide teachers with insight into students writing abilities.

Portfolio 
A portfolio is the collection of students' writing. Teachers can use portfolios for writing instruction to collect students writing. Students can be able to reflect their own growth as writers and self evaluate ways to make writing better.. Using portfolios can be used to help students to keep track of their progress in writing. Students can also receive teacher feedback for their writing. When learners are introduced to monitoring their progress, they become more aware of their strengths and weaknesses and how they can improve their writing (Koay,2019). 

Checklists
A checklist is an assessment tool usually used to check if students have demonstrated specific criteria.  Teachers can use a checklist to assess students writing to determine whether students have demonstrated the criteria in their writing.  Both teacher and student can assess writing through a checklist.

Example of checklist


6 +1 traits
The 6+ 1  traits model of instruction and assessment is based on some characteristics of good writing. The 6+1  traits model uses scoring guides to identify and evaluate good writing Reading Rockets (2010). The 6+1 traits within the model are ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation.

Literacy Log
A Literacy log is a record of student work and activities. This literacy log helps the student and teacher to keep track of students writing progress. This can be used as an assessment tool to help teachers to assess students writing based on their progress.

Rubric
A rubric is an assessment tool that uses a set of criteria to evaluate student's performance and students work. Teachers can use a rubric to evaluate students writing. We as teachers sometimes create our own rubrics so assess students' work. We can create a rubric to assess students work and evaluating the quality of their writing.


Peer editing
Peer editing can be used as a writing assessment tool. This is an assessment where students work together in pairs or even in small groups to check each others writing process. Students can learn together, realise their own mistakes and share their ideas on writing. The teacher can become the facilitator with this assessment.



Useful websites:
https://www.scholastic.com/dodea/Module_3/resources/red_tr_c03s03_assesstool.pdf - This site outlines different writing assessment tools that can be used in the classroom.
https://www.readingrockets.org/article/writing-assessment- This site outlines and describes some writing assessment tools that can be used in the classroom.

References

Cox, C. (2012). Literature Based Teaching in the Content Areas. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE  Publications, Inc.

Koay, J. (2019, October 26). WHAT IS PORTFOLIO WRITING ASSESSMENT? Retrieved from Edu Maxi: https://www.edumaxi.com/what-is-portfolio-writing-assessment/#respond

Mulvahill, E. (2018, April 19). What Is Writing Workshop? Retrieved from We are teachers: https://www.weareteachers.com/what-is-writing-workshop/

Reading Rockets. (2019). Writing Assessment. Retrieved from Reading Rockets: https://www.readingrockets.org/article/writing-assessment

Until Next time ... Goodbye

Poetry as a Genre

Poetry

Welcome back, everyone! 

This week we were introduced to Poetry and all the glories and splendour that accompany the poetry. It is one expressive form that our students are introduced to as early as 2 years old. Think about the following nursery rhymes. Hmm... Don't they sound like poems?

Figure 1. Jack and Jill

Figure 2. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Figure 3. Baa, Baa Black Sheep

What is Poetry?

Poetry is a piece of writing that expresses an emotion or an idea. Poetry allows persons to share personal experiences, share their imagination and express feelings.

Why do we do Poetry?

We use poetry as a form of expression that we use to express feelings, ideas and thoughts on a subject matter or a topic.

We as teachers do poetry in the classroom to encourage creative writing, allow students to explore language and vocabulary.

Types of Poetry

There are many types of poems. However, we will keep the list to only 10 types.
 1.Colour Poem

3.If I Were Poem

4.Acrostic Poem

5.Concrete Poem

6.Ode 

7.Haiku

8.Limericks

Benefits of Poetry to the Students

The benefits of poetry to students are:

1. Poetry allows students to be expressive and creative with their thoughts
2. Poetry takes the emphasis off of mechanics such as grammar and vocabulary so all students are comfortable with writing poems
3. Some poems follow an order so students become aware of patterns and rhythm

Recommended sites

• https://www.familyfriendpoems.com/poems/other/- This site shows examples of the types of poems and describes what they are
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ad2RDUIV8yg- A video explaining poetry
• https://www.readingrockets.org/article/10-ways-use-poetry-your-classroom- Some ways you can incorporate poetry in your classroom

 References

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The Complete Caribbean Teacher Literacy. Pheonix: Pearson Education.

 Spandel, Vicki (2012) Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom: 6 Traits, Process,
        Workshop & Literature (6th edition). New York: Pearson

Until Next Sunday... Goodbye

A visit

Hi Everyone!

What an eye-opener this week was!

In Monday's class session, We were visited by a very experienced teacher who had to complete observations in fulfillment of her Master's Degree in Education. We will call her Teacher X. While there, Teacher X shared some of the issues that are current especially in regards to Literacy teaching in Education. Three issues that stood out were:

1. Most teachers after they are trained are afraid to teach Kindergarten and Grade 6 classes. This can be due to the fact that both classes would require the teacher to go the extra mile for the students. In Kindergarten, students may need assistance with learning to read and write. On the other hand, in Grade 6, students are preparing for placement into the secondary school system. Teachers, although they are trained, shy away from these classes because they feel as though they are "not qualified".
   
2. Teachers do not like to be placed on classes with the majority of struggling students. They fell as though it is difficult because these students have difficulty understanding the already heavy curriculum.
   
3. Our schools are being faced with inclusion. Inclusion is the event where no matter the ability of the child, meaning if the child is blind, deaf, wheelchair ridden, etc. - that child must be in normal classroom settings. We do not think we have to explain why teachers will shy away from this situation. 

We can not lie. We are all guilty of feeling this way when we are faced with the option of having to teach these categories of children. If we are being honest, it comes from:

• the fear of not being a good enough teacher, 
• the fear of thinking we will mess up the students; and 
• the fear of not having the time to cater to all of our students' needs. 

Teacher X however, presented us with the facts and helped us to understand that the real reason teachers shy away from these classes. Teacher X stated:

"Teachers are simply lazy. They do not want to take the time out to plan."

We had to agree with Teacher X on this point. When you become a trained teacher you are exposed to the issues you may face in the classroom. Then you are equipped with the knowledge, skills and attitude to help overcome the obstacles in your classroom.

"Teachers do not want to go beyond the call of duty and unlock their full potential not only as teachers but as an individual."

Teacher X shared a heartwarming story about a legally blind student that joined her class in Grade 4. Although the child could not see, someone who didn't know that the child was blind would not believe the conversations held by that child.
This not only showed that the student could have been taught, but, that the student had the ability to learn.

Teacher X further explained that the child would run the fingertips across the school to maneuver to the classroom, school walls and find the bathroom independently and would memorize instructions because there was not any way to see the instructions. The students also knew how to use braille, so, fortunately, it assisted with the memorizing of information.
This aspect proved that the student had develop the other senses so well that she could function as a "regular" student.

When we think of a scenario like this, it helps us to understand the true meaning of teaching. Teaching should be about changing and improving lives no matter how difficult or easy the task is. It also helps us not to take anything for granted and appreciate the simple things, for instance, having all our senses. Furthermore, we should understand that all students have the ability to learn just at different paces and teachers should foster the environment for learning to take place.

That's all for this week! We hope you enjoyed our post. Below is a link provided by UNICEF that speaks about inclusion in the schools.
Link:
https://www.unicef.org/eca/sites/unicef.org.eca/files/IE_summary_accessible_220917_brief.pdf

References

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The Complete Caribbean Teacher Literacy. Pheonix: Pearson Education.

 Spandel, Vicki (2012) Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom: 6 Traits, Process,
        Workshop & Literature (6th edition). New York: Pearson

Until next Sunday... Goodbye!

Narrative Writing : Point of View

Narrative Writing

Welcome back to our blog!

This week was such a mouthful. There are so many aspects of Narrative Writing that have to be covered. This week we touched on aspects such as:

1. how to fully develop characters in stories (by using gestures, for example), 
2. the various themes that can come out of our stories ( for instance, love, forgiveness and loyalty);
3. narrative writing devices (flashback, tone and symbolism); and
4. the goals that should be set for students at lower and upper primary in regards to narrative writing (Students should be able to identify characteristics of narrative writing and develop more complex plot as they move along).

However, what stood out to us the most was the Point of View of our stories.

What is Point of View?

In simplest terms, point of view is who is telling the story. A story can be told in:

• First person
• Third person

The point of view is used as a form of expression for the writer or other characters. Readers are able to experience the story as though they are there with the writer.

First Person uses the pronouns I, me, we. Here, the characters are telling the story, from their perspective. Examples include:

I can not wait for Carnival !

We always look forward to Christmas.

If it was up to me, I would have gone to public school.

Third person point of view uses the pronouns he, she, it or they. Examples include:

She is a great dancer.

He did not want to go inside the haunted house, but he went anyway.

They could not believe it was about to be the worst day of their lives.

The word omniscient is one we want you to become familiar with. From research we learnt that the prefix Omni-, means"all," and the verb scire, means "to know". Omniscient is used in the third person point of view, there are two types:

1. Omniscient point of view - where the narrator knows everything about the characters. The narrator can be deemed as "God-like", that is, the narrator knows everything.
2. Limited omniscient - The narrator only knows about one character.

Omniscient allows you to know more about the characters. From the characters' actions, readers are able to understand the plot. It also makes the story more interesting and allows readers to draw their own conclusions, thus promoting critical thinking and reading.

One popular movie that has limited omniscient is Harry Potter. We always seem to know what Harry's feelings and observations, but, not the feelings of the other characters.

1. The reason why the second person point of view was not used is because it uses the words you, your and yours. In our opinion it is not really used for story writing, but, more or less when someone is giving directions, giving a recipe or giving a speech. 

Let's just say this is by the way information for teachers and information given for teacher enrichment. An example of second person point of view is:

You can be the best you want to be!

2. Please stick to one form of point of view when writing the story. It makes it easier for the persons reading the story.

3. Proficient writers may be able to write in the first person better than struggling writers. Guide struggling writers and have them write from the third person instead.

That's all we have to share this week. Let us know in the comments which aspect of Narrative Writing is your favourite and why. We would love to hear from you !

References

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The Complete Caribbean Teacher Literacy. Pheonix: Pearson Education.

 Spandel, Vicki (2012) Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom: 6 Traits, Process,
        Workshop & Literature (6th edition). New York: Pearson


Until next Sunday... Goodbye!

Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing - An Extension 

This week we will be extending our thoughts on Narrative Writing. In class, during our discussions, we were exposed to several misconceptions that teachers have about Narrative Writing, and as a result, our students become lost along the way with their writings. A teacher being equipped with all the right strategies to help students is one thing. However, in our opinion, the teacher should be more versed with the content for effective teaching and overall better student writing.

Misconceptions about the Elements of the Story

1. The plot is the sequence of the events, not only the climax of the story. For younger students, (age K TO 3), teachers can stick to identifying the plot as the beginning, middle and end. Although for older students (Grade 4 +), this is where students can begin to learn about the introduction, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution/end. Below is a picture to clearly illustrate what we mean:

Figure 1. Plot Mountain

2.    The conflict or the problem in the story is the tension between the forces in the story. This tension can be internal, meaning the main character versus himself with a problem. The conflict can also be man versus man, man versus group and man versus the environment. It is important to know that there should be roadblocks within the story that prevents the main character(s) from arriving at the resolution. 

NB: After a resolution is met, the story should end shortly after in an effort to not draw out the story and make your readers bored.

3.       As teachers, we often think the setting is only place and time. We often are guilty of simply asking students, “At what time and where is your story taking place?” The setting of a story is so much more than that. It includes the location (where – home, church, school), weather (sunny, windy, rainy), time (morning, afternoon, evening, night) and time period (the amount of time taken to do something).

4.      We always knew that the characters we the people in the story. However, characters can also be animals or objects in the story. At first, animals, as the characters did not shock us as series such as Peppa Pig and Max and Ruby, came to mind. However, how dare we forget objects as characters when our childhood was filled with shows such as Thomas and Friends and the infamous movie Cars.

 Example of Animals as characters:

 Figure 2. Peppa Pig

Figure 3. Max and Ruby

Examples of Objects as characters:

Figure 4. Cars

Figure 5. Thomas and Friends

Below is a YouTube video link that creatively explains the elements of Narrative Writing:

YouTube Link: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cU9IhMk6doM


References

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The Complete Caribbean Teacher Literacy. Pheonix: Pearson Education.

 Spandel, Vicki (2012) Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom: 6 Traits, Process,
        Workshop & Literature (6th edition). New York: Pearson

Until next Sunday... Goodbye!

Narrative Writing

Narrative Writing as a Genre 

What is Narrative Writing?

Writing can be done in different genres. On one of our previous posts, we focused on descriptive writing. This week's focus is on narrative writing as a genre. Narrative writing involves telling a story which can be both fictional or nonfictional.  In short, a narrative is a form of writing that tells a story. Telling stories is an ancient art that started long before humans invented writing. People tell stories when they gossip, tell jokes, or reminisce about the past. Written forms of narration include most forms of writing: personal essays, fairy tales, short stories, novels, plays, screenplays, autobiographies, histories, even news stories have a narrative. Narratives may be a sequence of events in chronological order or an imagined tale with flashbacks or multiple timelines.

Elements of Narrative Writing 

                                                       (Google Image)

Parts of Narrative Writing

The parts or elements of narrative writing include:

1. The setting is the location of the events in time and place.

2. The characters are the people in the story who drive the plot, are impacted by the plot, or may even be bystanders to the plot.

3. The plot is the thread of events that occur in a story.

4. The conflict is the problem that is being resolved. Plots need a moment of tension, which involves some difficulty that requires resolution.

5. Most important and least explicit is the theme. What is the moral of the story? What does the writer intend the reader to understand? 

                                                    (Google Image)

Strategies for teaching Narrative Writing

1.      Let students understand stories are everywhere – events always happen to our students. Whether at home, at school on the playground or at break time and at lunchtime and even at church. Teachers can orally use the prompt “This one time…” to generate ideas of stories from students.

2.      Model reading stories to students – When teachers model students not only understand what is expected of them as writers but, they get an idea as to how to bring their ideas across.

3.      Use graphic organizers, specifically story maps – using the graphic organizers, students are able to visualize their thoughts, sequence the story and remember all the story elements.

4.      Implement the Writing Process – allow students to pace their writing and write in stages.

5.      Writing Workshops – Have mini-lessons on some aspect of narrative writing craft, then give students the rest of the period to write, conference with you, and collaborate with their peers. During that time, they should focus some of their attention on applying the skill they learned in the mini-lesson to their drafts, so they will improve a little bit every day. Topics for the mini-lesson may include:

a.       How to insert dialogues in the story

b.      Punctuation

c.       Using sensory details and figurative language

d.      Choosing nouns, verbs, sentence lengths and structures and transitional words

e.       Starting and ending prompts and a story title

Below is a link that contains several story starters to assist your students. Be sure to modify based on the grade level and ability of students:

https://www.journalbuddies.com/creative-writing-2/fun-story-starters-for-kids/

References

Warrican, S. J. (2012). The Complete Caribbean Teacher Literacy. Pheonix: Pearson Education.

 Spandel, Vicki (2012) Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom: 6 Traits, Process,
        Workshop & Literature (6th edition). New York: Pearson

Until next Sunday.... Goodbye!

Remedial Strategy

Remedial Strategy (Writing Process)

This week's sessions were a bit different from the usual sessions. In fact, our colleagues from the Secondary Program majoring in English presented. The presentation was based on a Remedial Strategy that can be used to help students with their writing. To our surprise, the strategy was none other than 'The Writing Process'.

''Our students have trouble making their B.E.D.S,'' stated one colleague at the start of  the presentation.

Amused, we learnt that the acronym B.E.D.S stands for:

Brainstorming

Expressing

Developing

Sequencing 

Therefore, it was acknowledged that students had problems brainstorming, expressing, developing and sequencing their thoughts and ideas. The Writing Process was the strategy to employ to rectify this problem.

What is the Writing Process?

Chances are, you have experienced a moment of writer's block. You may have been sitting in class, writing your notes, and given the writing assignment. You freeze. Your mind goes blank, and you have that thought: 'I have no idea what to write about!' You stare at the blank screen or paper and watch the time go by. You write a word, erase, and start again. It seems like you will never be able to start.

All writers, even the most professional and published, have experienced this moment of panic. Writing can be a bit intimidating, until you know how to approach the topic and start your work. The writing process helps us focus, plan, and write our papers (The Writing Process: Definition & Steps Video, 2015).

Parts of The Writing Process

The Writing Process is divided into five(5) parts or stages. They are:

Pre-writing - This is the preparation for writing. Students plan what they are going to write and brainstorm ideas. A graphic organizer can be used to assist students with mapping out their thoughts and ideas(Warrican, 2012) .

Drafting - Students use outlines to come up with coherent pieces. Our students will arrange their points in a readable way(Warrican, 2012) .

Revising - The stage of refinement. Here, students focus on the message of the piece written (Warrican, 2012).

Editing - In this stage, teachers help students fine-tune the mechanical features of their writing and ensure it is free of errors of spelling, grammar and punctuation. Teachers can use mini-lessons to highlight and pinpoint general errors made by students, in order to create independent readers and writers (Warrican, 2012).

Publishing - Students produce a finished copy of their work and given the opportunity to share their work, for example, with classmates (Warrican, 2012).

Figure 1. The Writing Process

What stood out to us in the presentation was the incorporation of a checklist at the end of stage of the Writing Process.



We then thought of creating a checklist for the Revising Stage. In this stage, students are in the middle of writing their pieces. Therefore, in our opinion the piece is neither closer to beginning nor close to ending; so, if any mistakes occur, this will be the best opportunity for students to start over from stage one in the writing process just to ensure their message gets across to the audience (Warrican, 2012). 

Below is an example of our own Revising Checklist:

Figure 2. Revising Checklist created by The Writing Room

Please note that this is one variation of the checklist, but, you can change it to suit your grade level and students' ability. We really hope it helps.

Until next Sunday... Goodbye !