2/18/14 Blog entry
Today I met with my participants and they were still
unprepared, with the exception of one participant, Participant M (a
new participant)! Today’s Newspaper
meeting schedule was as follows:
1.
Get out article
2.
Go over rubric
3.
Get out other piece
4.
Read aloud article
5.
Critique
6.
Grade your own article using the rubric
I have recruited participant M, a fifth grade female,
because she arrives to school earlier than Participant L, who is usually a late
arrival to school and is consequently further behind the other participants. I explained to my participants that they
needed two pieces: an original writing piece and their article. Due to other school and classroom
obligations, Participant J did not do an article or retrieve his original
writing piece.
Myself: If you
have your article get it out. (Went over
rubric with participants; we compared ReadWriteThink rubric to their list of
what makes a good article or newspaper).
Think about your article that you wrote, did you include those things
form the list?
M: I put some
quotes in there.
Others: “I put
some details”
I asked if they did the things that they thought of their
generated list of what makes a good article.
Overall, the participants did part of the list, but did not adhere to
all that they listed.
About 67% of participants (counting all 6 participants from
now on) had an article today. 100% of
the participants had an original piece for comparison. Original pieces ranged
from:
·
Surrounding community (D Park- a pseudonym) by
Participant K
·
A Book by Participant L
·
Journal entries by Participant C
·
Homework assignment in writing by Participant M
·
A Book by Participant J
·
A Book and describe a character in the book by
Participant A
We are extremely far behind!
Unfortunately there are many obstacles that have arisen, some of those
obstacles being part of the general culture within Made-Up Elementary School
(pseudonym):
·
Tardiness
·
Low-performance
·
Low accountability and drive
Myself: Went over
categories for rubric, “Where are we aiming for?”
Participants:
“Exceeds!”
We all agreed to aim at least for the Meets category. Participant
L decided to write an article on “Black History Month.”
Final call for articles is this Thursday 2/20/14.
Here is a picture of the ReadWriteThink Writing Rubric that I am using:
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Below are some of the original pieces by the participants:
Participant A:
.jpg)
.jpg)
Participant L:
.jpg)
Participant M:
.jpg)
Participant K (newspaper article thus far):
.jpg)
These pieces will later be evaluated based on the ReadWriteThink Writing Rubric by the participants (evaluating their own piece), by myself, and perhaps by their homeroom teacher. More information to come!
LaShanda, I'm sure it is so frustrating when you are excited about something and the students don't follow through. I think that revisiting the requirements was a good plan. Overall, were you happy with the writing you had turned in? Did the ones that put forth the effort seem to display some positive results? I look forward to hearing more soon!
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to believe that the students you work with were still unprepared! I like how you had a clear schedule in place for the session before it began. So is participant L still a part of the research since you have now recruited Participant M? I do think it was beneficial that you had the students compare their writing to the rubric. Too many times the teacher is the only person that evaluates the writing and uses the rubric. I looked at the rubric you posted and it looks like it would be easy for them to see the expectations of what they needed to include. It is great that all students came to the meeting with an original writing piece. This is just an article of their choice of something they have written in their classroom? Thanks for posting the writing pieces. It’s good to see the writing from your students. I understand being behind in the research. I feel like we all are.
ReplyDeleteLaShanda,
ReplyDeleteI love how you are having them assess themselves, then you are assessing them and possibly having the homeroom teacher assess. I think having you and the homeroom teacher would be great to see if there is consistency in the score. If you don't share what your score was until after both have scored it will help to make sure you aren't scoring "easy". Having the students score based on a rubric will also be good because they are having to really analyze their own work. Letting them see the rubric before they are completely finished with the paper is also good because they know what you are expecting and it isn't a surprise.
Could you also possibly create a rubric with the students? That way they have some ownership in their assessment?
Are you planning to interview teachers about the participants? Perhaps informally to note any changes in classroom approaches to writing?
ReplyDelete