Assessing Assessments

In the last few weeks, I have had two “away from school” interactions regarding the concept of assessments.  The first experience came while visiting a new gym. Prior to taking the complimentary class, I was asked to fill out a goal and health assessment. The instructor said the information would be used to help me plan an appropriate exercise program and chart my progress as I attend classes.

A few days later I was with my 13-month old granddaughter at an ophthalmology appointment.  After performing multiple tests, the doctor determined she needed glasses to strengthen one of her eyes. While making a two-month follow-up appointment, the doctor told us that we would check her progress based on the initial tests he had performed that day.

Teachers may find themselves overwhelmed with student assessments at the start of the school year.   We, at Write Now – Right Now, are often asked if we recommend that teachers have their students complete a writing assessment at the beginning of the year.  If you are debating this question, consider the following questions:

·       Is a baseline, or beginning of the year, writing assessment a requirement at your school? 

·       Do you have a reason or plan for using the assessment results?

·       Can you give the assessment in a reasonable amount of time?

The answers to these questions will help you answer the assessment question.  The following are some tips to make a beginning of the year writing assessment positive for both you and your students.

Determine the assessment’s purpose

Why are you giving the assessment?  Keep this purpose in mind through-out the process. 

A Note to Kindergarten Teachers:  You may choose to do the initial assessment when you believe your students are ready to begin writing instruction.  Consider when the purpose of the assessment will be most appropriate.

Standardize the assessment

This is especially important if you are working with a grade level team.  Prior to giving the assessment, choose a prompt for all students to follow, along with the time constraints provided.  Use or develop a standardized grade-level rubric.

Write a prompt which provides students guidance in what to write

Do you want students to write an expository or narrative piece?  We recommend providing an opinion prompt on a topic which students already know.  In this way, you will be able to assess students’ writing, not their knowledge on a subject area. Include in the directions the number of big ideas or details students should provide in their writing.

Provide enough time for most students to complete the writing task

Teachers give pre-assessments as an indication of skills students already possess.  In a writing assessment, it is not necessary for every student to complete the writing task.  When time is up, simply collect students’ writing.  It is helpful to note both students who rush to completion and those who will require extra time.

Record non-writing behaviors / trends

Do you have students who immediately break their pencil or go to the bathroom as soon you mention writing?  Are there students who stare into space the entire writing time, “thinking about what to write about?”  Do you have students who need constant feedback and reinforcement during the writing time?

Use the “piles” grading method

We recommend first reading each paper and then putting students’ initial writing samples in piles – Good Writing, Writing in Progress, and Need Extensive Help, or whatever category works for you.  As you read students’ work, put the papers in one of these three piles. Remember, you are assessing writing using end of year writing standards.  As these beginning of the year assessments are not used for a grade, this generalized assessment protocol will provide you with all the information you need.

Look for patterns

As you read students’ writing, do any patterns become evident?  Do students use a similar plan?  Are conventions an area of strength or concern?  Are students excited or reluctant to write?  Is student writing organized, did students stay on topic, etc?

Keep writing samples to show students later

We all need to see progress. Keep these initial writing samples to show students later in the year. We recommend showing them to students prior to a midyear writing assessment. It is encouraging for students to see where they have been and how far they have come as writers.

Teachers are busy people!  Taking a moment to assess your assessments, making them relevant, useful and efficient is time well spent.

Three Things About Me

While sorting books and paper at the end of the school year, I overheard one of my 4th grade boys mutter under his breath, “I hate the last day of school.  On the last day of school, we all know each other.  On the first day of school, we just have to start all over, getting to know the teacher and each other.”

The last days of school are bittersweet for teachers and students alike.  The prospect of a change in schedule and extra time to just breathe is alluring to young and old alike.  However, in the midst of all the anticipation, this student’s comment caught me off guard.  We had spent the last few weeks involved in end-of-year testing.  The students first took PAARC and the standardized Colorado 4th Grade Social Studies Test. A week later students demonstrated their progress on STAR – another standardized reading and math test.  Finally we measured students’ reading and math fluency using another standardized measurement.  I was passing along reams of academic data to the next year’s teacher.  Yet these numbers, while important, did not tell the full story of the individual they represented. 

After gathering the class together, we sat on the floor and talked about ways we had learned about each other this year.  Morning Meeting had been an integral part of our day.  https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/product/morning-meeting-book/  Each morning we gathered together and took turns sharing significant events in our lives.  As a class we celebrated the arrival of new siblings, the adoption of a puppy and soccer games won or lost.  This time together was one way we learned more about each other. 

Since we couldn’t share all we learned about one another with a new teacher, I posed the question, “What do you want next year’s teacher to know about you?  How can we share that information with them?”  The students quickly responded, “Let’s write our fifth grade teacher a letter!”  One student grinned and said to me, “The topic is all about me and the format is a letter.”  I have to admit, I was proud!  Grabbing paper and pencil, the students went to work.

Reading their letters, I was so impressed with the students’ sincerity. They wanted their teacher to know about their strengths and dreams – not how many words they read per minute.  Some student samples: 

“I need my space organized.  I get distracted by clutter.”

“I hate to read!  I’ll do it when you ask me to, but I’d rather draw.”

“I’m very emotional.  When I’m happy, I’m really happy.  But when I’m angry I need calming down.”

“Moving is important to me.  I can’t pay attention if I have to sit too long.”

As I read their letters, I was impressed by how well these 9 and 10 year olds expressed their feelings.  I’m reflecting on how to better get to know my students from day one next year.  We’d love to hear from you.  How do you build your classroom community? 

If I Were In Charge Of The World . . . .

During the past few weeks, we have been studying different forms of government.   Our novel studies included the books Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin and The Breadwinner by Deborah Ellis.  Both books are focused on a child’s experience living under specific forms of government.  In addition, we researched and studied the United States government, both on the national and state level. 

As a writing engagement, we read Judith Viorst’s classic poem, If I Were in Charge of the World. After reading the poem, students were given the prompt“Your task is to write an informative, multi-paragraph essay about three changes you would make if you were suddenly in charge of the world.  Include reasons why this change would be positive and impactful to others.

The students were off!  The room became a buzz of conversation as students bounced their ideas off one another.  Their responses ranged from global and serious to fanciful.  To help focus the students’ thinking, we posted the following questions to consider.

• How would the change benefit others?

• Who might care about this change?

• How would this change impact others?

With these questions in mind, students were able to better sort their ideas and decide on three changes they would make.  Their best thinking was then put in an informative writing plan.

It was time to review the prompt.  Students quickly identified the format required – a multi-paragraph essay.  The students realized that their big ideas could each be stretched into individual paragraphs, but we would still need both an introduction and a conclusion. 

Students now had a real reason to learn how to write introductory paragraphs.  As this was our first experience writing introductory paragraphs, we were going to write two sentences.  We began with writing an “Although” topic sentence we would use for any informative paragraph – Although there are many changes the world needs, I would make these three if I were in charge of the world.  In our second sentence, we were going to inform our readers what we would be writing in our paragraphs.  Looking at our plan, we merely needed to list the three big ideas we would be addressing – I would allow children to vote, place pets in elementary schools and discover an inexpensive way to desalinate water.  Putting the two sentences together, we had an introductory paragraph.  In order to practice the skill and have a second paragraph from which to choose, we wrote a second introductory paragraph, this time starting with an If, Then topic sentence. If I were given the opportunity to be in charge of the world, then I would make a few very important changes to better the lives of others. Then we can add our second sentence with the big ideas listed in a sentence.

Writing the big idea paragraphs was a simple task for our fourth grade writers.  It was easy for them to understand that each paragraph needed to start with a transition word and did not require a separate topic sentence.  Students added the necessary details, referring back to the questions posed earlier.

Only one thing was left to do.  Our essays needed a conclusion.  Luckily, we had written two introductory paragraphs.  Often, if we write two introductory paragraphs we can use one as our concluding paragraph!  Students were able to complete their essays using the second topic sentence they had written!  Our first experience writing a multi-paragraph essay had been a success!

A Picture's Worth A Thousand Words

We have been busy in our classroom – both practicing our compare and contrast skills and learning Colorado history.  We were eager to combine these skills through the use of photographs.

To begin, I compiled two sets of pictures focused on transportation. The first set of pictures were taken in 1910 and the second set were pictures of 2010.  As we began to analyze the photos we made our first discovery, in order to discuss the transportation shown, we first needed to agree on the transportation’s names.  The room was abuzz with questions . . .

“Is this a carriage or a buggy?  Is there a difference?”

“What could we name a trolley that’s pulled by a horse?”

“Would you want to ride in that?”

“Is there a difference between a tram and a monorail?”

My fourth graders were involved in language, discussing among themselves the very best label for each mode of transportation.  It was the best type of “just-in time learning”, as it was vocabulary acquisition with a purpose.

It was time to focus on our task.  I presented them with the prompt . . .

Analyze the 2 groups of photos depicting modes of transportation taken a century apart.  Choose three different modes of transportation depicted in both photographs.  Write a paragraph comparing and contrasting these three modes of transportation from 1910 and 2010.

We easily located the format (paragraph), the topic (modes of transportation a century apart) and the big ideas (compare and contrast) in our prompt.  As a group, we began to determine the best way to attack this task. 

We decided upon a two-column chart, simply listing the modes of transportation found in the photograph groups.  After listing transportation found 100 years ago and today, we were able to identify similar transportation found in both these time period.  We circled the four that were found in both lists.  Now we needed to determine similarities and differences.

The students decided that a column chart was the most efficient way to compare and contrast these forms of transportations.  As we analyzed the pictures carefully, we determined the similarities and differences between the transportation modes.  Again the conversation was rich, as we discussed whether we could use our background knowledge linked to the pictures or rather we could only use what we could see in the pictures.

Upon completing our observations, it was time to complete a plan.  We had two ways in which we could organize our plan – either with similarities and differences as our big ideas, or with each mode of transportation as our big ideas.  Although I left the choice up to the students, the majority felt they could best organize their ideas using the modes of transportation as big ideas.  As the prompt asked us to compare and contrast the 1920 and 2010 modes of transportation, our details became how each mode was similar to each other and how they were different.  By accessing all their previous thinking, students quickly and effortlessly created a writing plan.

For this lesson, I only required the students to complete their writing plan.  I had been more concerned about the process – how can we carefully and methodically analyze pictures to determine similarities and differences.  Best of all – my students loved this learning engagement. They had been detectives looking at pictures, made thoughtful observations, and discovered meaningful similarities and differences.  Together we had experienced digital literacy – and had a wonderful hour of dialogue and learning!