Stokes 1

Christina Stokes ELD 307 Dr. Casey November 4, 2013 Writing Assessment Writing is one of the essential skills for students to learn in school. It is important for teachers to introduce writing with engaging activities, so students can build confidence and a passion for writing. In early literacy, students begin to develop a sense of writing and focus on the structure of writing such as the beginning, middle, and end. Teachers can emphasize that writing is a process from an outline to a finish product. Writing journals are a great way for students to create stories or to write a personal story such as a small moment story. Personal stories can help students to discover their identities and make connections to the world around them. Eventually, teachers need to teach students about the mechanics of writing. Capitalization and punctuation are important components when learning how to write. Proper grammar allows students to get their message to their readers in a clear and concise way. The purpose of this assessment is to find ways to help improve a students writing and to become successful in their literacy development. In my field class, I was able to learn some students writing while participating in a writing activity or writers workshop. I had the opportunity to work in a first grade class, where reading and writing is a major focus in the classroom. The teacher implements engaging activities and promotes literacy in the classroom, so students can appreciate reading and writing. Through my

Stokes 2

observations, I have learned that some students love to write. I noticed one particular student named Kendall who loves to write stories and discover new words in writing. For example, during their work study activity, the students had to choose five words to write in their journals. First, they had to look at the word, flip it over, sound out the word, write it, and check to see if they spelled the word correctly. As I worked with Kendall, I noticed she added other words to her list. I asked Kendall where she found these words and she told me she found the words around the classroom. She showed the teacher what she wrote and was excited that she wrote more words than her classmates. It is interesting how she used other words to add to her list to go beyond the teachers expectations. Overall, the student caught my attention and I wanted to learn more about her writing. For this assessment, I was able to gather writing material from the students writing folder to analyze the writing. First, I focused on the content to understand how the student formulates ideas and if there are real-life connections. During one lesson, the teacher taught the students about a small moment story. A small moment story focuses on a specific moment with a beginning, middle, and an end. Some students in the class wrote stories which were not personal to them such as a superhero or a cartoon. However, Kendall was able to grasp the concept and wrote stories about her family and her dog. She also wrote a narrative about herself and how she felt on the first day of school. It is evident through her writing, that she can formulate her ideas and reflect on personal experiences. I noticed that Kendall uses transition words such as one time or one day to start her stories which shows she is familiar with the beginning, middle, and end structure. Based on her stories, Kendall can independently formulate ideas and understands the purpose of transition words, but needs improvement on the mechanics of writing.

Stokes 3

While reading Kendalls writing, I noticed that she has some knowledge of punctuation. There are some periods in a few of her sentences. However, her punctuation is not consistent throughout her writing which is important for creating stories or any other written work. I also noticed there is some capitalization in her stories. She capitalizes the first letter in some of her sentences. It is evident Kendall is still learning about the mechanics of writing and she needs improvement in this area. Also, at times I cannot understand the words she writes in her stories because they are misspelled incorrectly. I could tell she is in the letter name spelling stage because she is writing based on the letters she hears in the words. For example, she writes tim for time and tode for told. She is leaving out the silent letters which most students struggle to understand during the early years of literacy. In order to increase improvement, the teacher can create a lesson about punctuation and capitalization for students. The teacher can emphasize how a good writer always capitalizes the first letter of every sentence and ends a sentence with a period. Later on, the teacher can let the students edit their story which is part of the writing process. The teacher can also create a lesson about the silent letters and words with silent letters. Overall, the teachers lessons will be the foundation for students to improve their writing. Based on these findings, I will be able to have an understanding of the writing process of young children. It is interesting to see the early development of writing because children know what they are writing in their stories. Even if a reader does not understand the writing, a child can retell their story and I find this fascinating. In the future, I plan to implement lessons that will focus on the mechanics of writing as well as allowing students to be creative and to express themselves. Ultimately, writing is a fundamental skill that every student should learn to become successful individuals in society.