Danielle Early

READ 436
Dr. Myers
September 18, 2017

Writing Analysis

Priyankas writing demonstrates numerous strengths in this writing sample.

First, she demonstrates an understanding and an ability to use high frequency
words such as I, like, good, and, as well as have. Each of these words are
spelled correctly and used appropriately in context. Additionally, Priyanka
demonstrates an understanding of what makes a word. She generally uses adequate
spacing between words. As this writing sample was gathered, it was apparent that
Priyanka possesses strong decoding skills as she was observed sounding words out
that she was not sure how to spell. Priyanka demonstrates great strengths in the
composition domain, as she already possesses many of the skills assessed in second
grade, at the beginning of the year.
Despite the strengths Priyanka demonstrates, there are some areas of
concern. Based on the writing rubric used at this grade level, students are expected
to have a clear voice in their writing, create more complex rather than simple
sentences, and demonstrate an understanding of sentence fluency in their writing.
This writing sample lacks a sense of voice. The sentences are very simple, and lack
variety. One specific trait students in second grade should be able to demonstrate in
their writing is a variety in sentence structure and length, as well as composing
sentences in a way that creates a more natural flow. Priyankas sentences are very
choppy. And, while they all relate to Frozen, each sentence feels like a different
thought.
If I were to conference with this student, I would work on helping her
develop her sentence fluency. I feel like if her fluency were to develop, a stronger
voice would take hold. The conference would go something like this. Priyanka, I
really like all of the details you included about Frozen. It seems like you worked
really hard to spell all of the words and sound out the words you werent sure about.
Can you tell me more about why you like Frozen? Hopefully, the student would
begin elaborating on why she enjoys Frozen so much. Did you hear how you
shared a lot of details about it with me? Lets work together to write a sentence or
two that include some of those details. Id work with the student to compose these
sentences by helping her keep her thoughts focused on what we had previously
discussed. Good, now when we work on writing assignments, lets try and work on
writing sentences with a little more detail, like the ones we just wrote. Do you think
thats something we can work on?