Kierra Toney

CIL 621
Professor Canady
I as a Learner Description
December 11, 2017

The goal I have set for the semester is geared towards developing strategies and tools in

the instruction and assessment of writing. I have created a three step plan that can be advanced as

I have gained more experience. The foundation set thus far, is a three step strategy that

encourages students to get to know themselves socially and developmentally through the practice

of writing skills. These three strategies include, discuss, model, explore. The strategies are found

within developing writing prompts that not only push students to practice writing, but to also

explore their feelings and emotions. Within these prompts, they must accomplish the discussion

of an emotion, discuss the cause of this emotion, and the physical feelings of the emotion-

explored through personal experience and the observation of others experience as well. In

reading students work, not only was I able to assess the stages in in which they lie within writing

skills, but also within their social and emotional milestones. Students work showed evidence of

understanding their emotions and a process of connecting specific causes of these emotions

unique to themselves, by discussing details of the events that caused the emotion, making

connections to family and friends-showing an appropriate level of where student should be in

their emotional development milestones.

In planning these three strategies, discuss, model, explore; I had a hard time deciding if I

would begin with students visualizing a time that they have experienced the emotion or instead,

begin with students analyzing anothers experience of the emotion. I chose for students to first

visual a time of their own experience, as students are beginning their writing with observations

of themselves and how they experienced the emotion. Though students may not have a model in
how to identify emotions, for most first graders, there seems to be a general understanding basic

emotional seen on a day to day basis. All strategies are found within my written lesson plan in

exact order. Where I asked student to closely visualize a time where they have felt a particular

emotion. As the discussion begins with student visualize the emotion we are discussing for the

week, they are walked though the cause and feeling of that emotion; both internal and external

physical reactions. External reactions are then further investigated through the observation of

student pictures expressing the specific emotion. After the discussion portion is completed,

student then receive a day of modeling the writing process of discussing the emotion. Standards

are pointed out to students as we cover the planning part with pictures and making sure that as

we begin to write, it match the plan that has been drawn at the top of the page. Drawling plans

are encouraged to have a beginning, middle, and end; where the even that cause the emotion is

discussed first, the internal and external feelings of the emotion, and how they know it was the

particular emotion discussed.

After students had completed their work, I observed their work through the writing

checklist and continuum provided by webcampus and aboutkidshealth.ca web site, providing

grade level descriptions of where student should be socially and emotionally. For Sloans writing

checklist, students were observed on conventions of writing, ideas, voice, and organization.

In using the Higher-Order continuum a close focus on students stages in purpose, audience,

focus, and organization. On aboutkidshealth.ca's website, they indicate that students in first grade

should be reaching milestones that cover a understanding of ones emotions, ability to play alone

and with other, the wide use of vocabulary in describing ones feelings, and an understanding of

actions and consequences.

 Students writing were within the range of pre conventional (kinder level) to beginning

(first grade level). Students writing gave me insight on what stages their writing was at and how I

can adjust my instruction in teaching writing standards. For example, most student still shifted

between their lower case and uppercase letters and are beginning to experiment with punctuation

and exclamation marks. These conventions would be something I would point out closely in the

modeling portion of lesson plans so that student can begin to work on altering their writing.

On a social emotional level, I was able to see where my student were at in their

development, and how I can acknowledge the triggers of emotions discussed when they occur in

the classroom. I feel as though I have a better understanding of my student individually and can

better support them in social emotional experiences that happen throughout the day. Most

students discussed relationships with family or friends as the cause of specific emotions

discussed, as we made it through the discussion, model, and explore plan of sad, mad, and happy.

This is an appropriate milestone for students at this age, showing growth in their social

development as they are able to make its connection to their own personal emotions.

Anticipated adjustments that I hope to make down the road would be a furthering of

lesson planning, where student begins to write about others experience of emotions and details

that describe how they know this person was experiencing a particular emotion. After creating

lesson plans to accomplish this, I would like to format a plan that encourages students to write

about strategies in dealing with the emotions that they consistently experience. I would also like

to add adjustments for my students who are still at pre conventional and emergent levels. This

would include sentence starters or opening phrases. Fore example:

I remember a time I felt____________________.

 I felt ___________________, because_______.

When I felt______________, my body____________________________________.

These beginning phrases, I believe will help students fulfill each portion of their exploration of

a emotion and also models an example on how to begin a sentence, uses of capitalization,

apostrophes, and ending punctuation.

Over all, having students strategically consider their writing topic through a series of

ways, provides them with the opportunity to provide details to their writing while simultaneously

considering their personal reactions to emotions and the triggers that may cause them. These two

benefits cater to writing standards that focus on students development of organization and

content and emotional development milestones as well. Students are able practice adding details

to their writing and better understanding their feelings all in one, pushing for growth in writing

and the ability to process and communicate feelings.

References

http://www.aboutkidshealth.ca/En/HealthAZ/DevelopmentalStages/SchoolAgeChildren/Pages/
Social-and-Emotional-Development.aspx
Sloan. Writing Checklist. Webcampus

Higher Order Continuum. Webcampus.

About the Common Core State Standards. (n.d.). Retrieved October 16, 2017, from http://
www.education.nh.gov/spotlight/ccss/index.htm