Standards Based Writing Jarred Winebarger – 2014 White Hall Elementary School 4 th Grade

Why Standards Based Grading? “Grading policies such as refusing to accept late work, giving grades of zero, and refusing to allow students to redo their work may be intended as punishment for poor performance, but such policies will not really teach students to be accountable, and they provide very little useful information about students' mastery of the material. Assessment and feedback, particularly during the course of learning, are the most effective ways for students to learn accountability in their work and in their personal lives.” “We can’t make specific instructional decisions, provide descriptive feedback, or document progress without being criterion-referenced. Declarations of average-ness muddle our thinking and create a false sense of reporting against standards. We need grade reports to be accurate.” ~Rick Wormeli

Pre-Assessment:  We begin by interpreting the main writing standard. This helps to lay the foundation of what our unit focus will be. (On the back of the pre-assessment is the final rubric I will use to assess their narrative.)  W.4.3 (I CAN) write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, descriptive details, and clear event sequences.  Deconstructed: I CAN develop a narrative with sequenced events and descriptive details.

Pre-Assessment Continued  Next, we echo each “sub-standard,” one by one, focusing on the important vocabulary we need to understand in order to meet that standard. Students will write their own interpretation of that standard on their pre-assessments.  W I CAN develop characters and events in a narrative.

Pre-Assessment Continued  Finally, students will rank themselves 0-3 according to how well they think they understand the standard.  0 (no understanding)  1 (“I think I may know, but I am unsure.”)  2 (“I have a good idea, but I need some help from a peer or teacher.”)  3 (“I am confident I understand the standard, and I can show my understanding without assistance.”)

A Quick Note About Mentor Texts  Anchor Text V. Supporting Text  (A revision to my process: Success Criteria)

Learning Log  For each substandard I teach a mini- lesson that the students keep track of in their learning logs (writing journals). Students can then refer back to their learning logs when incorporating that standard into their writing. Students are developing ideas to write about, but have yet to draft their narratives.

What the experts have to say… “It is very important to notice that mini-lessons are not a vehicle for doling out the daily assignment. Instead of saying, ‘Today, I’d like you to each make a two column chart. On the top of the left column, write…’ I say, ‘Another system I sometimes use is…’ The goal of a mini-lesson is to add to students’ repertoire of skills and strategies, not to dole out that day’s assignment.” (From Breathing Life into Essays by Lucy Calkins p. 17)

 “Notice that I do not phrase the teaching point like this, ‘Today we will think of turning point stories.’ That wording would have simply assigned children a task. That is not my goal! A mini-lesson is not a forum for telling children what we want them all to do in the upcoming workshop. Instead, it is a place for explicitly teaching children the skills and strategies of good writing—skills and strategies we want them to call upon as needed not only today, but always. In today’s mini-lesson I am hoping to teach children one more technique that they can carry with them in their invisible backpacks of strategies. (From Raising the Quality of Narrative Writing, Session 2, p. 19 Lucy’s Coaching Commentary.)

The Architecture of a Mini-Lesson  A mini-lesson begins with a connection in which we tell students what we will be teaching them, and why.  Next, we teach students about a kind of writing work either by giving them information or by helping them gather information about work.  After we teach, we often have some students have-a-go with the work we’ve taught them – that is, they give the work a brief try.  Finally, we end the mini-lesson by linking the lesson to students’ independent writing. (Who will commit?) ~Carl Anderson How’s it Going?

Dialogue W I CAN use dialogue to develop characters and events in a narrative.

Why Dialogue? “Adding dialogue to your stories makes them much more interesting. Your readers don’t just want to know what you main character does; they also want to know what he says. Writing conversation for your characters makes them seem more believable.” ~Melissa Forney (Razzle Dazzle Writing)

Anchor Text Connection Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears (Page 1) One morning a mosquito saw an iguana drinking at a waterhole. The mosquito said, “Iguana, you will never believe what I saw yesterday.” “Try me,” said the iguana. The mosquito said, “I saw a farmer digging yams that were as big as I am.” “What’s a mosquito compared to a yam?” snapped the iguana grumpily. “I would rather be deaf than listen to such nonsense!” Then he stuck two sticks in his ears and went off, mek, mek, mek, mek, through the reeds.

Practice Read the passage without dialogue: Anna cradled the horse’s head in her arms and whispered softly into his ear. She told Rembrandt how much she loved him. She promised she would never sell or leave him. His wide, liquid eyes never left hers. He nuzzled her hand. Anna was sure he understood.

Apply/Share In groups of 2-4, REWRITE the passage including dialogue. Goal time is 5 minutes: Anna cradled the horse’s head in her arms and whispered softly into his ear. She told Rembrandt how much she loved him. She promised she would never sell or leave him. His wide, liquid eyes never left hers. He nuzzled her hand. Anna was sure he understood.

Give it a Go! Look back in your story and see where a small amount of dialogue can make a big difference in your narrative. W I CAN use dialogue to develop characters and events in a narrative.

Before the draft: Students have access to their pre- assessment, learning log, mentor texts, any specific pre-writing activities, and grading rubric before they draft. We review all these things ending with the grading rubric, and their very first response almost every time is the same…

“That’s it?” or “That’s all we have to do?” or “Really?” or “That’s easy!”

Draft  Once we’ve worked through each substandard, students write the first draft of their narrative using their learning log as a reference tool.

Revise  Students then use their revision standards- based revision checklist, first individually, then with a peer. The check list is paired directly to the standards.

Assess  When creating a unit, any unit, the ending grading rubric for the unit is the very first thing I create. Then I ask myself, “What will it take to get there?”  Students are assessed based on the standards with a score of 0-3 (very similar to the pre-assessment).  0 “No Mastery”  1 “Partial Mastery”  2 “Approaching Mastery”  3 “Mastery”

Opportunities for Revision  Once a student is given their assessment grade, they are then given the opportunity to go back and make further revisions.

Outcome:  Writing conferences are focused and take less time.  Students understand the expectations of the unit and are less stressed about their writing.  Revisions are quick.  “Grading” is easy.

Give it a go! Access your standards and begin creating a document/rubric to use in your classroom.

Rubric Options with Anchor Papers (South Bay Union School District – Union City, CA) The above link has some great foundational resources on standards driven assessment and rubrics for K-6 writing as well as prompts and anchor papers with strong descriptive feedback and reasoning for their ability to meet or exceed expectations. This site would be an excellent resource for aiding in the development of rubrics for standards based instruction and assessment in the writing classroom.