Continuing Down the Writing Path: Where Do We Go Next? The Next Chapter Session 6 Barb Mick - COOR ISD Jackie Fry - COP ESD

Time for a roadmap check…  We’ve introduced assessment, thought about our literacy histories and those of our students, looked at the developmental progression of readers and how to determine the level of our students, and taken a deeper look at comprehension. We looked at writing from a number of angles, and began to practice assessing our students’ writing. Tonight we will look more closely at formative assessment and goal setting, and practice using these tools to score our students’ writing and confer with individual writers.

Goals for Session 6 1.Understand formative assessment and practice using it to inform our instruction 2.Understand the role of goal setting and review how to use it effectively 3.Continue to practice our skills of conferring 4.Practice scoring student writing using a developmental continuum, and using that information to set goals for individual writers

Your Turn… 1.Appoint a time-keeper at your table. (You will have 15 minutes total for discussion, so make sure everyone gets a chance to share.) 2.Share your Quick Writes and the results of the Writing Tracker. 3.Discuss the Handwriting Rubric results. 4.Share your conferring notes. 5.Be ready to have one person share out any ah-ha moments your group had from the data collected.

Formative Assessment  The National Council of Teachers of English released a position paper on Formative Assessment in October This document serves as a good resource, with definitions and checklists you will find useful.  Please read the marked passages of text in your copy, making notes in your Thinking Journal as you go.  Turn and Talk at your table about what you read.

Assessments as Tools  Jennifer Serravallo reminds us that we should only be doing assessments that we actually have time to look at afterward!  MLPP provides us with a TOOLBOX from which we can pull assessments for specific information on our students.

More Carl…

Now let’s watch an examples from Max Brand

And the research says… JOHN HATTIE’s work, VISIBLE LEARNING, synthesizes over 800 meta-analyses relating to student achievement. Let’s look to the research to think about CONFERRING

What makes conferring so effective? GOAL SETTING An important aspect of the conference is goal setting…what is next for this writer? Goals: regulate action explain the nature of the link between the past and the future Effect Size:.56

However… Achievement is enhanced to the degree students and teachers set CHALLENGING rather than “do your best” goals, relative to the students’ present competencies. Difficult goals:  lead to a clearer notion of success  direct the students’ attention to relevant behaviors or outcomes It is not the specificity of the goals but the difficulty that is crucial to success.

Thus, goals inform individuals: as to what type or level of performance is to be attained so that they can direct and evaluate their actions and efforts accordingly. Feedback allows them to set reasonable goals and to track their performance in relation to their goals so that adjustments in effort, direction, and even strategy can be made as needed. (Locke & Latham, 1990, p.23) And remember from our last session, quality FEEDBACK has an effect size of.73 !

Jennifer Serravallo talks about Formative Assessment…  Follow along on the script of this interview of Jennifer Serravallo by Franki Sibberson.  view.php?id= view.php?id=1934  Annotate your script as you listen.

Now compare to the Chart Chums blog post  With your table group, make a list of the parts of effective goal-setting. Discuss.

Scoring Student Writing  Work in groups of 3  Use the Writing Continuum for Narrative, Informational, or Opinion/Argument  Highlight the things you see in the student’s writing (you can use a different color highlighter for each student)  Look for the things the writer can almost do…these are your teaching points

Now Chart It!  Choose one piece of writing from your group that you will highlight.  Create a chart to document your thinking as a group.  Paper clip the writing at the top of the chart, then write this information:  Grade of student  Type of writing  Score  3 strengths of this writer  Type of conference you will have  Using the scoring continuum as your guide, list 1 teaching point: What’s Next for This Writer?

Gallery Walk  Each person will get 3 sticky notes.  Take a walk around the room, reading the various charts.  Comment on 3 of the charts  Each group should then gather their chart and read the comments.  Discuss at your group.

Your Assignment 1.Score two out of the three types of your case study students’ writing (narrative, informational, opinion/argument) using a developmental writing continuum. You may, instead, use a rubric if it is one your entire building uses for common data. 2.Make conferring notes as you meet with the students about these pieces of writing. 3.Fill out the assessment form for each of your case study students, and for each of the two pieces of writing per student. 4.Fill out the Reflection for Session 6.

Ticket Out the Door & Wrap Up  Make sure to clean up your area and recycle your water bottles.  Please complete your Exit Ticket and turn it in as you leave.  Leave your nametag in the box on the table in the hallway.  Our next meeting will be: All Kinds of Talk Along the Way: The Power of Oral Language  Thank you for your hard work, thoughtful contributions, and professionalism.