Assessment Analysis
Mini
Project #2
Kena Clark
Mary Sierra-Perry and Dr. Sandy Levin – Instructors
Analysis is looking at where you are and
where you want to go, Changes may occur due to this analysis. The goal of the
third grade-writing project was to change one paragraph to many paragraphs.
Inspiration Software was something new that was used to help the students
achieve this goal.
Students
were able to recreate a visual strategy that allowed them to put ideas down in
an orderly fashion before writing of any sort was attempted.
Thus, the students were beginning the process of understanding the need
to elaborate to a multi-paragraph stage rather then a simple one-paragraph
answer and the students were also understanding how to organize their
paragraphs.
With the use of
Inspiration, software that is a graphic organizer, students were able to visualize how the paragraphs tied together.
Inspiration helped the students assemble their notes, ideas, cause/effect
statements, reasons, and paragraphs in an organized and coherent manner.
The actual writing part then became a breeze.
Knowing that the paragraphs would be read orally, placed in the hall, and
read by others, motivated these students to use correct sentence structure and
paragraph format.
The multi-paragraph concept is a huge paradigm shift for third-grade
students because last year these students concentrated just on correct sentence
structures. Now
they are feeling comfortable with how to begin, write, and revise their ideas in
detail.
Seventeen out of
twenty students can now achieve the multi-paragraph task independently and have
done so repeatedly.
These seventeen students have realized the need to get their ideas across
can no longer be accomplished with a simple one-paragraph answer.
The students have pushed themselves to improve their writing, and
realized that it can be easily accomplished.
Two of the twenty students are not-as-independent, and still rely on the
teacher for major assistance in getting their idea down.
Unfortunately, one of the students is not motivated in written
expression, and a goal/contract needs to be created to achieve this
multi-paragraph task.
The whole goal of
this project was for students to see their paper before they write it down, and
make the connection with it.
With the use of Inspiration in the future, students will be able to
visualize what a descriptive, expository, narrative, and persuasive paragraph
will look like before they actually write their ideas down.
This connection makes writing easier and a lot more fun for a third
grader. Future
direction in third grade focuses on these various types of paragraphs along with
the ISAT testing in March.
If the students can see their thoughts and ideas before they write it down, then they
will have no problem with the task of actually writing it.