Lindsay Judge

11/17/19

Student Learning Analysis

Overview:

For this Student Learning Analysis, the growth of students’ ability in narrative writing

was assessed. More specifically, the concept of elaboration. Students were given an “on demand”

writing pre assessment during the first week of school. After reviewing the data from these

samples, specific instruction was created and implemented. A post assessment was collected one

month later.

Context:

This SLA was completed at Hamilton Elementary in a second grade classroom. Hamilton

elementary is located in Troy, Michigan. The Hamilton population is extremely diverse, with

students from dozens of different cultures and backgrounds making up the student body.

Classroom:

This specific classroom population consists of 9 girls and 12 boys. The set up of the

classroom includes 4 tables of 6 chairs each. The tables include a mixture of both boys and girls

with various academic abilities. This gives students more opportunity for collaboration and

mentoring. In addition to each student having a spot at a table to work, there is also additional

flexible seating. The flexible seating gives the students the opportunity to work in a space that is

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more comfortable and suited to their own needs. The flexible seating the classroom includes

comfortable chairs, cushions, wobble seats, and lap desks.

Students/Instruction Implications:

This class is made up of 21 students of various academic abilities and behaviors. There

are 2 EL students who are seen every morning for twenty minutes in a group setting. 3 students

are on reading plans who require additional instruction. There is one student with dyslexia who is

pulled out for the entire morning block for reading and writing intervention. Given the

combination of different needs and abilities, table assignments are meticulously planned with the

idea of student led mentoring in mind. This way, the students who require intervention are given

the opportunity to collaborate with their table and other peers while the teacher is teaching or

unavailable to provide individual instruction.

Learning Goal The learning goal was for the transition from Grade 1 ability of

elaboration to Grade 2 abilities of elaboration in narrative writing based

on the Lucy Calkins curriculum assessment tool.

Relevant Standards State: Write narratives in which they recount a well- elaborated event or

short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts,

and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a

sense of closure.

District: The writer brought his characters to life with details, talk, and

actions.

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 Appropriateness This goal is appropriate for our students given that 52% of our students

scored below grade level (>2.5 points) in the elaboration category

according to the Lucy Calkins Narrative Writing Assessment Tool.

Assessment Plan Overview:

When assessing for students’ abilities to use elaboration in their narrative writing, a 3-

point assessment tool was used. The points are also associated with grade level. At the

Kindergarten level, the writer should be able to indicate who was there, what they did, and how

the characters felt (1 point). At the 1st grade level, the writer put the picture from their mind onto

the page. They included details in pictures and words (2 points). At the 2nd grade level, the writer

tried to bring the characters to life with details, talk, and actions (3 points). The pre and post

assessments were both scored in the same manner of either 1, 2, or 3 points. See assessment

grading tool in Appendix.

Instruction Provided:

Given the results of the pre assessment, it was clear that additional instruction in the

category of elaboration was needed. In addition to the elaboration lessons already in the Lucy

Calkins writing curriculum, it was imperative to focus on bringing the story to life. This was

done by teaching lessons on the idea of breaking up a story bit by bit and telling what

happened first, next, then, and finally. The students were given many tools to put in their

writing toolkits including a page of lapsing time sentence-stems and transition words. The next

important lesson was the idea of bringing our characters in our story to life. The focus was to

teach the students how to make their characters move and talk by adding dialogue into their

writing. We also focused on the ability to make our readers feel what we felt, and see what we

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saw, through the use of descriptive words and language. We had another tool for the

students to use to help with synonyms. We also used an anchor chart to emphasize these three

concepts through several mini lessons. These lessons were spread out over a time span of several

weeks. Students had the opportunity to practice these skills through both shared writing, group

work, and individual work time. See lesson tools in Appendix.

Student Learning Analysis:

After analyzing the students post assessment writing samples, it is clear that much growth

was made in the category of elaboration. Following the use of many mini lessons enforcing

elaboration techniques in addition to Lucy Calkins curriculum and individual student writing

conferences, every single student in the class showed growth in the category of elaboration.

Students who scored a 0,1, or 2 in their pre assessment all moved up at least one number in their

post assessment score. Many students improved their use of descriptive words to help their

reader picture the story in their mind. Instead of using the beginning sentence of One day

every student pushed themselves to pull their reader in with more exciting language. Most

students did a great job using dialogue in their writing to bring their character to life. Every

student improved in their ability to break up their story bit by bit. Their stories were focused on

one small moment in their lives, showing the elapse of time using transitions instead of one

day, the next day, then the next day, then the next day. For the purpose of this SLA, a group of

student work that highlights these improvements is shown in the appendix. See student pre and

post assessment A, B, C, and D in appendix.

Plan for Subsequent Instruction:

The students all showed growth in their ability to elaborate, given the instruction that was

provided. For subsequent instruction, I would continue giving them tools to use for the next

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time they write narrative stories. In the future, and after reading the post assessment pieces, it is

clear that additional lessons on spelling, punctuation, and endings is needed.

Student Growth:

Throughout this analysis, it is clear that the students grew in their ability to elaborate.

Through the use of one on one writing conferences, whole group collaboration, and partner

work, every student was able to use the tools and techniques given to exceed their pre assessment

scores.

Concluding Remarks:

The post assessment showed that the learning goal was successfully met. Performing this

SLA was a great way for me to analyze the writing abilities of my students and see where I

needed to improve my own teaching and delivery. This was also a great learning experience in

the sense that it taught me that sometimes, additional tools need to be given to students outside of

the normal curriculum. In the future, I will always keep in mind that students need to be exposed

to many different ways of thinking about writing. Whether it is shared writing, visual tools, or

one on on writing conferences, each student is different in the way they absorb and respond to

material.

Appendix:

Assessment Grading Tool:

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Lesson Tools:

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Student Work Samples:

Student A:

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Pre:

Post:

Student B:

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Pre:

Post:

Student C:

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Pre:

Post:

Student D:

Pre:

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Post:!!
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