Writing to Learn: The New Georgia Writing Assessment

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Writing to Learn The New Georgia Writing
Assessment

• Elaine Roberts, Ph.D.

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Helping Students Understand Purposes for Writing
to Learn

• Helps students
• think about important issues, synthesize
  material, develop opinions, and learn critical
  thinking skills
• make connections between what they are learning
  to what they know and have experienced
• develop a sense of learning through writing and
  valuing/sharing their thoughts
• balance the structure of expository writing and
  the craft of their own writing
• Helps teachers
• assess students thinking, clarify information,
  and plan instruction

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Connections
Text to Text Text to Self
Text to the world Text to Others
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Writing Sample 3rd GraderConnections to Book
Freckle Juice by Judy Blume

• Andrew Marcus feels about his teacher that he
  might some times feel in barest because when he
  was not paing utintion when they called his
  reading group.
• My connetion is that Im oppisit because I dont
  want freckles. My other connection is I used to
  pass notes. How did Andrew feel when he fell out
  of his chair and every one laughed at him? He
  probley felt weak and sad because no one stop
  laughing at him.

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Grade 3 Portfolio Writing Assessment

• First assessment on March 19-30, 2007
• Includes analytic scoring guide aligned to GPS
• Four types of writing assessed
• Writing in Response to Literature (Text to text,
  text to writer, or text to outside world-making
  connections, asking questions, and writing using
  the text as a model)
• Narrative Writing (Relating a Personal Experience
  and Creating an Imaginative Story)
• Informational Writing (Reports info on a topic
  based on research from a variety of sources)
• Persuasive Writing (Clear position/opinion with
  examples, anecdotes and/or details)

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Grade 3 Portfolio Analytic Scoring System
(Domains and Components)
Domain Response to Lit Persuasive Writing Narrative Writing Informational Writing
Ideas Focus, supporting details, clear understand of text Focus, clear position, supp details Focus, supp details, chara develop Focus, supp details, research resources
Organization Org pattern, sequence of ideas, transitions Org pattern, sequence of ideas, transitions Org pattern, sequence of ideas, transitions Org pattern, sequence of ideas, transitions
Style Descriptive language, audience. awareness, word choice Descriptive Language, audience aware word choice Descriptive Lang. Word choice, aud. awareness Descriptive Lang, audience aware Word choice
Conventions Sentence fluency, usage, mechanics spell, handwriting Sent fluency usage, mechanics spell, handwriting Sent fluency, usage, mechanics spell, handwriting Sent fluency usage, mechanics spell,handwrit
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Emergent Literacy Pre-K-2

• Sulzbys Stages of Early Emergent Writing
• Drawing as writing
• Scribble writing
• Letter-like units
• Non-phonetic letter strings
• Copying from environmental print
• Invented spelling
• Conventional spelling

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Sulzby Stages of Early Emergent Reading K-2

• Attending to pictures, not forming stories
• Attending to pictures, forming oral stories
• Attending to pictures, forming written stories
• Attending to print

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ELA 4R4 The student reads aloud, accurately
familiar material in a variety of genres of the
quality and complexity illustrated in the sample
reading list, in a way that makes meaning clear
to listeners.

• The student uses letter-sound knowledge to
  decode written English and uses a range of cueing
  systems (e.g. phonics and context clues) to
  determine pronunciation and meaning
• Uses self-correction when subsequent reading
  indicates an earlier miscue (self-monitoring and
  self-correcting strategies)
• Reads with rhythm, flow, and meter that sounds
  like everyday speech (prosody)

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ELA4W2 The student demonstrates competence in a
variety of genres

• The student produces informational writing (e.g.
  report, procedures, correspondence)
• That
• Engages the reader by establishing a context,
  creating a speakers voice, and otherwise
  developing reader interest.
• Frames a central question about an issue or
  situation.
• Creates an organizing structure appropriate to a
  specific purpose, audience, and context.
• Includes appropriate facts and details.
• Excludes extraneous details and inappropriate
  information.
• Uses a range of appropriate strategies, such as
  providing facts and details, describing or
  analyzing the subject, and narrating a relevant
  anecdote.
• Draws from more than one source of information
  such as speakers, books, newspapers, and online
  materials.
• Provides a sense of closure to the writing.

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Compare/Contrast

• Causeleads toEffect
• CCCleads toE
• Cleads to--EEE
• Paragraph
• Introduce cause or effect
• Describe event combined with other events that
  begin to cause the effect
• Build explanation of reason for significance of
  cause/effect.
• Closure (Combs, 2003)

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Matrix to Connect GPS to Content Area
Read/Write Text Organizational Structures Patterns Read Write Text/Graphic Features Word Study Strategies Comprehension Strategies
__Compare/ Contrast __Topic sentences
__Chronological order

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Artifacts GPS Self-Monitoring Progress
Start Finish Genre Title Strategies Need to work on
2/7 2/20 Fiction/ Adventure Thunder Mountain QAR questioning strategy Need to use the QAR strategy in Science class

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QAR Strategy

• Reading Quest Website
• http//www.readingquest.org
• for comprehension strategies

Right There Think and Search
Author and Me On My Own
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Grade 5 Analytic Writing Assessment

• First assessment, March 7 8, 2007
• Students will be given either and informational,
  persuasive, or narrative writing topic as defined
  by the GPS
• Topics will be released after each test
  administration and will become part of the
  practice topic bank

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Inquiry Projects for Writing to Learn
Observations and Interviews

• Observe, study, and write about
  observations/interview.
• Example Students observe a teacher mini-lesson
  with a think aloud about poetry writing in
  response to expository texts, then students study
  poems and compile a list of features of the text,
  vocabulary, and authors style. Finally, students
  write a poetry responses to an expository text
  and discuss the features, vocabulary, and writing
  style of the poem and connect it to meaning.

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Grade 5 Four Domains and Components

• Ideas (main idea, supp details, relevance of
  detail, depth of dev, awareness of genre)
• Organization (focus, sequence of ideas, grouping
  of ideas within paragraphs, genre-specific
  strategies, transitions)
• Style (word choice, audience awareness, voice,
  sentence variety, genre-specific
  strategies-dialogues, suspense)
• Conventions (sentence formation, usage,
  mechanics)
• Linked to a common reporting scale to compare
  scores over time Scoring rubrics are available
  online

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• All grade 5 students will take the test on the
  same day with one day for make-up
• Testing time will be 120 minutes (sessions of 60
  minutes each)
• Systems have flexibility for time of day to
  administer each of the sessions
• No extra time will be allowed except as specified
  in an IEP or TPP
• Dictionaries will no longer be allowed except for
  ELL students to use a translation dictionary
  (paper copy only) if specified in the TPP

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Grade 8 Writing Assessment

• First operational assessment will be January,
  2007
• Students will be given either an expository topic
  or a persuasive topic as defined by the GPS
• Topics will be released after each test
  administrations and become part of the practice
  topic bank

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Grade 8 Four Domains and Components

• Ideas (controlling idea, supporting ideas, depth
  of dev, sense of completeness, relevance of
  detail, awareness of genre)
• Organization (focus, sequence of ideas, grouping
  of ideas within paragraphs, genre-specific
  strategies, transitions)
• Style (word choice, audience awareness, voice,
  sentence variety, genre-specific strategies)
• Conventions (sentence formation, usage,
  mechanics)
• Students take the test on the same day with one
  make up day
• Testing time is 100 minutes with no extra time
  except for IEP and TPP plans
• ELL students will be allowed to use a paper only
  translation dictionary if specified in the TPP

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• I never have to watch television because all of
  their creative pieces are rehashes of sitcoms,
  action shows, and made for TV maudlin
  melodramas. (p. 121)

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GHSWT

• First administration will be Fall, 2007 (Sept.
  26-27)
• Same four domains (Ideas, Organization, Style,
  and Conventions-same component descriptors as
  grade 8)
• The new assessment will assess persuasive writing
  as defined in the GPS (writing prompts will be
  released after administration for practice topic
  banks)
• Testing time will be 100 minutes (no extra time
  except for IEP and TPP plans)
• ELL student will be allowed to use a translation
  dictionary in paper format if specified in the
  TPP
• Assessment and instructional guides will be
  available in summer, 2007 (scoring rubric and
  sample anchor papers for each score point in each
  domain at www.doe.k12.ga.us testing)

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SCSh6 and Persuasive Writing

• Students will communicate scientific
  investigations and information clearly.
• a. Write clear, coherent laboratory reports
  related to scientific investigations.
• b. Write clear, coherent accounts of current
  scientific issues, including possible alternative
  interpretations of the data.
• c. Use data as evidence to support scientific
  arguments and claims in written or oral
  presentations.
• d. Participate in group discussions of
  scientific investigation and current scientific
  issues.

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High School Physics SCSh9

• Students will enhance reading in all curriculum
  areas by
• a. Reading in All Curriculum Areas
• Read a minimum of 25 grade-level appropriate
  books per year from a variety of subject
  disciplines and participate in discussions
  related to curricular learning in all areas.
• Read both informational and fictional texts in
  a variety of genres and modes of discourse.
• Read technical texts related to various subject
  areas.
• b. Discussing books
• Discuss messages and themes from books in all
  subject areas.
• Respond to a variety of texts in multiple modes
  of discourse.
• Relate messages and themes from one subject
  area to messages and themes in another area.
• Evaluate the merit of texts in every subject
  discipline.
• Examine authors purpose in writing.
• Recognize the features of disciplinary texts.

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High School Physics Continued

• c. Building vocabulary knowledge
• Demonstrate an understanding of contextual
  vocabulary in various subjects.
• Use content vocabulary in WRITING and speaking.
• Explore understanding of new words found in
  subject area texts

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Science SP3

• Students will evaluate the forms and
  transformations of energy.
• Analyze, evaluate, and apply the principle of
  conservation of energy and measure the components
  of work-energy theorem by
• describing total energy in a closed system.
• identifying different types of potential energy.
• calculating kinetic energy given mass and
  velocity.
• relating transformations between potential and
  kinetic energy.
• b. Measure and calculate the vector nature of
  momentum.
• c. Compare and contrast elastic and inelastic
  collisions.
• d. Demonstrate the factors required to produce a
  change in momentum.
• e. Analyze the relationship between temperature,
  internal energy, and work done in a physical
  system.
• f. Analyze and measure power.

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Feedback

• Creating time!
• Rubrics (Integrated GPS and open ended rubrics
  for student input)
• Peer journals for writing (ELL-double entry
  journals)
• Entry slips

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Technique Teacher Student
Share writing Share/ Ask for Responses Comment on writing, understand purpose
Clarify Evaluation vs. response Show evaluation is a product, while response is to the writer Understand that response is personable helpful
Model specific praise Show how you tell a writer what you like as a reader Learn cheerleading is too general to be helpful
Model understanding Restate meaning of the piece Reflecting back is helpful
Model Questions suggestions Create questions-what you dont understand Questions help with clarification writing techniques
Comment review Review peer comments Get teacher feedback
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Assignments

• Go beyond knowledge level telling assignments
  
• (Indriasano Paratore, 2005)

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Read-Write Cycle (Miller Calfee, 2004)
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Future Writing Goals

• Think Pair Share

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References

• Indrisano, R., Paratore, J. (2005). Learning to
  write, writing to learn Theory and research in
  practice. International Reading Association.
• Combs, M. (2003). Readers and writers in the
  middle grades, 2nd ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ
  Prentice Hall.
• Tompkins, G. (2004). Teaching writing Balancing
  process and product, 4th ed. Upper Saddle River
  Prentice Hall.