Assessment
Individual conferences with students.
Second Grade Writing ChecklistWhen I Read Aloud Checklist
Learning Context/ Introduction
As a part of our author study of Tomie de Paola, I read his book, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta. The purposes and types of statues were discussed as a follow-up. Statues located in our local community were identified. The children were then given an assignment to write about what they would see or hear and how they would feel if they were statues in front of our school. The class was also asked to make an illustration to go along with their sentences. This type of writing response activity would often be used in second grade to provide an opportunity for the children to work on including detail and descriptive words and the conventions of standard writing. The children were then taped reading what they had written. In addition, a comparison between the Giant of Barletta and the Statue of Liberty was also made. Likenesses and differences between the two were recorded on a class made Venn diagram.
Procedure
After reading the book, The Mysterious Giant of Barletta, I asked the children to recall what the giant saw and heard as he stood in the village square of Barletta. Answers included specific information about what had been mentioned in the story.
I then asked the children to think of places around our community of Rhinebeck where they had seen statues. They responded by mentioning several locations.
After that, I told the children to close their eyes and think about what it would be like to be a statue. The class verbally shared their ideas. For homework that day, I requested that each child record what he/she would see and hear, and how he/she might feel if he/she were a statue in the front of our school. (See attached copy.)
The next day when the children brought back their homework, they were given time to share their writing with the others at their table group. They were also asked to make a picture to go along with their story.
I assessed their writing using the Second Grade Writing Checklist. I also had a conference with each child. During the conferences, I discussed with him/her the revisions that were necessary to make his/her original writing "ready" for publishing. Together we identified the errors that were made and the ways that such mistakes could be corrected. In addition, I might have suggested ways to make the child's writing more consistent with the format of the slide show. Since the children's written work was to be used in such a "public" presentation, I did want to make sure that it was error free. However, I would not expect in November that second graders' writing would be perfect. I did not require that each child re-write what he/she had written since an adult was going to keyboard their corrected responses and also because I do not ask that every piece of writing have a "neat-sheet" copy, particularly at this point in the year.
As I wanted to record the children reading their writing, I initiated a discussion about what the class thought made someone a good "out loud" reader. Based on their responses, I developed the When I Read Aloud Checklist.
After the children were recorded the first time, they were able to listen to how they sounded. A second recording was made after that which hopefully reflected any necessary changes the child had to make. Because I had difficulty getting a recording of the technical quality that I was happy with, the children actually had at least two more opportunities to be recorded. These were done over a period of time.
The children's stories were typed by me and by parent volunteers. Parent volunteers also helped with the recording of the children reading their text. I scanned all the children's illustrations. Once these tasks had been completed, I took the children's texts, their scanned illustrations and the recording of them reading and put them into a Power Point presentation.
After the class had a chance to watch the PowerPoint presentation, I asked each child to evaluate the recorded reading of his/her writing using the When I Read Aloud Checklist.
Whenever they wanted to, the children were able to enjoy the presentation in the classroom as an independent reading activity. Additionally, a VHS tape was made so that the children could take it home to view with their families.
Student Work
Selected Examples:
Teacher CommentOriginal VersionEdited VersionWriting AssessmentReading Aloud Assessment
Resources
- Multimedia computer
- Scanner
- Software
- Microsoft Word
- Microsoft PowerPoint
- Cassette Recorder
- Parent volunteers
Instructional/Environmental Modifications
Since my class included several children whose writing and oral reading skills were not as proficient as their classmates, I conferenced with those children after they returned their homework and tried to help them expand upon what they had written. Prior to the children being recorded reading their stories, I also sent home a copy of what they had written so that they could practice orally reading it. In addition, they had other opportunities to practice in the classroom with a volunteer. I wanted them comfortable with and less anxious about being taped as this was a new experience for them.
Time Required
Planning: 30 minutes
Implementation: 3 days - approximately 25 minutes/day for reading of story and follow-up discussion about statues, sharing of writing in small groups, discussion about reading out loud. The typing of the children's stories, the scanning of the children's illustrations, and the recording of the children reading was done by me and parent volunteers over an extended period of time because of numerous technical difficulties in our district.
Assessment: Ongoing during the course of the day when I conferenced with the children about their writing and later on approximately 30 minutes for reviewing the children's oral taped reading.
Author
Mary Ann Williams, Rhinebeck Central School
Reflection
My primary goal for this activity was to have the children respond in writing to the story, The Mysterious Statue of Barletta by pretending that they were statues. However, I also wanted to build their awareness of the location of other statues (those in our community and also the Statue of Liberty) and their purposes.
By giving the class the opportunity to illustrate what they had written about being a statue, it provided another way for the children to share their ideas and their feelings. In many instances, their drawings were very revealing. For some children, it allowed them to be successful with the assignment even though their writing skills were not as developed as other members of the class.
In addition, as I wanted to validate my students as writers and readers, I chose to use a PowerPoint presentation to do so. Initially I had planned to have parents come in to view the slide show once it was completed. However, because the overall project took so much longer due to the technical difficulties I encountered, I instead shared the slide show just with the class. We viewed it first on the large screen. After that, the children were able to watch it over and over again in the classroom. It was at this point that a VHS tape of the slide show was made so that it could be shared with the children's families. The children took turns taking home the two copies of the video. A little book for parents to share their comments about the video was also included.
The class was really proud of the video we had made and looked forward to reading the complimentary messages that were written about it. Their efforts and successes as writers and readers were acknowledged.
Although technology was incorporated into this activity, the children were not as actively involved in its use (keyboarding, scanning) as I would have liked. The children's artwork had to be scanned in another classroom or in our computer lab. This year, however, I have my own scanner and the children were able to be involved with this process in our room. Because of the amount of time it takes for twenty-two children to keyboard their own text, the children aren't responsible for this aspect of every publishing activity, but they are given numerous opportunities to do so throughout the school year.
