Megan Plumlee

Assessing Writing

Introduction:
The student that I chose to complete the writing assessment with was Delaney. She is a fourth
grader who is a very social person. She is not afraid to tell people what she thinks. When in
class Delaney does not seem to enjoy reading. During MIRP time she asks me if she can draw or
do a fun write instead of reading. Delaney seems to enjoy writing. She expresses herself
through writing very clearly. When I read her journals I can clearly see what she was trying to
convey. Delaney also rewords the question or prompt that she is writing about. Delaney also
frequently has different fun writes going at one time. During free time or groups, the students
are sometimes allowed to read or write something of their choice. Delaney always has her
writing notebook out during these times. Delaney does not have any special learning needs. She
is in medium-high groups in in both mathematics and literacy small groups. Delaneys parents
have joint custody of Delaney. This seems to make turning in homework a challenge for Delaney
since she will have homework located in one place or the other. Other than this, her parents
divorce does not seem to affect her drastically.

Analysis:
Journal Entry: Six Traits (Idea Development, Word Choice)
The writer has the right amount of details. The details do all work together to create a logical
sequence and do all follow the same topic. These are both points of a five on the writing traits
rubric. The journal also has general global information that makes one want for more details.
The journal gives points to everything that she did over the summer (At the fair I showed my
calf, my goats, my horse, I also did clothing, crafts, went to the lake camping w/ my mom in our
mew camper. This gives a logical sequence of what she over the summer but makes me want
more details of what she actually did. I would give the journal writing for idea development a 4
rating.
The word choice for the piece was an interesting part for me to assess. The piece of writing is
very to the point so many of the words could not be replaced with others. The part in section 5
of the rubric says message is remarkable clear and easy to interpret. The journal does have this
part completely. The journal also has parts of the three sections Most words are correct and
adequate even if not striking. I would also give this section a four. Overall I would give the
journal piece a four. The piece is clear even if the word choice and ideas are not as complete or
complex as they could be.

Narrative: Six Traits (Idea Development, Word Choice)
The student uses just the right amount of detail, selectively chooses the right information to
include, details work together these all are characteristics of a 5 paper according to the rubric.
The student starts with details of the characters and moves on to other details. Delaneys
narrative piece gives me enough information so I am not yearning for more information.
Delaney does use some clichd thinking and generalizations when she decided to alter a story to
make it her own rather than completely think of her own story. For idea development overall I
would give the piece a five as there are more bullet points in the five and only one in the three.
In the word choice category of the rubric Delaney uses phrasing that is memorable; GO AWAY
FROM MY GOLDEN BRIDGE is one example of memorable phrasing. Delaney also uses
clear and easy to understand language. One could also put that the writing has a little old
couch feel because of the changing an old story. I would not mark off for this because I already
marked it down for idea development. I would give the piece in general a 5. The ideas are
clearly expressed using the appropriate amount of details and memorable language.
Handwriting:
Delanys handwriting is very readable and easy to follow. Her letters are the appropriate size
although they do not always touch the lines in the appropriate places. The letters all look very
close to the traditional manuscript letters but there are some that she has developed into her own
style. The spacing between the words and letters are appropriate but some letters (p with e) are
right next to each other without any spacing. As an overall look at her handwriting, Delaney is
very strong at handwriting although, when looking at the handwriting rubric she does have some
areas for improvement such as letter spacing and sticking to a traditional style. Overall Delanys
writing shows complex development in idea development. Delany could use some assistance in
the use of word choice that gives deeper meanings and avoid some clich word choices. Delaney
enjoys writing and as her writing develops I would expect her to write riveting and catching
material.
Writing Examples:
Journal Entry: August 18, 2014


Narrative: September 30, 2014 The Wizard of Foz
Once upon a time there was a 14 year old girl named Porthy, and a dog named JoJo. There was a
huge storm coming, a tornado. Porthy didn't get inside. The tornado took her away, she spun
round and round, the tornado. The tornado finally spit her out. She landed in the land of Foz. A
small white cloud came towards her. It was the good witch of Asia, she told Porthy " I came
from Asia and I travel in a small white cloud." So Porthy asked her "how can I get back to Texas,
Aunt Emma is looking for me"she explained. So the good witch whispered to Porthy " you have
to visit The Wizard of Foz." So Porthy headed off, she stopped "where do I go" she asked. "Just
follow the green brick road and you will know when you get there." So she started off again.
About 1/4 of the way there JoJo found a talking stuffed bear it looked one way then the other
way then it stood up and started talking to Porthy and JoJo. The bear wanted to be magical again,
so he wanted to go to the Wizard of Foz. Then about 3/4 of the way, there was a shy pig lying on
the side of the road. He wanted to learn howto be brave so he wanted to go to the Wizard of Foz.
So they started on the green brick road again at almost dark the road stopped. There was a huge
olden bridge that went over a deep dark stream. "Wizard of Foz" Porthy shouted. The wizard
came growing "what do you need." Porthy and her friends replied what they needed. The wizard
gave the pig and the bear what they wanted, and he took Porthy home. He yelled "GO AWAY
FROM MY GOLDEN BRIDGE!" And they all lived happily ever after.
By: Delaney
Assessment Rubrics: (Parts are highlighted in yellow although are a little hard to see)






















Writing Attitude Survey
Delaney scored a 72 raw score on the attitude assessment and a 32 percentile score. I was a little
surprised by the attitude survey. From what I have seen in class, Delaney seemed to like to write
more than her attitude survey showed. This was good for me to see. It could be that Delaney
just liked writing more that what her other choice was and not that she really loved the writing.
Upon further evaluation of the attitude survey, I saw that the questions when it asks about
writing informational or persuasive pieces Delaney usually marked fairly low. The ones where it
talks about writing a letter or keeping a diary Delaney ranked higher. This could tell me that
Delaney like writing about personal experiences in a narrative way but does not enjoy other
kinds of writing as much. On the questions where it asks how the student would feel about
writing more in school Delaney ranked very high. When asked how she would feel about
writing a long report Delaney scored this low. This could relate back to the ranking
informational and persuasive writing lower. Delaney did say that she would like writing about
science and writing answers to questions in science and social studies. These are some of my
observations about Delaneys attitude about writing survey.
If I was Delaneys teacher, I would take this information and see if I can take the parts that she
said she would really like and incorporate them into the parts that she scored lower but will still
need to complete in fourth grade. If the class was to write a long research project, something I
knew Delaney would not enjoy based on her survey responses, I could have Delaney do her
project over a science topic that she finds really interesting. Delaney rated writing about
something you did in science as the highest ranking. Making these slight changes in prompts
could also help Delaney begin to like the informational writing more. As Delaneys teacher I
would try to have her pick as many of her topics as possible. I would especially pay attention as
to how to make the informational and persuasive writing more interesting to Delaney. These are
the things I learned and some ideas I would have to teach Delaney based on her writing attitude
survey.