Assessment Commentary

Early Childhood
Task 3: Assessment Commentary
TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. Attach the assessment you used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional pages) to the end of this
file. If you submit evidence of learning, a student work sample, or feedback as a video or audio clip and you or your focus
students cannot be clearly heard, attach a transcription of the inaudible comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to the
end of this file. These pages do not count toward your page total.
1. Analyzing Children’s Learning

a. Identify the specific language and literacy learning objectives for the common
assessment you chose for analysis.
[ The common assessment that I chose to analyze was from the second learning experience. In
this assessment, students were asked to explore the classroom to find long /A/ sound words,
write those words on their scavenger hunt page, draw a matching picture for their words, and
use one of their long /A/ sound words in a sentence. The objectives that the students were
working towards focused on their knowledge of the long /A/ sound. The students should have
been able to write long /A/ sound words found in the classroom. The students should also have
been able to determine which words have a long /A/ sound from a group of words. Even though
the checklist that was used to assess the students had more criteria, those were the two
objectives that focused on the main idea.]
b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes the class/group’s learning
for the common assessment.
[
Students will be able to write long /A/ sound words found in the 16 out of 17 students
classroom.
Students will be able to determine which words have a long /A/ sound 13 out of 17 students
from a group of words.
Writes at least 7 words found in the room 17 out of 17 students
Draws appropriate pictures matching words found 17 out of 17 students
Shares words with partner 17 out of 17 students
Writes 1 sentence with a long /A/ sound word 13 out of 17 students
The first two boxes in the table state the objectives that were determined for the common
assessment. The remaining four boxes contain assessment criteria from the check list for
learning experience 2. On the common assessment, students worked with a partner but wrote a
sentence with a long /A/ sound word independently. I was able to use the checklist that I created
while the students were working.]
c. Use the class/group summary you provided in prompt 1b to analyze the patterns of
language and literacy learning for the class/group.
[ Overall, the group was very successful in their literacy and language learning based on the
table above. Although they did well finding written long /A/ sound words and knowing what they
mean, they could use more practice with determining which words have the long /A/ sound
when given a group. Most of the sentences that students wrote had the long /A/ sound but their
sentence structure did not meet the requirements that they are learning in first grade. They need
to work on combining their ideas into sentences better and remembering a capital letter and a
period. There was a pattern that students were more successful when they were working with
partners. This may have been because there were two people to discuss what was correct and
why it was correct. There was also a pattern in the students who were successful determining
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Early Childhood
which words had the long /A/ sound from a group of words and in the students who could
successfully write a sentence with a long /A/ sound word. Their language skills successfully
communicated the concepts that the students were learning.]
d. Analyze the patterns of learning for the 2 focus children. Reference the 3 sources of
evidence you collected for each of the 2 focus children.
Consider children’s strengths (what children understand and do well), and areas of
learning that need attention (e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater
challenge).
[ Focus child 1 demonstrated strengths in verbal communication related to literacy. Since this
child is a struggling reader, she relies more heavily on orally saying what she understands. Her
writing can lose focus, and she has a hard time remembering what she needed to do. In the
evidence of learning clip for this student, it is apparent that working with a partner helped in her
understanding of the long /A/ sound. From 0:01-0:30 in the evidence of learning clip, focus child
1 can be seen writing “snail” and then writing “tree”. When asked about what the pair had
written, she was able to say that “tree” did not have the long /A/ sound. This proves her ability to
determine which words contain the long /A/ sound. This and her work sample from the common
assessment show a pattern of sounding out words as she writes them. In her observation notes,
I commented on her ability to spell based on the sounds that she hears. This pattern of phonetic
spelling is expected of first grade students. It shows her understanding of letter sounds and her
process for figuring out which words have the long /A/ sound. A common error that she makes is
reflected in her writing during learning experience 3 in which she misspells sight words because
she pronounces them incorrectly. Focus child 2 demonstrated strengths in written
communication related to literacy. He will raise his hand to answer questions, but he does not
prefer verbal communication. Since this child has a developmental delay, his speech and
communication skills do not reach the level of his peers. In the evidence of learning clip, he can
be seen reading words to determine if they have the long /A/ sound and writing those words
down. There is pattern that can be seen throughout the clip of him checking his spelling multiple
times while he is writing the word. One of his strengths in literacy is looking for the information
he needs. He will look up how to spell words or look in the book to answer a question. This is a
skill that he has learned and he applies to all of his learning. In his observation notes, I
commented on his sentence building. I noted that he forgets capital letters and punctuation in
his sentences. This can also be seen in his work sample for the common assessment. He is
able to communicate his learning in writing, but he needs to work on the writing process to
improve his written communication. His work sample proved his understanding of the words that
he wrote through pictures and his ability to use a long /A/ word in a written sentence.]
e. If video or audio evidence of learning or a video or audio work sample occurs in a group
context (e.g., discussion), provide the name of the clip and clearly describe how the
scorer can identify the focus children (e.g., position, physical description) whose work is
portrayed.
[ In the clip “Evidence of Learning Focus Child 1”, focus child 1 can be identified as the African
American female child wearing a pink, dotted jacket and small buns in her hair. In the clip
“Evidence of Learning Focus Child 2”, focus child 2 can be identified as the Caucasian male
child wearing a black Star Wars t-shirt and jeans.]
2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning
Refer to specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanations.
Early Childhood
a. Identify the format in which you submitted your evidence of feedback for the 2 focus
children. (Delete choices that do not apply.)
 In video clip(s) from Instruction Task 2 (provide a time-stamp reference) or in
separate video clips
If a video or audio clip of feedback occurs in a group context (e.g., discussion), clearly
describe how the scorer can identify the focus child (e.g., position, physical description)
who is being given feedback.
[ The feedback does not occur in a group setting. Each focus child was called to the back table
to discuss their work after they finished. Focus child 1 is the African American female child
wearing a pink, dotted jacket and small buns in her hair. Focus child 2 is the Caucasian male
child wearing a black Star Wars t-shirt and jeans. Each child is the only student at the table in
their respective clips.]
b. Explain how the feedback provided to the 2 focus children addresses their individual and
developmental strengths and needs relative to language and literacy development.
[ When providing students with feedback, I focused on their strengths before we talked about
what they needed to work on. I believe that this encourages students to listen and motivates
them to improve their work in the end. I also made sure that the students were involved in their
feedback by asking them to explain their work to me. This allowed the students to comment on
how they thought they did and allowed me to expand on how they actually did. This also helped
to promote a mutual understanding on the feedback for the assessment and allowed each of us
to explain our thinking if we did not agree. The feedback for focus child 1 included many of her
strengths. She wrote more words than I required for the students and they all had the long /A/
sound. I asked her if they all had the long /A/ sound and if she checked them over before she
turned it in. I made a comment that they were all spelled right, which I was impressed with. I
asked her to show me which pictures she drew to match which words. This helped me to know
that she understood what the words meant and she did not just copy the picture that she found
in the classroom. I commented on a few of her pictures and her understanding of the words that
she wrote. When we looked at her sentence, I began by asking her to read me what she wrote.
She wrote a complete sentence with a long /A/ sound word, a capital letter, and a period. Since
she completed the assessment perfectly, I did not have anything else for her to work on. The
feedback for focus child 2 also included many of his strengths, but we also discussed how he
could improve on his sentence writing skills. He wrote more words than I required the students
to write as well, which proved that he could determine which words contained the long /A/
sound. I asked if he checked all of his words for the long /A/ sound and talked about a challenge
word that he had found correctly. I asked him to match the pictures that he drew to the words
that he wrote to prove that he understood what the words meant. He was able to explain them
very well, which addressed his literacy proficiency. I asked him to read me his sentence and find
the capital letter, period, and long /A/ word in his sentence. He noticed that he did not have a
capital letter or a period, but recognized that he should have had them. This proves that he
understands what he needed to fix. He agreed that he did well, even with the corrections that
we discussed.]
c. Describe how you will support each focus child to understand and use this feedback to
further their learning related to learning objectives, either within the learning segment or
at a later time.
[ Since I did not have any improvements for focus child 1 to work on, I will continue to ensure
that she maintains this literacy skill. Often times, she will learn a new skill well and then forget
about it when it comes up later on. I will work with her during our small group and conference
Early Childhood
times to maintain the skill and challenge her to work on more literacy skills. I will provide more
spoken exercises for her to practice determining which sounds are which. We will also
incorporate these skills into more reading. With focus child 2, I will provide more sentence
structure practice based on the literacy skills that we are learning about in the future. We will
focus on remembering a capital letter at the beginning of the sentence and punctuation at the
end of the sentence. By incorporating this with other literacy skills, he will have consistent
practice and will learn to check his sentences before he is done. During small group and
conference times, we will also work on his oral communication skills. When he is talking to me
individually, he can communicate his understanding very well. However, when he is in a group
or with other students, he overthinks what he is saying and gets confused. This leads him to shy
away from talking, even though he can be a very social child. I would like to help support his
oral communication skills related to literacy so that he can feel more confident in his leaning.]
3. Evidence of Vocabulary Understanding and Use
When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the video clips and/or
children’s work samples as evidence. Evidence from the video clips may focus on one or
more children.
a. Explain how children were able to use the key vocabulary 1 to support their learning of the
content.
For prompt 3a, refer to the evidence of children’s vocabulary use from ONE,
TWO, OR ALL THREE of the following sources:
1. Video clips from Instruction Task 2 and time-stamp references for evidence of
vocabulary use
2. Additional video file named “Vocabulary Use” of no more than 5 minutes in
length and cited vocabulary use (this can be footage of one or more children).
See Assessment Task 3 specifications in the Early Childhood Evidence Chart
for acceptable file types. Submit the video clip in Assessment Task 3, Part C.
3. Children’s work samples analyzed in Assessment Task 3 and cited
vocabulary use
[ From 0:00-3:35 in Clip 1 from Task 2, students began by reading the list of long /A/ sound
words that we heard in the video. We read the list as a group and I saw all of the students
participating. They were first introduced to the words when they heard them in the video and
later recalled them when prompted to. Students then heard a set of three words with only one
long /A/ sound word. I asked students to listen to the words and tell me which word had the long
/A/ sound. Although students responded quickly to being able to find the long /A/ sound word,
some students did confuse the short /A/ sound for the long /A/ sound. Some students could
name the long /A/ sound word right away, while others needed more prompting to be able to
eliminate other words. We reviewed the long /A/ sound in the first group of words to remind
students what sound they needed to listen for. In the end, students were able to determine that
pail, rain, train, snail, and brain all had the long /A/ sound. Even though we did need to focus on
the letter sounds a little more, I believe that this allowed students to think about the sounds
1 This vocabulary was identified in Planning Task 1 and refers to developmentally appropriate sounds, words, phrases,
sentences, and paragraphs that children use or create to engage in the learning experience.
Early Childhood
more. This helped them transition into finding long /A/ words around the classroom in the
scavenger hunt activity in learning experience 2. The words that they collected during this
activity were listed on the common assessment work samples so that I knew if students could
distinguish long /A/ words in written form. These work samples clearly display the students’
ability to find long /A/ sound words, know what they mean, and use them in complete sentences.
In learning experience 3, students were introduced to using sequencing words such as first,
next, and last in their writing. I have included a work sample from focus child 1 to display this
evidence of vocabulary use. This student began each sentence with a sequencing word in the
correct order. Since the sequencing words appear in the correct order and her story follows a
logical order, it is clear that she understands what the words mean and how to use them. Each
sentence also included a long /A/ sound word.]
4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
a. Based on your analysis of children’s learning presented in prompts 1b–c, describe next
steps for instruction to impact children’s learning:
 For the class/group
 For the 2 focus children and other individuals/groups with specific needs
Consider the active and multimodal nature of children’s learning and the variety of
learners in your class/group who may require different strategies/supports (e.g., children
with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, children at different points in the
developmental continuum, struggling readers, and/or gifted children needing greater
support or challenge).
[ When furthering instruction for the whole group, I would begin by reintroducing each aspect of
the lesson to the students. Since the students that I am working with are younger, it can take
longer for students to commit a topic to memory. I would begin with letter and sound recognition
and move onto writing words and sentences with the long /A/ sound. Since the students have
already learned all three concepts, the idea would be to reemphasize and expand on that
knowledge. As I described above, the majority of my students were successful in determining
which words had the long /A/ sound, writing those words, and including those words in a
sentence. Discussing this topic again would help to solidify this knowledge for the students who
were successful the first time and clarify the information for those students who are still working
on mastering the concept. For this reason, I would create a short warm up activity for all
students to name the long /A/ sound and identify it in words. My students enjoy and respond
well to following along with a video and listening to books, so those methods of introducing a
topic would help capture the students’ attention. The video idea can help to incorporate music,
movement, visuals, and literacy to create a multimodal experience. A book incorporates art, oral
communication, and literacy to help students engage with the words that they are hearing. The
focus of the lesson would be on determining which words from a group have the long /A/ sound.
This was the objective that the most students still need to master, so another lesson on the topic
would help them reach a mastery level. An idea for the lesson would include a video and dry
erase boards. I would have students watch, listen to, and engage with a video story using the
long /A/ sound. Each student would receive a dry erase board and a dry erase marker. As the
video played, students would be asked to write down the long /A/ sound words that they hear.
When the video was over, I would partner students up so that they could check their list of
words with their partner. When each pair was confident with their list, I would give them a pair of
dice and a few pieces of writing paper. Each pair would roll the dice and find that number word
on their paper. Then, they would write a sentence with that word and continue until they each
have a few sentences. I found that having students work in pairs improved their learning, so I
Early Childhood
would like to use that strategy again. For students that require more support, I would seat them
near me so that I can prompt them and guide them more than the rest of the class.
I believe that both focus child 1 and focus child 2 would benefit from the activity stated above.
Both of these students could use more time distinguishing which words have the long /A/ sound
from a group. They can also improve their sentence writing abilities. Both children work better in
a pair than in a large group setting. Since focus child 1 reached mastery in all of the lessons
during the learning segment, I would challenge her to work on her spelling during this activity. I
would tell her to focus on how the video pronounces the words and writing the letters that she
hears them say. If she says the words her own way, they are likely to be spelled incorrectly.
During the writing portion of the lesson, I would ask her to check all of the words that she has
written to see if they look like the way they would sound out loud. Since focus child 2 reached
mastery in distinguishing long /A/ words from short /A/ words, I would ask him to focus on his
sentence structure during the writing portion of the lesson. With more practice, he will learn to
check for capital letters and punctuation at the end of the sentence. I will remind him that each
sentence is a new thought and that the reader needs to know where one thought ends and a
new one begins.]
b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of children’s learning. Support
your explanation with principles from research and/or developmental theory.
[ All of the steps to further instruction listed above follow the research of Lev Vygotsky. As I
explained in Task 1, Lev Vygotsky’s theory on scaffolding revolved around adjusting how much
support the teacher gives the students so that they can learn to do the skill on their own
(Vygotsky, 1978). Vygotsky found that once students are in the zone of proximal development
for learning the material, they will be more successful with scaffolded support. As the students
learn, they will require less scaffolding and will eventually be successful on their own. His theory
on the zone of proximal development and scaffolding related to the instruction steps listed
above in that students are supported based on their needs. Students are able to find their own
words in the video and build them into sentences that they thought of on their own.
Reintroducing each aspect of the lesson provides students with the base knowledge that they
need to expand on the concept. Students are encouraged to ask for the help that they need
while in a small group so that they will be successful on their own when they return to a large
group setting. This strategy also allows students to be challenged once they exceed the basic
expectation.]
References:
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes.
Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Common Assessment Directions:

1. Walk around the classroom with your partner to discover at least seven long /A/ sound
words.
2. Write each long /A/ word on a line.
3. Draw a picture to match at least five of your words.
4. Check your words with your partner to make sure they all have the long /A/ sound.
5. Write one of your long /A/ sound words in a complete sentence independently.
Early Childhood
Evidence of Feedback was submitted as two videos titles “Focus Child 1 Feedback” and “Focus
Child 2 Feedback”.

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Early Childhood

Task 3: Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

1. Analyzing Children’s Learning

Common Assessment Directions:

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