Shantelle Roberson, READ 7140 OWA, 62
Running Head: Interdisciplinary Writing
Interdisciplinary Writing Unit: Expository
Social Studies: Immigration: Bio-poem
Grade 5
Shantelle Roberson
READ 7140 OWA
Summer 2008
Dr. Tonja Root
Interdisciplinary Writing Unit:
School and Student Characteristics and Individual Differences
· School System and School
§ Your name and grade level _Shantelle Roberson, 5th grade ______
§ Name of school system ___Ware County School System______
§ Name of school __Memorial Drive Elementary ______
· School’s Student Characteristics
o Students
§ _156_ Number of boys
§ _187_ Number of girls
§ 5-12 Age range
o Ethnicity (number of students)
§ _98 African American
§ _27_ Asian American
§ ____ Native American
§ _37 Hispanic
§ _163 Caucasian
§ _18_ Other
o Reading Achievement (Give percentages.)
§ Based on: _CRCT scores ______
§ _19_ % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ _57_ % Average or intermediate skill
§ 24_ % Below average skill level
o Writing Achievement (Give percentages.)
§ Based on: _Writing Portfolio Scoring Guide______
§ _28_ % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ _51_ % Average or intermediate skill
§ 21_ % Below average skill level
· Classroom’s Student Characteristics
o Students
§ _10_ Number of boys
§ _14_ Number of girls
§ 10-12 Age range
o Ethnicity (number of students)
§ __6_ African American
§ __1_ Asian American
§ ____ Native American
§ __3_ Hispanic
§ _14_ Caucasian
§ ____ Other
o Reading Achievement (Give percentages.)
§ Based on: _CRCT scores______
§ _9 _ % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ 51 _ % Average or intermediate skill
§ 41 _ % Below average skill level
o Writing Achievement (Give percentages.)
§ Based on: _Writing Portfolio Scoring Guide ______
§ _11_ % Above-average or advanced skill level
§ _47_ % Average or intermediate skill
§ _42 % Below average skill level
o Classroom Organization (Check as many as apply.)
§ _X _ Homogeneous
§ _X Heterogeneous
§ ____ Self-Contained
§ _X _ Team Teaching
§ _X Departmentalized
§ ____ Parallel Block
§ List other programs:
· Individual Differences
o Students Attending Pull-Out or Supplementary Programs (number of students)
§ __ Title I
§ __1 Reading
§ __1 Gifted
§ ____ Early Intervention Program
§ ____ Safety Net
§ List other programs:
o Language Proficiency (number of students)
§ _23_ English language
§ ____ Bilingual
§ __1_ Other languages (low vocabulary skills)
§ List other languages:
o Students with Individual Education Plans (IEP) (number of students)
§ ____ Blind or visual impairment
§ ____ Deaf or hearing impairment
§ ____ Developmental delay
§ ____ Emotional or behavioral disorder
§ ____ Learning disability
§ ____ Mild intellectual disability
§ __1_ Other health impairment (ADHD)
§ ____ Physical disability
§ ____ Speech
§ ____ Other
Student Interest Inventory
Name ______
1. What do you like to do when you get home from school?
2. What do you like to do on Saturday?
3. Do you like to watch television? If you do, what are the names of you favorite programs?
4. Do you have a hobby? If you do, what is your hobby?
5. Do you like to make or collect things? If you do, what have you make or
collected?
6. What is your favorite sport?
7. What games do you like best?
8. Do you like to go to the movies?
If you do, what was your favorite movie?
9. Do you have a pet? If you do, what is your pet?
10. Where have you spent your summer vacations?
11. Have you ever made a special study of rocks? space? plants?
animals? dinosaurs? others?
12. What are your favorite subjects in school? art? handwriting?
social studies? P. E.? science? music?
creative writing? spelling? math? other?
13. What subjects are the hardest to you?
14. What kinds of books do you like to have someone read to you? animal stories?
picture books? fairy tales? true stories? science
fiction? adventure? mystery stories?
sports stories? poems? humorous stories? other kinds
of stories?
15. What is your favorite book that someone has read to you?
16. What kinds of books do you like to read by yourself? animal stories?
picture books? fairy tales? true stories?
science fiction? adventures? mystery stories?
sports stories? poems? funny stories? other kinds
of stories?
17. What is your favorite book that you have read to yourself?
18. Would you rather read a book by yourself or have someone read to you?
19. Name a book that you read this week.
20. What books or magazines do you have at home?
Norton, D. E. (1989). The effective teaching on language arts. (3rd ed.) Columbus, OH: Merrill Publishing Company.
Grade 5 Writing Assessment
Description
The writing assessment for grade five consists of an evaluation of each student response to an assigned prompt. Students are assigned a topic from a prompt bank representing three genres: narrative, informational, and persuasive. Students are allowed approximately 120 minutes to write their essays. The writing assessment must be administered in one day. A make-up is also given the following day.
Type of Writing
The Georgia Grade 5 Writing Assessment is a test of narrative, informational and persuasive writing. Students will be given either an informational, persuasive, or narrative writing topic. Because topics will be spiraled, students may receive any one of the three writing topics thus requiring them to be prepared to write in informational, narrative, and persuasive genres. Topics will be released after each test administration and will become part of the practice topic bank.
Analytic and Holistic Scoring
The scoring system is analytic. Analytic scoring means that more than one feature or domain of a paper is evaluated. Each domain itself is scored holistically. The score assigned indicates the test raters’ overall impression of the writer’s command of the components, using predetermined scoring criteria contained in the Scoring Rubrics. Accurate scoring requires balancing a writer’s strengths and areas of challenge.
Student writing will be assessed analytically in four domains: Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions. Analytic scoring will provide detailed information on student writing including scale scores and performance levels. The Grade 5 Writing Assessment will also be linked to a common reporting scale allowing for greater capability to compare scores over time.
Time Line
The Grade 5 Writing Assessment is administered during the first week of March. All grade five students will take the assessment on the same day. There will also be one day for make-up. Testing time will be 120 minutes (2 sessions of 60 minutes each). Each system will have the flexibility to determine what time of day to administer each of the sessions. No extra time will be allowed except as specified in a student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP), Section 504 Plan, or Test Participation Plan (TPP).
Scoring Procedures and Types of Scores
Four domains of writing are evaluated in the grade five. Each paper is scored in four domains: Ideas, Organization, Style, and Conventions. Each domain consists of several components. A component is a feature of writing within a particular domain. For example, “Focus” is a component of the Ideas domain. The weight of each domain reflects the contribution of each domain to the student’s total score. Weighting means that the score a rater assigns is multiplied by the weight (importance) assigned to the domain.
Each paper is scored by two raters. Raters who score the student compositions are trained to understand and use the standardized scoring system. The raters score each paper independently. Each of the four domains of effective writing is evaluated. Although these domains are interrelated during the writing process, a strength or area of challenge is scored only once under a particular domain. Scores in each domain range from 1 to 5 (5 being the highest score). The total weighted raw scores range from 10 (1’s in all four domains) to 50 (5’s in all four domains). A score of “1 to 5” is assigned to each domain by each rater. These scores represent a continuum of writing that ranges from inadequate to minimal to good to very good. Points on the continuum are defined by the scoring rubric for each domain. Each score point itself represents a range of papers. Domain scores are combined to obtain a total score for each student. In combining the domain scores, the Content score is given a weight of 40%; the other domains of Organization, Style, and Conventions are given a weight of 20% each. The total score is then converted to a three-digit scaled score. There are three performance levels represented: Does Not Meet (100-199), Meets (200-249), and Exceeds(250+).
Reporting
Student Label – One label is provided for each student tested. The label is to be placed in the student’s permanent school record. It contains the total scale score.
Student Report – Two originals of the Student Report are provided; one is a student/parent copy and one copy is for the permanent record and instructional use by the student’s teacher(s).
Student Achievement Roster – Two copies of Student Achievement Rosters are provided. School or class level rosters are provided depending on the choice made by the school. Rosters contain the names of all students tested. For each student, the roster displays the total writing score and a notation of the performance level.
Scale Score Rank Order Roster – This roster lists students in rank order by scale scores. Two copies are provided.
School Report – A summary of student scores is provided for each school where testing was conducted. Three copies of the report are provided.
System Report – For each system, a summary report is provided which is identical in content to the school report. Three copies are provided.
Georgia Department of Education. (2006, 2007). Grade Five Writing Assessment. Retrieved May 27, 2008, from http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_testing.aspx?PageReq=CITestingWA5
DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE SCORING GUIDELINES FOR THE
GEORGIA GRADE 5 WRITING ASSESSMENT
Stage 1 The Emerging WriterWriting samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• Little or no evidence of topic development, organization, and/or detail.
C Little awareness of the audience or the writing task.
• Errors in surface features that prevent the reader from understanding the writer’s message. / Stage 4 The Experimenting Writer
Writing samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• A clear and developed topic although the development may be uneven.
• A clear plan with a beginning, middle, and end.
The beginning and/or ending may be clumsy.
• Evidence of writing for an audience.
• Evidence of experimentation with language and sentence patterns.
• Word combinations and word choice may be novel.
• Errors in surface features that may interrupt the flow of communication.
Stage 2 The Developing Writer
Writing samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• A topic that is beginning to be developed.
• The beginning of an organizational plan.
• Limited awareness of the audience and/or the task.
• Simple word choice and simple sentence patterns.
• Errors in surface features that interfere with communication. / Stage 5 The Engaging Writer
Writing samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• A topic that is well developed.
• A plan with a clear beginning, middle, and end.
Organization that sustains the writer’s purpose.
• Audience awareness techniques that engage the reader.
• Effective use of varied language and sentence patterns.
• Errors in surface features that do not interfere with the reader’s understanding of the writer’s message.
Stage 3 The Focusing Writer
Writing samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• A clear topic although development of the topic is incomplete.
• An apparent plan with loosely organized ideas.
• A sense of audience and/or task.
• Minimal variety of vocabulary and of sentence patterns.
• Errors in surface features that interrupt the flow of communication. / Stage 6 The Extending Writer
Writing samples produced by students at this stage
exhibit most or all of the following characteristics:
• A topic that is fully elaborated with rich details.
Organization that sustains the writer’s purpose and moves the reader through the piece.
• Audience awareness techniques that engage and sustain the reader’s interest.
• Effective use of varied sentence patterns.
• Creative and novel language.
• Errors in surface features that do not interfere with the reader’s understanding of the writer’s message.
(2001). DEVELOPMENTAL STAGE SCORING GUIDELINES FOR THE
GEORGIA GRADE 5 WRITING ASSESSMENT. Georgia Department of Education. Retrieved May 27, 2008, from http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/_documents/curriculum/testing/g5wrt.pdf.
Zaner-Bloser Handwriting Models
ABCTeach. (2007). Printed Zaner-Bloser alphabet, no pictures. Retrieved May 31, 2008 from ABC Teach web site: http://www.abcteach.com/free/c/chart_zb_new.pdf
Abcteach. (2006). Zaner-Bloser handwriting techniques. Retrieved May 31, 2008 from ABC Teach web site: http://www.abcteach.com/zb_style_font/azcursive.htm
Explanation of Terms
Checklist – Students will be given a checklist for each stage of the writing process to check off areas of completion.
Drafting –During this stage, the writer writes a rough draft and a writing lead (the opening sentence) (Tompkins, 2004, p. 17).
Editing – During this stage, the writer sets the composition aside for a while, proofreads to locate errors, and corrects errors (Tompkins, 2004, p. 22).
Narrative Writing – Students retell familiar stories, develop sequels for stories they have read, write stories called personal narratives about events in their own lives, or create original stories (Tompkins, 2004, p. 15).
Prewriting – During this stage, the writer chooses a topic, considers the purpose, audience, and form, and generates and organizes ideas for writing (Tompkins, 2004, p. 10).
Publishing – During this stage, the writer publishes his/her work. This may be done in several fashions. It may be published by making a book for it to go in, submitting it to the local newspaper or magazine, share it a puppet show, or etc (Tompkins, 2004, p. 25-26, 28).