Vanessa M. Johnson
Qualitative Data
For each unit, the students are required to write an Expository essay that incorporates the theme of each unit. To demonstrate growth over time, I provide the students with the opportunity to write the Expository essay that includes a working thesis statement, evidence to support understanding, and organization and structure. In this section, I have included student writing samples from two writing prompts giving during the current school year.
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Table of Contents:
The Assessments
Below are the Beginning of Year (BOY) and Middle of Year (MOY) writing assessments prompts used to assess student writing skills. For each unit, the students are required to plan, brainstorm, and write an Expository Essay that had a controlling idea and a thesis statement. To show student growth, the students must structure ideas in a sustained and logical way using graphic organizers and develop drafts in timed and open ended situations. The assessments below show the students prewriting process as well as writing samples for the two prompts.
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Beginning of Year (BOY)
Middle of Year (MOY)
BOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 1
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 1. At the beginning of the year, the students wrote an expository essay about survival. I gave the students general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. The students saw various exemplars of how the Expository essay should be written, but were not provided with specifics about structure and organization. This first writing assignment served as a writing diagnostic to determine writing skills. I have included the Expository prompt, to demonstrate the students thought process, the sample writing, and the rubric with initial feedback. This student is considered a HIGH scoring student based on the rubric.
Below is the writing rubric with feedback highlighted and written for the student. To support writing growth, I believe that feedback is essential . The student received an overall score of a 2.5 because the student had a clear thesis statement. Student essays that include a clear and concise thesis statement automatically receive a 2 as long as thesis is supported. In this case, Student 1 has adequately addressed the prompt but the essay lacks organizational structure.
BOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 2
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 2. At the beginning of the year, the students wrote an expository essay about survival. I gave the students a general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. The students saw various exemplars of how the Expository essay should be written, but were not provided with specifics about structure and organization. This first writing assignment served as a writing diagnostic to determine writing skills. I have included the Expository prompt, to demonstrate the students thought process, the sample writing, and the rubric with initial feedback. This student is considered a MIDDLE scoring student based on the rubric.
Below is the writing rubric with feedback highlighted and written for the student. To support writing growth, I believe that feedback is essential . the student does not have a thesis statement that is supported by evidence throughout the essay. Student essays that include a clear and concise thesis statement automatically receive a 2, but the student did not. Organizational structure, and lack of evidence is the reason why the student received a score of a 1.5 As outlined in the feedback on the rubric, the student fails to address the thesis and is incomplete.
BOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 3
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 3. At the beginning of the year, the students wrote an expository essay about survival. I gave the students general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. The students saw various exemplars of how the Expository essay should be written, but were not provided with specifics about structure and organization. This first writing assignment served as a writing diagnostic to determine writing skills. I have included the Expository prompt, to demonstrate the students thought process, the sample writing, and the rubric with initial feedback. This student is considered a LOW scoring student based on the rubric.
Below is the writing rubric with feedback highlighted and written for the student. To support writing growth, I believe that feedback is essential . The student received an overall score of a 1 because the student did not have a clear thesis statement. Student essays that include a clear and concise thesis statement automatically receive a 2 as long as thesis is supported. In this case, Student 3 hadn't adequately addressed the prompt and the essay lacked evidence and basic understanding of the writing format.
MOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 1
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 1. To assess student understanding of Expository writing at the middle of the year (MOY) the students wrote an essay about loyalty. I gave the students a general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. I also provided the students with a writing template that included transitions and sentences stems for each paragraph. As the students wrote, they could use the writing template as a checklist to ensure their essays were complete. This is the third writing assignment to demonstrate student writing ability. I have included the Expository prompt, the sample writing, and the rubric with final feedback.
Below is the rubric feedback for Student 1. The student received a score of a 4, which is the highest score a student can achieve. I chose this student because not only did the students organizational structure improve, they were able to apply what they have learned in class to the essay writing. I told the students to incorporate personal examples or texts that we have read in class to support their thesis statements. The student addressed all parts of the writing task and wrote a well developed essay.
MOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 2
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 2. To assess student understanding of Expository writing at the middle of the year (MOY) the students wrote an essay about loyalty. I gave the students a general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. I also provided the students with a writing template that included transitions and sentences stems for each paragraph. As the students wrote, they could use the writing template as a checklist to ensure their essays were complete. This is the third writing assignment to demonstrate student writing ability. I have included the Expository prompt, the sample writing, and the rubric with final feedback.
In the rubric shown below. the student received a score of a 3 on this writing assignment. The student grew from a 1.5 to a score of a 3, demonstrating academic growth. One area of growth that Student 2 improved on was that that intro, body, and conclusion, were well developed. As outlined in the feedback provided earlier, the students organizational structure improved alongside the use of effective transitions and examples. I chose this student because of his ability to take the knowledge I gave, and wrote an engaging essay.
MOY Writing Sample & Rubric: Student 3
Below is the assignment, the writing sample, and rubric for Student 3. To assess student understanding of Expository writing at the middle of the year (MOY) the students wrote an essay about loyalty. I gave the students a general expectations for the essay which include: an introduction, body paragraph, and conclusion. I also provided the students with a writing template that included transitions and sentences stems for each paragraph. As the students wrote, they could use the writing template as a checklist to ensure their essays were complete. This is the third writing assignment to demonstrate student writing ability. I have included the Expository prompt, the sample writing, and the rubric with final feedback.
In the rubric shown below. the student received a score of a 2.5 on this writing assignment. The student grew from a 1 to a score of a 2.5 demonstrating academic growth. One area of growth that Student 3 improved on was that she followed the Expository format and her vocabulary improved. As outlined in the feedback provided below, the students sentence variety improved alongside the use of effective transitions and examples. I chose this student because of her ability to demonstrate growth in the writing despite her language barrier.
Teacher Reflection
In thinking about where the students started, I saw that all three students made significant gains. From all of the student samples, it was clear that structure and organization was important to the success of the students ability to write effectively. I saw that the students were most comfortable with writing when they are given opportunities to practice over and over. Similar to my reflection of the qualitative assessment data, when students are comfortable to write creatively and receive continuous feedback, their writing over time improved dramatically. For the End of Year (EOY) writing assessment, I project that that students will pass the STAAR Expository essay with at least a passing score of a 2-4, based on the essay's and feedback provided to each student.