Juli Kendall's Weekly
Writing Workshop Journal
A MiddleWeb Listserv Project
Members of the MiddleWeb Discussion List and other interested teachers
are joining together to explore the Writing Workshop and other ideas about
supporting young adolescent writers and readers. Juli Kendall, a reading-writing
teacher/coach in Long Beach, California, is helping moderate the discussion.
Last year, Juli kept a weekly journal from her Reading Workshop.
This year, Juli is continuing her journals, but this time she's focusing
on her Writing Workshop. Find out more about our project at our Reading/Writing
Workshop homepage. You'll find Juli's background article here.
Links to many of the tools created by Juli and her colleagues are embedded
in these journals. Most often, when you click on them, a PDF file will begin
to download. You'll find a list of the downloads here.
If you'd like to join the daily discussion that parallels Juli's Journals,
find out how here.
Writing Workshop
Week #18:
Feature Articles:
Assessment and Evaluation
You could go on and on about rubrics and scoring guides, what with their
attention to standards, performance tasks and benchmarks. You could track
the beginnings of standards based assessment and then record the frequency
with which its use is now rising. But let's begin instead with the kids
because writing workshop, after all, is a collection of wonderfully eclectic
writers here at one time or another--not because of who they are but because
of who they want to be.
Not that the writers are trying to be more than writing workshop dictates.
It's just that they are curious about their writing. "When will you
score our feature articles?" they ask. "When will we find out
how we did?"
Resourceful and creative, our writers are emblematic of students everywhere.
So then, who can fault them for wanting to understand their performance?
But getting ready for this part of the assessment and evaluation process
has proved to be a handful.
Everyone knows that assessment of student work is an important part of our
current educational environment. In The Art of Teaching Writing,
Lucy Calkins writes about accountability.
We do need ways to hold ourselves accountable for our students'
growth. It's not enough to teach our hearts out and hope our students are
growing. We do need ways to document and to attend to our students' progress.
We do need to ask, "What will take the place of the grade book?"
Assessment allows us to have "a minds-on approach" to all our
teaching. Without it, we can't design mini-lessons that extend what our
students do, nor can we intervene to lift up the level of our students'
peer conferring. Assessing is not an optional add-on to our teaching; it
is not an afterthought. Assessment is where the action lies. It is the main
event. (p. 324)
The "main event" in our class this week is students looking at
student work. To get organized I'm using Chapter 17, "Assessment and
Evaluation: The Questions Become the Curriculum," from The
Writing Workshop, Working Through the Hard Parts (And They're All Hard Parts)
by Katie Wood Ray. On page 219, she explains the importance of evaluation
in the writing workshop.
But what do we do when we also need to evaluate student work
in the writing workshop? What about when we need to place a value on the
work for grading purposes or simply in order to get students to think about
the quality of the work they are doing as writers? Some of you may be like
me and spend lots of your time wishing you didn't have to think about evaluation
in terms of grading, but for most of us, grading is a reality of our teaching
lives that we must think about. And regardless of whether outsiders tell
us our students need to be given a grade for writing, our students, as insiders
on their writing lives, need to develop a sense of the quality of their
work and of their role in maintaining or improving that quality. This seems
to be an important "life skill" that they will use again and again
in the other worlds of work they will find for themselves throughout their
lives. So, we must think about evaluation.
On pages 223 and 224, Katie Wood Ray has a "Writing Evaluation for
Poetry Genre Study." It's "a combination of a score and a narrative
that explains why the student has evaluated herself in this way in relation
to whatever is being evaluated." I used it to design one of my own
for our feature article study.
(See Juli's feature article evaluation
form by downloading this small PDF file.)
The language in this evaluation gives us a way to talk about our writing.
Questions like, "Did you really try to study closely what the writers
were doing so you could try it in your own writing?" and "Did
you push yourself to explore lots of possibilities with your draft before
you decided it was finished?" guide our conversations. Paraphrasing
Katie Wood Ray, I want to use "the evaluation questions to communicate
what I expect in student work."
A List of Evaluation Questions for Feature Articles
including Student Comments and Ratings
Questions about Writer's Notebooks
-- How did you do keeping your writer's notebook?
-- Were you careful to write a lot of entries in your notebook?
-- Did you push yourself to write different kinds of entries?
-- Did you write in your notebook outside of our school workshop?
Our writers give themselves an average rating of 3 out of 4 for Writer's
Notebooks. Of the four categories, this is their lowest score. Comments
range from, "I think I did push myself to do more entries" to
"No, I wrote the same kind of entries."
Sarah's comments are particularly enlightening: "I study my writing
everyday, and I have a huge notebook at home that I write every day, but
I don't write on the outside because it can not show because my notebook
is black with white dots, so I cannot write on the outside of my notebook."
Obviously, I need to do some more teaching about "writing outside the
workshop."
Questions about Reading Feature Articles
-- How did you do reading feature articles during our study?
-- Did you read a lot?
-- Did you really try to study closely what the writers were doing
so you could try it in your own writing?
On Reading Feature Articles, writers rate themselves an average of 3.75
out of 4. Their written comments reflect pride in their work:
"Yes, I read a lot and at home, too. Yes, I did it on my own."
"I really try and get some ideas from other writers and that makes
my writing interesting. I am very proud that I did a good job."
"I just said to myself, you need to write more and think about a tiger's
life. I said, I love the animals a lot. I write about what had happened
to the tigers, what people had done to them. They are just animals."
Questions about Drafting
-- How was your process of drafting your feature article?
-- Did you use your notebook to try some draft work?
-- Did you push yourself to explore lots of possibilities with your
draft before you decided it was finished?
Students rate themselves an average of 3.2 out of 4 on Drafting. This is
definitely a more challenging area for them. Here's what they say:
"I did OK on my drafting on feature articles. Yes, I use my notebook
to do draft work. I try a lot of possibilities to make my draft better before
I decide."
"I didn't push myself."
"No, I didn't explore lots of possibilities before I was finished."
Questions about Editing and Publishing
-- How did you get your feature article ready to publish?
-- Were you very careful to check for spelling and punctuation accuracy
and find where you needed help?
-- Did you get help with things you were unsure about?
-- Were you careful to publish the feature article in a way that
was interesting and fitting for the piece?
On Editing and Publishing, students give themselves an average rating of
3.75 out of 4. Their comments reflect confidence in their abilities:
"I work with Mrs. Kendall. I was very careful."
"Well, I started by doing spelling and punctuation and reading back.
Then when I was sure that I corrected right, I went with a partner."
"Yes, I got help with things I am not sure about. I was careful to
publish the feature article."
Using a Student Friendly Rubric
We also use a student friendly rubric
based on the "Analytic Writing Assessment Continuum" from 6+1
Traits of Writing. The rubric helps kids look at their own writing work
and the work of other students.
As we look at the writing together, we notice some strengths. Writers are
taking risks in their features both in the content they choose and the grammar
they're using. Some are using touchstone try-its (Journal 16) and touchstone
texts for feature articles to help them write. It's evident that their reading
is helping them with their writing.
Of course, there's much work still to be done, especially on learning how
to take notes and then retelling them in your own words. Many of our writers,
also, need to work on writing longer features. Revision continues to challenge
many of the kids. But several of our writers definitely write with a strong
voice and a unique point of view. By focusing on one thing at a time in
their writing, such as "retelling in your own words," they can
show improvement over time.
While we read, the kids and I keep in mind that this is their first venture
into the feature article genre. It's just the beginning, an exciting time,
and many of them have additional topics lined up for future features they
plan to write.
"Can I just keep going all year long?" Rigoberto asks, surrounded
by piles of National Geographic magazines about leopards, Mountain
gorillas, pandas, the Great White Shark, and other animals. "Of course,"
I say. "Write as many as you like."
Some samples of writing from the feature article study
"Lions" by Mary
Admit it: being a lion is hard work. Lions are family animals. They usually
like to group up into 5 or more animals. That's called a pride. They hunt
prey, raise and defend their territory together. Females hunt most of the
time. A pride can be small or 5 to 40 animals. Lionesses in the pride are
related p;mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and sisters.
Females give birth at the same time. Cubs nurse other females, as well as
their mother. Each pride will have two or more adult males. Females always
live with the pride for life. Males stay two to four years. After that they
get off on their own. New males become part of the pride.
They often hunt in two to three lions. They use team work when they kill
an animal. They eat half and then the leftovers they give to the pride.
Males and females always protect their prides and defend against outsiders.
May be in this case the family that prey together stays together.
"College Football is Much Better Than High School Football"
by Susan
College football may be more fun that high school football. Admit it that
Eli Manning is skippping the NFL draft and going back to school.
Some people in the NFL get hurt badly and break there leg. Archie Manning
played 14 seasons in the NFL. He has a son that want to play football, too.
His son is Eli Manning. He is 6-foot-4 and 215 pound quarterback in Mississippi.
His father was a quarterback from Ole Miss and play football too. Archie
was a star quarterback on his team.
Eli Manning broke his school record for passing yard with 3,401. He doesn't
want to take a chance, so he stays in college to pass.
His brother Peyton stayed in school and he was the first pick in the draft
the next year. He was a star player on the football team.
"The Cheetah" by Jose
The cheetah is the fastest animal in the whole wide world. He can run 70
miles per hour. He has to run fast because has to catch his food. The cheetah
is a mammal animal. Would you like to run like a cheetah?
He hunts entirely in daytime. It is a skilled hunter. You know why? Because
they could see better in the daytime than the nighttime.
They have five toes like we have five fingers. This animal is very very
cool. I wish that I could run like a cheetah. Wouldn't you?
Hunters be careful when you go hunting because the cheetah may eat you.
Don't try to run with your car because the cheetah runs 70 miles per hour.
Remember that. Please don't hunt defenseless little creatures.
"English Foxhounds" by Sophana
The English foxhound dogs need more than plenty of exercise. They are easy
going foxhound dogs. It could run for miles. It could jog on a leash or
hike in a very safe area.
English foxhound dog can stay outdoors only they have warm shelter and bedding
with another foxhound. English foxhound coat need occasional brush to take
out the dead hair on them. The English foxhound dog could be a house dog,
with pets and children. It's a good sniffer and a trailer.
They need daily exercise in a safe area to let them exercise very well.
It is a gentle dog, even friendly. Most are careful with different strangers.
It is not good for city life, and it bays.
The English foxhound dog is a powerful build dog, and it has large bones.
The size of the English foxhound dog on the ankle is especially important.
Lots of English foxhounds have rounded ear. They surgically remove the end
from the end of the ears.
"Tiger Fur is In Dangered" by Karol
The whole species is endangered throughout its range. Tigers have been over
hunted for their fur as well as for other body parts that many people use
in medicines.
I think that lots of tigers have died because of their fur. I also feel
sad because I feel like if they were taken my fur like they do to the tigers.
I think that the author wrote the story because he/she wants us to know
how many people have taken the fur from the tigers.
"Bottle Nose Dolphins are Mammals" by Estrella
Bottle Nose dolphins are highly intelligent. Some Bottle Nose Dolphins are
healthy and they hunt for fishes in the morning and they sleep in the night
like the humans. The human beans do the same thing as the Bottle Nose Dolphins.
Dolphins are similar. Like bats, they locate prey using echolocation. Smaller
dolphins are seen less often in North American waters. Dolphins are special
to me. Would you like to see a real Bottle Nose Dolphin? Bottle Nose Dolphins
are different than the Blue Whales, or other whales. Bottle Nose dolphins
like water and other fishes. Bottle Nose dolphins live in the blue, fresh,
cold sea. Dolphins live happy in their own homes like the sea. They have
a great family.
Download Juli's Curricular
Calendar #5 (feature articles) for Writing Workshop
Download a comparison of Juli's Reading
and Writing Workshop plans
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Read last week's journal
Read Juli's backgrounder about her work
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