Coming to Know Children as Readers & Writers

Dr. Frank Serafini

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

serafini@unlv.nevada.edu

Assessment OF Learning

Large Scale Assessments

One Time - Snapshot of Learning

Used for Comparisons

Not Effective for Individual Assessment

Offers Little for Classroom Teachers

Consequential Validity

High Stakes Testing Challenges

Assessment FOR Learning

Utilizes a Variety of Sources of Information

Involves Students & Parents

Focuses on Abilities, Not Deficits

Is On-Going - Longitudinal

Guides Teaching and Learning

Respects the Teacher as Knowledgeable Observer

Is Non-Competitive

Teacher as Knowledgeable Observer

Our assessment practices are based on our definitions of proficient reading and writing. As we define what reading and writing IS, we decide what we will look FOR and how we will evaluate these practices.

Purposes of Classroom Based Assessment

Help Students Develop as Readers & Writers

Help Students Understand Themselves as Readers and Writers

Help Teachers Develop Curriculum & Instruction

Help Teachers Articulate Their Knowledge of Students to External Stakeholders (Parents, District etc.)

Help students make their literate abilities visible

What Should We Assess?

The Learning Environment

Literacy Practices

Literacy Products

Attitudes

Levels of Engagement

Comprehension

Assessing the Learning Environment

Physical Environment

Social Dynamics

Historical Expectations

Interactional Patterns

Instructional Approaches

Classroom Power Structures

3 Principles of the Physical Environment

Authenticity / Definition / Access

Historical Expectations

What do students know about your classroom before they get there?

What do you do every year?

What do parents know about your teaching?

How would the principal characterize your teaching?

Classroom Power Structures

What is on the walls of the classroom?

Where is the teacher's desk?

What are the procedures for leaving the room?

Is there a system for students to make suggestions?

Are there established classroom jobs?

Who set up the room?

Who asks the most questions?

Assessing Writers & Writing: Focus on Practices & Products

What Do We Assess About Writers?

Sense of self as a writer

Willingness to engage in writing

Knowledge of resources

Ability to read like a writer

Knowledge of workshop procedures

Sense of purpose and audience

Knowledge of writing conventions

Ability to demonstrate one’s development as a writer

Gathering Information

Teacher as Observer

Focus on Writing Practices & Products

Allows learners and teachers to see growth over time

Used to make judgments, but not judgmental

Focus on Writing Practices

Image as Writer

Willingness to Engage in Writing

Knowledge of Resources

Reading / Writing Connections

Procedural Knowledge

Sense of Audience & Purpose

Observational Records

Date and label each Record

Context of the event

No secrets

Simple system, what works for you

Accounts for every child

Describe rather than evaluate

Note student progress

Teacher - Student Conferences

Attitudinal information

Discuss how writing is going

Share concerns

Teacher as literary docent

Make small suggestions

Don’t take over writing

Take notes

Focus on Writing Products

Conventions of Writing

Writing Craft

Elements of literature

Impact / Appeal

Creativity

6+ Traits of Writing

Audience & Purpose

Portfolios

Exhibition

Work in Progress

Self-Evaluative

Evaluation - Standardized

Portfolios are collections of one's work designed to provide opportunities to reflect on progress or change over a period of time.

Launching Portfolios

Start by collecting one's own work

Invite guests to share authentic portfolios

Create a place to collect work

Set aside specific times for portfolio work (ritualize)

Extended Audience Response

Rubrics & Checklists

Constructed in Classrooms or Externally Mandated

Designed to Help Guide Observation

Turn Qualitative Information into Numerical Data

Statements Concerning What We Value about Writing

Rubrics Defined

Set of guidelines for distinguishing between levels of performance

Descriptors for defining each level

Benchmark examples are often provided

Can be Used for Self-Evaluation of Products

Negotiating Criteria for Quality Writing

Standards documents

Writing Awards Criteria

Teachers' Knowledge

Examples from Literature

6 Traits

Community Ideas & Norms

4th Grade Criteria for Quality Writing

Poetic language / word choice

Unique ideas / not generic

Makes sense

Interesting - want to finish reading it

Has emotional impact

Has details / answers readers' questions

Proper sentence structure

Proper format / Legible

Correct writing conventions

Writing for a Prompt 1

Work Backwards – From Rubric to Topic

Practice before test taking

Focus on Conventions

Not from the Heart

What do the Test Graders Want to See?

Writing for a Prompt 2

Address the Prompt

KISS - Keep It Simple Stupid

Write in First Person Wherever Possible

Include Beginning, Middle & End

Be Sure Writing is Legible

Proofread at least Twice!

Assessing Readers & Reading: Focus on Navigating & Comprehension

Providing Evidence of Understanding

During Reading:

Immediate reactions - laugh, cry etc.

Code Text during reading

Think Aloud during reading

After Reading:

Talk about the text - paraphrase

Write a response entry

Answer questions

Write a book review / Summarize

Draw a picture

The 7 Big Reading Assessments

Teacher Observation

Reader Response Logs

Oral Reading Analyses

Think Aloud Protocols

Retellings

Reading Conferences

Reflection Logs

Reader Response Logs

Designed to get readers to share their ideas and reactions

Can become glorified book reports

Need continued response from peers and teacher

Not a writing assessment

Reader Response Log Example 1

Title-Author-Date-Genre

Retell What Happened 25%

React to What Happened 75%

Reader Response Log Example 2

Title / Author / Date / Genre

Noticings

Literary Connections / Personal Connections

Wonderings

Additional Thoughts

Oral Reading Analyses

To develop a Miscue Ear: Goes beyond correct and incorrect

Focus on what the reader is attending to, and what strategies the reader employs

Always involves a retelling

Running Records

Taken One on One

Can be used with any text

Consistent notations

Focus on what a reader can do

Analyzed over Cueing Systems: Meaning, Syntax, Pragmatics and Grapho-Phonic

Think Aloud Protocols

A window for gathering immediate reactions to texts

Provides information about how readers navigate text

Provides information about what readers are attending to, and not attending to, during reading

Provides access to reading and thinking processes

Occurs during the reading process

Can be used with any text

Must be modeled to be effective

Prompts for Reporting

Mark text to signal when to report

Have specific questions for reporting

Stop at end of each page to report

Report whenever reader chooses

Read aloud and report at specific intervals

Tape Recording Think Alouds

Provide quiet space for tape recording

Let students practice with tape recorder

Don’t collect more than you are willing to analyze

Explain to parents, administrators why you are tape recording children

Get a quality microphone & recorder

Analyzing Think Alouds

Read / Listen to the think aloud for an holistic sense of the reported data

If transcribing, mark general codes within text

Consider what the reader attended to and what the reader was trying to do

Evaluate the think aloud on specific criteria

Decide instructional strategies

Retellings

Retelling is an act of recounting, for a specific audience, the meanings and events that have been constructed during reading.

Four Types: Oral to Oral / Oral to Written / Written to Oral / Written to Written

Analyzing Retellings

Reference to Basic Elements of literature (setting, characters)

Sequence of the story (plot)

Challenges / Resolution

Advanced Elements - Mood, Point of View, Symbols, Extended Metaphor, Themes

Reading Conferences

Interviews with readers

Can be short discussions

Setting expectation for meta-cognitive awareness

Keep track of information

Formal Interview forms

Once a Week (Status of Class)

Reading Interview Questions

Who is a good reader you know? Why are they good at reading?

What do you do when you don’t understand what you are reading?

How would you help someone having trouble reading?

What do you like best / least about reading in school?

Reflection Logs

A Letter to Parents

Done Daily

Allows Students to Articulate Their Learning

Provides Opportunities for Parental Interactions

Record of Learning Over Time

Evaluating Comprehension

Text Within Text: Engagement

Text Upon Text: Interpretation

Text Against Text: Criticism

Engagement

Can describe visual images

Follows along with characters

Relives the experience of the story

Anticipates events in story

Recalls specific events, language and story details

Offers immediate reactions (laughs, worries, etc)

Able to enter the secondary world of the story

Interpretation

Connects story to own experiences

Connects story to other stories and texts read

Connects stories to world events

Understands characters challenges in story world as connected to real world challenges

Puts self in place of characters

Criticism

Generalizes from literary experiences to world experiences

Develops themes / larger issues

Evaluates characters motives

Infers author’s intentions / histories / perspectives

Evaluates “quality” of the story

Understands relationship between parts of a story and the whole

Analyzes own responses to stories

Re-examines own worldview

Standardized Tests as a Genre

The abilities needed to do well on a Standardized Test may differ from those needed to do well in the Reading Workshop.

As teachers, we demonstrate that we value ST even if we don’t.

The ability to demonstrate reading abilities in a test situation is a learned behavior

Most Standardized Tests only require recall abilities

Before We Begin!

Demystify the Tests - Explain how, why they are used

Ask students to share past concerns and experiences

Ask students what strategies they have used in the past

Explain testing situation and requirements

Practice Bubble Sheet Procedures

Acquire Test Prep Materials

Teaching Standardized Tests as a Genre

Immerse students in reading the test-passage genre

Discuss the elements and structures of test passages

Investigate the Language of Questions

Help children develop a scavenger-hunt mentality

Type list of things to look for in a passage by reading questions first

What would test-makers say is the Main Idea? - NOT - What is the Main Idea?

Work on a small number of questions at a time, before going on to others

Teach children to mark passages as they read

Begin to Identify the TRICKS test-makers use to fool students

Analyzing Test Questions

What is being asked?

What words are confusing?

Difference Between AN answer and the BEST answer

Practice paraphrasing questions

Have students practice writing questions for some passages using “test-language”

Types of Test Questions

Analytical - explain causes

Author Intentions - what author meant

Categorical - which best describes

Comparative - same or different

Definitional - X means…

Evaluative - best solution

Identification - which one

Sequential - what order

Predictive - what might happen

Synthesis - what might a good title be

School-Wide Considerations

What are the goals and objectives for our instruction?

How will we gather information?

What criteria will we use to make decisions about the value of student's work or progress?

How will we use this information to drive instruction?

How will we report our findings to concerned stakeholders?

Literacy Web-Site:
http://serafini.nevada.edu

E-Mail:

serafini@unlv.nevada.edu