Analysis and Lesson Plan

My buddy’s story is about a cat that has a unique trait: it talks to her!  Within her story, she speaks to the reader about how this talking cat shocks her, but also about how the cat is feeling in a human world.  The author presents a pretty complex world of emotions and instances of empathy.  She has a knack for words and writing funny scenarios.

6 Traits of Assessment:

IDEAS – She gives a great amount of detail to hold the reader’s attention.  Her ideas are fresh and original.  On her third page, she writes, “I leaned back and I heard, “Ouch!  That Hurt!”  Shocked, I looked up to see if anybody got hurt...”  In this example, she uses onomatopoeia and anticipates and answers the reader’s questions.

ORGANIZATION - She is pacing her story fairly well, but her story details (page 5), though a funny detail, detracts from the main story line and what she’s trying to get across to the reader.  In short, the details take too long to explain.  For most of the page, her main goal is to express the cat’s sadness because he cannot play with the kids.  She goes into detail about how the kids are playing ball and how the cat is physically unable to play such a game.  She feels sorry for the cat because of his opposable thumbs, and decides it would be best to call for her mom to take the cat home from school.  Though it is a funny story, it is very lengthy.

VOICE - .  Her ideas and content is evident (how sad the cat was at recess because he could not play kids’ game, no opposable thumbs).  She also uses engaging language:  (page 7) She uses expressions such as full speed ahead and in a blink of an eye.

WORD CHOICE – She consistently uses lively verbs throughout her story.  On page 6 she uses the word “grabbed” to describe how she was picking up a stick to defend the cat.  On page 1, she used the word “fainted” after the cat started talking to her.  On Page 3 the word “rushed” was used to express a sense of urgency, running down the stairs.

SENTENCE FLUENCY – Her sentence beginnings are not all alike; there is variance.  In one instance, she uses “But” to emphasize something different as a beginning sentence word (page 2:  The cat jumped at me and said,“Feed me now, stupid head!”  But didn’t listen).  She also uses descriptive words of time elapsed, such as for ten minutes after an hour, when I was sleeping in my bed.

However, sentences are awkward because they are very long. “I thote that was to rud to say so I did nothing but do my hair then the cat asked nicely then I rushed down stairs and expluned, you will get your way when you are nice to the person your talking to.”

CONVENTIONS - Spelling errors are frequent, even on common words (sight words, such as said).  Punctuation is often missing (no periods) and paragraphing is missing, as well.  Only one paragraph was made:  the beginning paragraph.

OWNERSHIP:

My buddy is a writer, and she says that she enjoys writing more than reading.  I have only seen one example of her writing, and it is evident that her ideas are full of detail and imagery.  She accepts compliments about her good writing and recognizes that she has a skill for writing.  She likes to read recipes when she is cooking with her grandmother (a response to my question:  what other types of writing do you like to read?).  If she does get to choose what she gets to read, she likes  to read non-fiction just as much as fiction and fantasy books.

SPELLING TEST AND DEVELOPMENT FINDINGS:

As I had only one meeting with Julia, and it was a full one with many activities and introductions to each other, I was only able to get halfway through her spelling test.  Based on my limited findings, she could be found on the middle Within-word Patterns (misspelling words such as flote, brite, and chooed) on the developmental continuum.  More analysis and observation is necessary to make a more informed placement.

I also had her read to me, and she frequently made mistakes.  She saw the first letter of the word and said a random word that started with the same letter.  When I asked her to read the sentence again, or asked if she knew the meaning of that word, she either stopped at the word or asked me what it meant.  Besides the words she does not know (and creates), she infers their meaning because at the end of each page, she is able to tell me what she just read.  She has a good sense of comprehension.

LESSON PLAN:

Objectives: 

Students will understand writing conventions and enhance word definitions by completing a spelling journal.

Standards: 

3.3.4. Applies punctuation rules.

3.3.6. Uses complete sentences in writing.

Materials:

Journal notebook

Pencil

Sticky notes

Vocabulary from current literacy textbook

Instructional Strategies:

Student will listen to 3 vocabulary words per week, supplied by the teacher.  As a class, the student will write in his/her notebook the vocabulary word and its definition.  Together they will discuss the meaning of each word. 

Independently, the student will draw the meaning or an example of the vocabulary word and use the word in a sentence, using his/her own words.

The teacher will monitor independent student work to check for correct definition, representation, and usage (capital and period).

Throughout the week, the student will be aware of these vocabulary words, inside and outside of class.  When these words are used, the student will journal how the word was used or quickly jot down the example of its usage on a sticky note to transfer/stick on the page at a later time.  Because these are vocabulary words taken from the literacy textbook, there will be at least one opportunity to journal about the word’s usage.

Assessment:

When notebooks are handed in at the end of the week, I will assess the student’s written work:  spelling vocabulary terms correctly, punctuation, and sentence structure.

At the end of the week, a spelling test (including definition) will be administered.  I will assess the student’s test for correct spelling, punctuation, and definition.