Cassie Koja

December 2, 2014
ITE 314
Case Studies

Case Studies: Developing an Instructional Plan

Work
Sample
Student 1

Strengths

Areas of Need

Student met most of the criteria

for writing a good opinion piece.
Student clearly stated her
opinion that she would not let
the pigeon drive a bus. She
gave reasons for her opinion,
which was that the pigeon might
drive into an electrical place, get
in trouble and go to jail. She
used linking words such as
because to connect opinions and
reasons. The writing was well
organized with an introductory
phrase and body. It was fluent
and easily understood by the
reader. She recalled
information from her own
experiences and related it to the
topic, and the student
accomplished this by giving real
life examples of the risks of
letting a pigeon drive the bus.
This added voice made her
writing more relatable to the
reader. She used adjectives and
adverbs in her writing such as
big.

Student did not end with a

thought or comment related to
her opinion, so the reader wasnt
left with any sense of closure.
She ended her opinion piece
after stating her last reason for
her opinion. Student does not
have a firm understanding of
simple and compound
sentences. She combined her
entire opinion piece into one
run-on sentence. Capitalization
is an area of need because she
capitalizes the d in drive
throughout her entire writing.
There are many spelling errors
in her writing including pigeon,
would, electric, trouble, jail, etc.
She needs to learn how to
consult reference materials such
as beginning dictionaries in
order to check and correct
spelling.

Instructional Plan
Strategies (Improve
Conventions)
Compound Sentences
Worksheet
Punctuation Posters
Conventions Checklist
Grammar Flipbook
Mentor Texts
Eats, Shoots & Leaves:
Why Commas Really Do
Make a Difference! By
Lynne Truss
Punctuation Takes a
Vacation by Robin Pulver
Your Move by Eve Bunting
Instructional Approaches
I Do, We Do
o Helps students
understand how to
write edit a paper
Instructional Support
Samples

Cassie Koja
December 2, 2014
ITE 314
Case Studies

Student 2

CCSS alignment

CCSS alignment

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.E

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2A
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2.E

Student met some of the criteria

for writing a good opinion piece.
She clearly stated her opinion
that she would not let the
pigeon drive the bus. She gave
two reasons for her opinion,
which was that the pigeon might
drive into her house and she
would have no home. She used
linking words such as because to
connect opinions and reasons.
The writing was well organized
with an introductory phrase and
body. Her writing is fluent and
easily understood by the reader.
She recalled information from
her own experiences and related
it to the topic. The student
accomplished this by relating
how the pigeon driving the bus
would affect her life. This added
voice made her writing more
relatable to the reader. She
varies the length of her
sentences which makes her
writing flow nicely. There is one

Student needs to practice how

to write leads for opinion writing.
The lead should set readers to
expect that the writing will be
convincing, but her lead only
states that she doesnt want him
to drive the bus. She did not
end with a thought or comment
related to her opinion, so the
reader wasnt left with any
sense of closure. She ended her
opinion piece after stating her
last reason for her opinion. The
student omitted and added
some words. This couldve been
fixed if she re-read her writing
before turning it in.
Capitalization is an area of need
because she capitalizes any
word that starts with a d or b
throughout her entire writing.
There are many spelling errors
in her writing including want,
because, can, house, home, etc.
She needs to learn how to
consult reference materials such

Strategies (Improve Leads

and Conclusions)
Color coding
organizations
o Green: Introduction
o Yellow: Body
o Red: Conclusion
Mentor Texts
Because a Little Bug
Went Ka-Choo by Rosetta
Stone
How I Became a Pirate by
Melinda Long
Daisy Comes Home by
Jan Brett
Instructional Approaches
I Do, We Do
o Helps students
understand how to
write an
introduction and
conclusion

Cassie Koja
December 2, 2014
ITE 314
Case Studies
simple sentence and one
compound sentence.
CCSS alignment

Student 3

as beginning dictionaries in
order to check and correct
spelling.
CCSS alignment

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.2.5
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2A
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2.E

Student used linking words such

as because to connect opinions
and reasons. The writing was
well organized with an
introductory phrase and body.
Her writing is fluent and easily
understood by the reader.
Although she had a
misunderstanding of the prompt,
she gathered information from
the book to support her opinion.
She makes great attempts to
spell unknown words such as
drive. Its evident that she
generalized learned spelling
patterns when writing words.

Student did not meet majority of

the criteria for writing a good
opinion piece. She
misunderstood the prompt for
the writing piece. The prompt
was was, Would you let the
pigeon ride the bus? Her
opinion that the pigeon wants to
ride the bus, did not correctly
respond to the prompt. She only
provided one reason for her
opinion, but her reasoning didnt
apply to the purpose of the
opinion piece. She did not end
with a thought or comment
related to her opinion, so the
reader wasnt left with any
sense of closure. She ended her
opinion piece after stating her
reason for her opinion. Student
does not have a firm
understanding of simple and
compound sentences. She

Instructional Support
Samples

Strategies (Improving
Opinion Writing)
Read a book, students to
consider their opinion of a
character, share with
partner, class discussion
Students pick topics
o Helps focus on topic
Mentor Texts
Why We Must Run with
Scissors by Barry Lane and
Gretchen Bernabel
Click Clack Moo by
Doreen Cronin
I Wanna Iguana by Karen
Kaufman Orloff
Should We Have Pets? by
Sylvia Lollis
Instructional Approaches
Graphic Organizer

Cassie Koja
December 2, 2014
ITE 314
Case Studies
combined her entire opinion
piece into one run-on sentence.
Capitalization is an area of need
because she capitalizes random
words throughout sentences.
She needs to learn where it is
appropriate to put periods
because she randomly inserts
periods.
CCSS alignment

CCSS alignment

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.8
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2.D

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.2.1
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.1.F
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2A
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.L.2.2

Instructional Support
Samples