Elementary Education - Literacy

Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: LITERACY ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY

Respond to the prompts below (no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within
the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be
scored. Attach the assessment you used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional pages) to the end of this
file. If you submit feedback as a video or audio clip and your comments to focus students cannot be clearly heard, attach
transcriptions of your comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to the end of this file. These pages do not count toward
your page total.

1. Analyzing Student Learning

a. Identify the specific learning objectives and standards measured by the assessment you
chose for analysis.
[ Objective: Fourth grade students will code a short biographic text about Woodrow Wilson to
find the main ideas, interesting facts, ad any questions they might have. Using the codes they
included on the article they will then write a 1-2 paragraph summary of the article.
Standard: CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.4.2
Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the
text. ]
b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes student learning for your
whole class. Be sure to summarize student learning for all evaluation criteria submitted
in Task 3, Part D.
[

]
c. Use evidence found in the 3 student work samples and the whole class summary to
analyze the patterns of learning for the whole class and differences for groups or
individual learners relative to

the essential literacy strategy AND

requisite skills
Consider what students understand and do well, and where they continue to struggle
(e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater challenge).
[ The essential literacy strategy taught and practiced in this lesson is close reading and
differentiating between main points and interesting facts using codes as a requisite skill to help
clarify their thinking. Students have a difficult time differentiating between interesting facts and
main points and tend to get caught up on the interesting details that catch their attention instead
of the ones that support the main point of a text. There is evidence of student understanding of
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Elementary Education - Literacy

Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

main points in the text in the sample from Student 1 in my samples. This student decided to only
focus on main points using the codes discussed in class(star=main point, !=interesting fact,
?=question), which based on the directions given in class shows that he understood that in
order to write a good summary, he needed to focus on the main points that he found in the
article. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Student 2 was not clear in his coding of any of his
articles. In his sample work it is clear that he did not focus on the article as a whole and instead
only included information found in the first paragraph, and was not clear about which ideas were
interesting and which were main points. He also didnt include important aspects of the
information he did underline in the article in his final summary. For instance, he says he was
responsibal for an agenda, but does not explain what the agenda is. Lastly, students were
expected to put the article into their own words as opposed to copying down the article word-forword. In Student 3s summary it is clear that she is unable to take the information and put it into
her own words. She struggled in this area for both Lessons 2 and 3. ]
2. Feedback to Guide Further Learning
Refer to specific evidence of submitted feedback to support your explanations.
a. In what form did you submit your evidence of feedback for the 3 focus students? (Delete
choices that do not apply.)

Written directly on work samples or in a separate document;

b. Explain how feedback provided to the 3 focus students addresses their individual
strengths and needs relative to the standards/objectives measured.
[ The rubric is clear of what expectations are. The main expectation in this particular assignment
was that students could differentiate between main points and main ideas and that they made
this clear through their codes and what they chose to include in their summary of the article
about Woodrow Wilson.
For student 1 they chose to focus on main point in their coding and only included that
information in their summary. I didnt feel that there was any more feedback they needed other
than knowing that what they did was acceptable for the assignment.
Student 2 also chose to only focus on main points, however, their coding was not as clear and
did not include aspects from the entire article which led me to believe he didnt read the text
closely enough to understand what was the most important. He also did not meet the
expectations of writing a paragraph that included at least 3 sentences and did not use proper
conventions to separate his thoughts in his summary. In my feedback I made sure to mention
that he needed to improve his sentences, I also mentioned that he needed to make his coding
clear so that connections could be made between the article and the summary.
Student 3 also was unclear in their coding of the article. This particular student seemed to rush
through the article instead of reading closely and clearly marking what the important details
were and differentiating between those and interesting facts. I made it clear to students that I
would be looking at their coding and their summaries, so the expectation was clear that I
needed to understand their codes. I made a comment on the students rubric reminding them
that they needed to be clear in their coding. Also, this particular student quoted much of the
information directly from the article. This student struggles putting things in her own words and I
wanted to stress the importance of this for students. As feedback I reminded her that she
needed to do this, however, she did use proper conventions for her work(complete sentences)
so I made it clear which parts of that section of the rubric she did by underlining the parts. ]
c. Describe how you will support students to apply the feedback to guide improvement,
either within the learning segment or at a later time.

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Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

[ The main way I plan to improve student performance is first by having a checklist that they
have ownership of that includes all expectations of the assignment. I verbally told students what
was expected and wrote it on the board, but I think a teacher-created document that included
directions and then lines for writing may have helped the students who struggled, in particular.
These students have a hard time self-monitoring and making choices that make sense with the
assignment, so having those written clearly in student friendly language should aid in that
aspect of the assignment. Also, I think it is important for all students whose work is included,
and all students included in the lesson, that they have practice rewording information so that it is
clear that they have written it into their own words. This definitely needs more practice in the
classroom as students at all levels struggle to do this. Lastly, I think some students struggle to
form cohesive paragraphs in these assignments. Instead of following the expectations of the
assignment they just throw information together. By making the expectation for complete
sentences and complete paragraphs clear, I think students will improve and succeed. ]
3. Evidence of Language Understanding and Use
You may provide evidence of students language use from ONE, TWO, OR ALL THREE
of the following sources:
1. Use video clip(s) from Task 2 and provide time-stamp references for language use.
2. Submit an additional video file named Language Use of no more than 5 minutes in
length and provide time-stamp references for student language use (this can be footage
of one or more students language use). Submit the clip in Task 3, Part B.
3. Use the student work samples analyzed in Task 3 and cite language use.
When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the video clip(s) (using
time-stamp references) and/or student work samples as evidence. Evidence from the clip(s)
may focus on one or more students.
a. Explain the extent to which your students were able to use or struggled to use language
(selected function, vocabulary, and additional identified language demands from Task 1)
to develop content understandings.
[ 1:05 in clip Teaching 1
The student at this part of the video is referring to her codes using the symbols that we used as
opposed to calling them questions, interesting facts or main points. She is aware of the
definition of all of these codes from practice during class and also because we reviewed the
meanings of these symbols in both large and small group. This is part of both the essential
literacy strategy and the requisite skill. She is showing evidence of her coding in a text that she
has had multiple exposures to and gives shares multiple codes she has included in her text.
3:57 in clip Teaching 1
In this clip one of the students mentions that all of his codes were interesting facts. He shared
the fact and I tried to clarify by asking him questions that would lead him to understand that
interesting facts can turn out to be main points. I feel that this is evidence that he was struggling
with the concept. However, through careful coaching and future lessons, the student was able to
code more clearly and recognize the difference, especially with the main point of the entire text
in mind.
2:05-5:05 in clip Teaching 2
In this part of the video you hear students using genre specific vocabulary related to biography.
This was an expectation for this lesson and they were very specific and thoughtful about the
vocabulary they decided to share in class. This sharing time also followed a think-pair-share

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Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

which was included to try to help students build off each others knowledge and also add new
ideas to students existing ideas.
5:13-6:26 in clip Teaching 2
In this clip students are recalling the requisite skills required in all stages of the lesson. They are
able to define the codes and help me recall them as I write them on the board. Although I do go
into greater detail when writing the codes, I believe that students remembering these codes
helps me to know that students understand what the codes are for and how to use them in an
article.
]
4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction
a. Based on your analysis of student learning presented in prompts 1bc, describe next
steps for instruction

for the whole class

for the 3 focus students and other individuals/groups with specific needs
Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different
strategies/support (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners,
struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic
knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater support or challenge).
[ I think that, based on the information in the chart included in 1b, that students need the most
work on their summarizing. Students are showing evidence of progress in being able to
differentiate between main points and interesting facts, but theyre ability to put the information
they have found into their own words with an appropriate amount of information is lacking. I
think it would be helpful for all students in the class chosen for this segment to have practice in
these areas. Student 2 in particular shows difficulties in knowing the appropriate amount of
information to include in his summary of the article. Other students in the small group and the
whole class have also shown evidence that this is a area of struggle and could use some
direction in how to not only include necessary information, but to organize their thoughts in a
cohesive manner. ]
b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of student learning. Support your
explanation with principles from research and/or theory.
[ I think summarizing is the ability to find the main points of a text and putting it into your own
words. I think that the students in this group have shown struggles when it comes to both of
these ideas, so giving students ample practice in summarizing across content-areas will allow
them to be able to make a more understandable and acceptable product. Also, according to
developmental learning theory it is important to organize information in a manner that helps
students to build off knowledge they already have. By ordering the lessons in the way that I
have I think I have given students the chance to master the skill of close reading, and as a next
step, students will be instructed and expected to push their skills in summarization. ]

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