Students' Writing Samples

In our Language Arts course, we have been discussing writing characteristics and written language development. Writing is certainly a long process that requires constant learning and analysis. Teachers help foster a student's learning by targeting the areas that the student need help with most, such as spelling, punctuation, or sequence of ideas to name a few.

Writing samples allow teachers to pinpoint weak areas of students' language development. In class, we analyzed the work of three students and discussed the characteristics of each sample. There is more than meets the eye and each piece of writing should be dissected and charted on a spreadsheet. Creating a spreadsheet to organize the elements of the students' language development allows a teacher to easily reference what to focus on and how a student is progressing over time.

I will be facilitating a literature circle with a group of five students over a six week period for my Tuesday experience. I plan on making copies of the students' work to analyze and pinpoint areas of concerns as well as areas of strength. I will be sharing my results with the class on 2/28/08. I look forward to analyzing the students' work and hearing additional comments from the class!