Constructed Response and Beyond
Hello All,
As you know, I teach at Florence Drake. Depending on the year, I teach fourth-grade, fifth-grade, or both grades combined. We are a very small school with only about 300 children. My preference, in our current environment of excessive testing, is to teach a stand alone fourth-grade; however, our numbers do not always make this possible. The students at Florence Drake all walk to school, unless they are on variances. We have no busses. This situation is a gift, it seems to me. When I need to, I just walk home with a child to talk to parents.
Fourth-grade is the year when the constructed response shows up on the many assessments we give. I have learned from Lucy Calkins that I must teach this format if my students are going to be successful test takers. Calkins asks teachers to see test taking writing as a genre that has as much place in a classroom as the personal narrative, letter writing, and the many other forms of communicating meaning in writing we teach to our students.
In these last four years of my teaching, I have been working to instruct my students to use the contructed response format for a variety of reasons, not just for test taking. I have found the structure helpful in general response writing to literature, comprehension checks on pieces of fiction and non-fiction alike, personal narrative, and the personal essay. Through this process, I'm always amazed to see how my students tweak the constructed response format when composing a variety of other types of writing.
Writing to a prompt is a fact of life these days. To do well, on predetermined prompts, I think children need to learn to compose their own prompts as well as learn to respond to given prompts over which they have no control. Personalizing a prompt can be a difficult task. I've seen my fifth-grade students, who write inspired emotional, personal narratives and essays in class, score below standard on the state writing test because they struggled to find a connection to the given prompt. Each year, I hope, I get a little better at knowing how to guide my students to becoming successful writers in all types of setting. I want to create confident writers, test or no test.
Sandy
As you know, I teach at Florence Drake. Depending on the year, I teach fourth-grade, fifth-grade, or both grades combined. We are a very small school with only about 300 children. My preference, in our current environment of excessive testing, is to teach a stand alone fourth-grade; however, our numbers do not always make this possible. The students at Florence Drake all walk to school, unless they are on variances. We have no busses. This situation is a gift, it seems to me. When I need to, I just walk home with a child to talk to parents.
Fourth-grade is the year when the constructed response shows up on the many assessments we give. I have learned from Lucy Calkins that I must teach this format if my students are going to be successful test takers. Calkins asks teachers to see test taking writing as a genre that has as much place in a classroom as the personal narrative, letter writing, and the many other forms of communicating meaning in writing we teach to our students.
In these last four years of my teaching, I have been working to instruct my students to use the contructed response format for a variety of reasons, not just for test taking. I have found the structure helpful in general response writing to literature, comprehension checks on pieces of fiction and non-fiction alike, personal narrative, and the personal essay. Through this process, I'm always amazed to see how my students tweak the constructed response format when composing a variety of other types of writing.
Writing to a prompt is a fact of life these days. To do well, on predetermined prompts, I think children need to learn to compose their own prompts as well as learn to respond to given prompts over which they have no control. Personalizing a prompt can be a difficult task. I've seen my fifth-grade students, who write inspired emotional, personal narratives and essays in class, score below standard on the state writing test because they struggled to find a connection to the given prompt. Each year, I hope, I get a little better at knowing how to guide my students to becoming successful writers in all types of setting. I want to create confident writers, test or no test.
Sandy
Views: 20
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Marcell Boyer on
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I am looking forward to your presentation. I hate the stress of constructed response questions on tests. I am interested to find out how you work the constructed response format into other areas. This has got to be much easier on the students.
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Permalink Reply by Sarah Russell on
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I love your perspective about the necessity of prompt-response writing as a part of life. I also have felt the despair of seeing my most talented students fail the HSPE. I have also struggled with teaching students that regardless of the prompt, they have something to say about it. Are you considering using the connection you mentioned in your last paragraph as part of your essential question? Are you considering using the confidence you mentioned? I would love to see more of what you are exploring about personalizing prompts.
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