V.

Suzanne Smith Valdosta State University CIED 7603-PPLM-SER

Overview My P-12 Practicum Learning Module and Assessment focused on the improvement of narrative writing skills at the 4th grade level. The students attend Walker Elementary School in Ludowici, Georgia, which is a rural community. Most of the students are economically disadvantaged. Originally, I had planned to involve the entire class in the module; however, I a personal emergency led to my extended absence under the Family and Medical Leave Act. Due to this unforeseen circumstance, I chose 8 students to participate in the module, hoping this would make things easier on my substitute. I had 6 boys and 2 girls participate from my homeroom class. One boy is Hispanic, and 2 boys are African American. The narrative writing course was a 10-day module in which students were assessed informally and through pre- and post-assessments using a narrative writing rubric. In addition, students completed discussion posts and responded to a PowerPoint and podcasts and/or videos. Students were assessed through both formative and summative assessments. In regards to my assessment of student learning, I ensured that I used authentic assessment. It is important for the objectives to align with performance tasks and assessment. Throughout my module, I demonstrated this effective assessment strategy. In addition to utilizing authentic assessment, my students demonstrated improved writing skills. At the start of the module, they completed a narrative writing response, which was graded by a narrative writing rubric. This same rubric was used to grade their narrative writing response at the end of the module.

Specifically, it was noted that students had mostly increased and improved their use of descriptive language, thereby improving the overall style of their narrative papers. My use of a pre-assessment serves as evidence of my ability to plan for effective instruction. My pre-assessment allowed me to better understand my students narrative writing abilit y and skills. Also, I took into consideration students prior experiences with computers and the Internet when narrowing the participation of the students, knowing that I would not be there in the classroom. From evaluating the pre-assessments, it was clear that the students would need further instruction on the importance of descriptive writing; therefore I focused more of my module on this concept to improve the style of their narratives. This serves as evidence of my ability to integrate assessment for learning strategies into instruction. In my Online Learning Module, I implemented several evidence-based practices. Collaborative writing is one of the many evidence-based practices to help students improve their writing. In the narrative writing module, students were to work collaboratively by reviewing their partners narrative writing using a checklist. When students work together, they are engaged in the learning process and can learn from one another (Gillepsie & Graham, 2012). In addition to having students work collaboratively, I also created a supportive learning environment, which is another evidence-based practice. I continued to monitor students on the wikispace, and I ensured that comments were positive. I provided positive feedback to what students were posting on the wikispace (Graham, 2012) Another goal that I had for this module was for students to extend their time that they had to practice writing. According to Steve Peha, a best practice in writing involves increasing the class time that students spend on writing (Peha, 2003). It is important for students to write with

a real purpose and for students to be engaged in their writing. The fact that the students were able to participate in an online module was in itself motivating to the selected students; however, I sought to engage the students beyond this.

Learner Assessments Formative and summative assessments were utilized in assessing student performance and understanding in the narrative writing online module. Students were provided a syllabus at the onset of the course, which provided information on how students would be evaluated. Instructions were repeated and clarified in the wikispace when assignments were due. Students completed discussion posts, completed written responses to a PowerPoint and Podcast, and completed narrative writing pieces, which were assessed using a rubric.

INSTRUCTIONS TO STUDENTS Assignments must be submitted in a timely manner. If there is an issue with completing an assignment on time, please let the instructor know immediately. Completion of each assignment is critical to successful completion of the workshop. Narrative writing practice and the final narrative writing assignments will be submitted to Dropbox and will be returned with comments if the assignment receives less than 100%. When completing discussion assignments, students will be assessed on whether or not they answered all parts of the assignment. The discussion responses should also contain correct grammar and spelling. Students will reply to at least one other classmate. Points will be deducted for assignment question or prompt not being answered, incorrect grammar or spelling, or lack of response.

NARRATIVE WRITING & PODCAST ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS After watching the video respond to it at the bottom of the page. I want you to respond by completing the assignments from the video. You do NOT have to complete a paragraph for both topics. Either choose 1) Being disrespectful or 2) the iguana. Write a paragraph. Remember make sure it is descriptive. Remember, make the first sentence interesting like the gentleman did in the video. Post your paragraph at the bottom of the page where it says "discuss."

Rubric used in assessing writing assignments

Pre-Test and Post-Test Data Table 1: Assessment Overview Name of Assessment (e.g., Vocabulary Name of Topic of Student PreSchool where the P-12 No. of Demographic: (Example: Assessment/ online P-12 Practicum students 3rdgrade reading Post Practicum Learning taught students) Assessment Learning Module Length of Unit of instruction (Example: 3 weeks)

test)

Module was implemented

Used (e.g., written pretest written posttest) Yes 2 weeks

Narrative Writing

Walker Elementary School

Narrative Writing

4th grade ELA students

Table 2: Assessment Individual Data Student Identifier (no names) Student A Student B Student C Student D Student E Student F Student G Student H Pretest score in percentage 50 60 70 70 40 60 50 30 Posttest score in percentage 80 90 100 100 90 100 90 80

Table 3: Assessment Group Data Group Pretest Mean score in % 53.75 Group Posttest Mean score in % 91.25 Percent Change (+ or - %) +37.25

Analysis and Interpretation of Data The students showed a remarkable improvement in their understanding of narrative writing. The module did focus on a small group of students, making it easier to access their individual needs. These students were also some of the highest achieving students in the 4th grade, however. These students are quick to gain new information. It would be interesting to see

the results of a mixed-ability group of students. For the particular group of students accessing the module, they did have an overall good experience and improved their narrative writing.

Recommendations for Revisions If I was to teach this same module again, I would use a different platform than a wikispace. I did not think it was as user-friendly as it could have been for my 4th graders. It would have been great to use a Live Classroom environment, such as Moodle or Blackboard. If these were not an option, then I would use Edmodo. In addition to changing the learning delivery platform, I would also extend the module time. I had too many activities planned for the 10-day learning module. My 4th graders took a long time just getting use to the wikispace. This was time that I did not anticipate. In the future, I would plan better for the time it takes for my students to get acquainted with the learning module.

Resources Gillespie, A. & Graham, S. (2012). Evidence-based practices for teaching writing. New Horizons for Learning. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from http://education.jhu.edu/PD/newhorizons/Better/articles/Winter2011.html. Graham, S. (2012). Evidence-based writing. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from ctl.uoregon.edu/.../graham_handouts_ctl_2012_key_note_writing.pdf. Peha, S. (2003). Theres no practice like best practice. Teaching that makes sense. Retrieved November 9, 2013, from http://www.ttms.org/best_practice/best_practice.htm.