Writing Lesson Self-Evaluation Abby Duvall

I thought that this writing lesson went well. There were some things that I would have
changed in this lesson. First, I did this lesson as an addition to the reading lesson as a part of
social studies. However, when I did it today, we also had a math quiz and we wanted to do
everything quicker because it is the last day before Easter break. The teachers wanted to watch
an Easter movie after classes, so I had to make sure we did this activity quickly so the students
had plenty of time to do the math quiz. We did not have time to do this with the second class
which included the learning support students. Because of the lack of time, I wish I would have
had more time to complete this lesson. Also, I think it would have been more helpful to explain
more what an introduction and conclusion sentence mean. My students did not know what an
introduction and conclusion sentence were, which I figured they would have learned in the
past. I should have better explained how to write an introduction sentence and a conclusion
sentence. A final thing that I wish I could have done better is when the paper was copied, the
lines did not come through clearly so the students were very distracted that there were very
faint lines on the paper. I think that the students did good at this writing though, regardless of
the time constraint. When I had explained what an introduction and a conclusion sentence
were, the students did very good at writing at least the introduction sentence. Some of the
children were not very motivated to do this assignment but those who were wrote very
beautiful paragraphs and I was grateful for how hard they tried on this assignment, knowing
that they were under a time crunch and thinking about a math quiz next. I do think that my
rubric was written very well and was a fair evaluation tool of the writing that students
completed.
I used formative assessment to make sure that students understood what was asked of
them. Before I asked them to start their writing, I made sure they understood what they were
supposed to be writing about. At first, they did not understand fully, so I then wrote what they
needed to include in their paragraph on the board. I also needed to re-explain the requirements
because I used formative assessment and found that they did not understand, so I therefore
needed to reteach. I do think that my assessment rubric was a good tool to find out about the
student’s learning. It was helpful that I had an unbiased way to assess my student’s learning
and writing. All students should have been able to get all possible points on this paragraph
because I gave them specifically what they needed to include. I learned that my students are
not great at giving many details to support their claim. They all gave an opinion about which
Native American home they would want to live in, but not many of them gave the three
reasons from the text that are required. I think that the assessment in a writing lesson is very
important.
This is the first time I have taught a writing lesson so there is a lot that I have learned
and know now for the next time I teach a writing lesson. I learned that it is very important to
first, make sure the lines on the paper that the students use are very clear. This issue threw
many of the students off and they focused more on the lack of lines than they did on answering
the question. I also learned that I need to explain and clarify everything especially if I am not
the student’s regular ELA teacher. I did not know that the students did not understand an
introduction and conclusion sentence, so I learned that I need to explain each of my
expectations very clearly to the students. Furthermore, it is important to give students an
adequate amount of time to finish their writing; it should not be rushed. Regarding assessment
of writing, I learned that a clear rubric is very important. I think it is critical that a rubric is
established before implementing the lesson. As I was creating the rubric, I added more to my
lesson plan that I needed to remind students about while they were writing. I also learned that
each piece of writing is different and each student takes a different amount of space to convey
information. Some students wrote all three of their facts in one sentence in a list, and others
wrote separate sentences for each fact. Some students took two lines to write and others used
up to 10. I learned that it is important in the assessment of writing to look at what they wrote,
not the u=quantity or style in which they wrote their information. Teaching this writing lesson
has taught me lots about what I need to do in teaching writing in the future.
The assessment of my writing lesson was a rubric. This rubric made it fair and equal for
each student because they were all judged against the same standard. The standard God uses
to judge us is Jesus. It is written in 1 John 2:2 that “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not
for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.” Jesus did not only come to save the
“good” people of the world but every single person. Furthermore, Romans 2:11-12 says “For
God does not show favoritism. All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the
law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law.” God does not show favoritism to
people He “likes” or “does not like”. Instead, if we have accepted Christ as our Savior, we are
accepted into God’s family. The rubric is a way for me to be impartial to my students. It forces
fair assessment of each student according to the qualifications of the rubric.
In conclusion, I thought that my writing lesson went very well. There were, of course,
some things that I would have changed looking back, but in general, I think that my lesson was
successful and my students performed well.