ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE #4

Tasiana Blas

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

CIL 621: Assessment in Literacy

Dr. Stephanie Loomis

April 29, 2021

ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE #4

Penny was born and raised in Las Vegas, she is in 3rd grade and is eight years old. Penny

is reading above grade level and enjoys what she reads as long as it is interesting to her. During

her free time, Penny loves to spend her time at home on her Ipad watching funny YouTube

videos. Her favorite books are still Dork Diaries and she is currently reading The One and Only

Ivan with her classmates in school. She still feels embarrassed when asked to read in the

classroom because she is afraid of what her classmates might think if she reads a word

incorrectly.

The assessment that was required to be administered to Penny was one that determined

the stage of writing she is in. First, I gave her an engaging writing prompt that allowed her to

show the kind of writer she is. I analyzed her writing using two different tools. The first tool, the

rubric/writing checklist was used to determine the stage of writing development she is in. The

second tool, the Continuum, was used to focus more on higher order concerns. The key features

for higher-order concerns are purpose, audience, focus, and organization. I used the continuum

provided to mark where I thought Penny would fall.

Writing Prompt: If you could create a planet, what kind of planet would you create?

What kind of people would live there? Remember that you can have anything that you want on

this planet.

Purpose. Penny’s writing would be at a stage 5. In her writing, she does answer the

writing prompt and is describing the planet that she would create. She understood her purpose

and did answer most of the questions that were prompted to her. In this stage, it is important for

Penny to understand what she is writing about.

ASSESSMENT EXPERIENCE #4

Audience. Penny would be at a stage 2. When it comes to who Penny is addressing in her

audience, I think she could have tried to be more engaging and tried to connect with her readers

more than she did in this writing piece.

Focus. Penny would be at a stage 2. Penny does a great job at focusing on describing

what exactly is going to be on the planet she creates but what I believe she could have added was

why she wanted those specific things on her planet.

Organization. Penny would be at a stage 3. I believe Penny would be at this stage in her

writing because she has her primary points, which is to tell us what she will have on her planet

but I do think it is very abstract. In the prompt, she was asked what kind of people live there and

in her writing, she didn't answer that question.

The biggest strength of this assessment was to see where Penny is on the continuum and

the results will help me support Penny’s development in writing. Teaching writing or supporting

students with their writing I feel is an area that I have struggled with the most as a new educator.

With this tool, I can place each writer at a stage and have a direction to go in when trying to

guide my writing insturction with each writing concern. As a teacher who teaches literacy in the

classroom, I do believe I am making growth. I am more familiar with the writing assessments

and what to do with the results from the assessments. I can see how confident Penny has become

as a reader and writer because of the time we have worked together. This assessment has a huge

impact on my teaching. When I plan my writing instruction, I plan to have these higher-order

writing concerns in mind so that I am making writing in my classroom more purposeful.

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