1 Kevin Graham 5/5/13 EPS 541 Formative Assessment Project Learning Progression in Topic Area For my learning progression,

I chose to create a learning progression on the topic of the writing of an extended response essay in middle school. According to Evensen (2008), Whether viewed as a chore or an important mastery skill, the five-paragraph expository essay with its champions and critics is universally acknowledged as a foundation for more complex academic writing tasks. Educators must, therefore, facilitate student acquisition of the skills necessary to write successfully within this format (p. 2). Extended response writing is an essential skill for all middle school students to master before moving into high school. Extended response writing sets students up for being able to write expository and persuasive essays. Students need to build the foundational skills necessary for writing an extended response essay in order to be successful in other types of expository and persuasive writing.

Learning Progression in My Topic Area Is about.. Writing an extended response essay.

Novice: Defining CONCEPT(S) - Thesis statement - Evidence

Practitioner: Defining CONCEPT(S) - Thesis statement - Evidence - Elaboration/argument - Structure

Essential DETAILS - Student writes a

Essential DETAILS - Student writes a clear

Independent/Expert: Defining CONCEPT(S) - Thesis statement - Roadmaps/baby thesis - Evidence - Elaboration/argument - Structure - Recognize/refute counter claim Essential DETAILS - Student writes a clear

2 thesis statement that gives his/her stance for an extended response essay. Student uses evidence to support thesis. Evidence may be textual or opinion/feelings. thesis statement that gives his/her stance for an extended response essay. Student uses evidence to support thesis. Evidence relies more on text than opinion or feelings. Student elaborates on the evidence used and relates back to thesis. Student structures the extended response essay into an introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion. thesis statement that gives his/her stance for an extended response essay. Student uses evidence to support thesis. Evidence is composed of textual evidence. Student elaborates on the evidence used and relates back to thesis. Student recognizes counter arguments to the thesis and refutes using evidence and elaboration. Student structures extended response essay into introduction, body paragraphs, and a conclusion. Body paragraphs follow the roadmap laid out in the introduction and each gives a baby thesis that supports the main thesis.

So what? What is important to understand about this?

This learning progression focuses on the writing process. It is important to understand where students are at in the progression so that a teacher understand what a student is ready to learn next. Students need a strong foundation with creating a thesis and using evidence to support the thesis before they are ready to elaborate on the evidence and write in a structured format. Once students have an understanding of the foundation and structure of essay writing, they are able to expand upon that by recognizing opposing views and refuting them using evidence and argument. The learning progression of writing an extended response essay not only shows the progression of writing and essay, but also shows the progression of students reasoning skills. Writing is a lifelong skill that students need to master. Strong writing is essential in high school, college, and many careers. Strong and structured writing helps students better present their ideas to others.

3 The learning progression I designed outlines the progression of students moving from a novice extended response writer to an expert extended response writer. The characteristics that identify an extended response writer as novice are being able to write a thesis and support it with evidence. At this stage in the progression, students are aware that they need to take a position on a topic and defend it using evidence. However, at this stage, the thesis statement may be weak and the evidence depends more on a students opinions and background evidence than textual evidence. At this stage, students do not write in a structured format to better represent their ideas. Writers are this stage may write a few sentences to a paragraph. According to Graham, Harris, and Mason (2006), poor writers were less knowledgeable than good writers about how to develop and organize ideas for writing a paper (p. 298). Novice writers might have ideas about what they want to write about but do not have the skills about how to write. According to Evensen (2008), Explicitly teaching writing is a scaffolding process that moves from sentence creation, to paragraph construction, and finally to the actual essay format itself. Essay structure or format is a systematic process, including metacognitive awareness, that must be modeled and re-taught to students until they can own the effective skills necessary for creating their individual compositions (p. 11). Evensen emphasizes that students need explicit instruction in order to become an effective writer. When novice writers receive instruction on the structure of an extended response, novice writers have a vehicle that can be used to communicate ideas in a more effective way. Evensen also highlights the idea that students need to become aware of their own abilities in order to structure their own writing. When writers begin to use structure in extended response writing, they move into the practitioner stage of the extended response learning progression. At this stage, a practitioner communicates his/her ideas in a structured format that includes a thesis, evidence, and

4 elaboration. When students understand the structure, they become aware of what is necessary for their writing to contain in order to start to be effective. At this stage in the progression, students have the foundational skills they need in order to move into the next stage. Students need to understand how to write in order to communicate what they write. Students begin to use textual evidence and elaboration at this stage in order to strengthen the argument. According to Brame (2011), Writing is a cognitive process, in which the proficient writer not only uses skills, but also strategies to create a text that is meaningful for the reader. In my experience, beginning writers typically fall into two categories: those who write a lot but fail to focus their ideas, and those who write very little. In both cases, the writers do not know how to develop the content of their writing (p. 41). Brame emphasizes the idea that students need explicit instruction about how to write. The learning of how to write emphasizes this stage in the progression. Once students understand how to write an extended response essay, they move into the expert stage of the extended response learning progression. At this stage, students have mastered the structure of the extended response essay. Students at this stage are no longer limited by their ability to present their ideas in a structured format. At the expert stage, students can begin to focus on the what of the writing. This is evident by an expert students ability to begin using stronger elaboration and refute counter claims. In order to refute counter claims, students need to begin thinking about how others might respond to their arguments. Students can begin thinking about the thinking of others, which is a higher level of thinking. One idea that explains how students progress in this learning progression is the idea of the what and how of writing an extended response. Students need to understand how to write in an extended response before they can effectively present their ideas, or the what in

5 writing. When students understand the structure of an extended response essay, they can present their ideas in a more effective way. Formative Assessment The formative assessment tool I designed for this learning progression is a rubric that outlines the skills at each level. The rubric places students at either novice, practitioner, or expert at extended response writing. The rubric assesses the following skills: thesis, evidence, argument/elaboration, structure, and refuting counter claims. Students are given a writing prompt based on an article and then given time to write an extended response essay. The completed essays are then scored according to the following rubric. Students are then given an overall score that places them in one stage of the learning progression. Criteria Thesis Novice - 1 Thesis is present but might not be clear or limited to one idea. Evidence Evidence used is not textual and is limited to opinions and own experiences. Argument/Elaboration Evidence is not explained or related back to the thesis through elaboration or explanation. Structure No structure is present. Practitioner - 2 Thesis is present and clearly gives the stance for the essay. Evidence used is more text evidence than opinion. Evidence is elaborated and explained and relates back to the thesis. Structure is evident. Introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion present. Expert - 3 Thesis is present and clearly gives the stance for the essay. Evidence used is textual and supports thesis. Evidence is elaborated and explained and relates back to the thesis. Structure is evident. Introduction, body paragraphs, and conclusion present. Baby thesis and roadmap present in paragraphs. Counter claims recognized and refuted.

Refuting counter claims

No counter claims recognized or refuted.

No counter claims recognized or refuted.

___ / 15

Novice 5-9 points

Practitioner: 10-14 Points

Expert: 15 Points

6 Students will be given the assessment at the start of the extended response writing unit before they have had any instruction. After receiving instruction in each of the skill areas, students will be given the formative assessment again in order to identify areas of strength and weakness. This data will then inform the instruction that is still needed in each of the skill areas. Students will then be broken into small groups depending on which skill areas they still need to master. After receiving small group instruction, students will again be given the formative assessment to see how they have progressed and whether or not they are ready for a different skill group. This assessment provides data on student performance in each skill area. When students complete the assessment, they will be assessed on each skill area. This data will then be used to inform student progress. After receiving small group instruction, students will be assessed on each of the skills again. The assessments will be compared to see if students have made progress since the initial assessment. The rubric will allow the teacher to see which skills the students have made progress on and which skills they have not. This will allow the teacher to focus instruction on the areas most in need of improvement. This rubric incorporates all of the defining concepts and essential details of the learning progression. The rubric also scores students according to the three stages of the progression. This rubric makes certain that there is a direct correlation between the formative assessment and the learning progression. Although this learning progression was not implemented in the classroom, a plan was created to assist students in their progress along the progression. After the initial formative assessment, students will receive instruction in all of the skill areas. Students in the class this was designed for have limited writing skills based on other assessments so most students will fall in

7 the novice or practitioner stage of the progression. Students will then be given another assessment to determine progress. Based on this assessment, students will be divided into skill groups based on which skills they are in most need of improvement. Some students might be in multiple skill groups depending on their progress. After receiving instruction in small groups, students will be assessed again to determine progress. Some students will then be moved into higher skill groups if they have progressed far enough along the learning progression. Conclusion The learning progression created for this project focuses on extended response essay writing. Indicated through research and experience, students need to understand how to write before they can effectively present their ideas. This learning progression recognizes that students need to learn structure before moving later in the progression. This learning progression will be assessed using a formative assessment that focuses on the defining concepts of each stage in the learning progression. Students will be assessed multiple times in order to inform small group instruction. The same formative assessment will then be used to show student progress and mastery in each of the skills and students progression through this learning progression.

8 References Brame, V.W. (2011). Follow their lead: Writing exercises based on successful authors' strategies. The Journal of the Virginia Community Colleges, 16 (1), 41-52. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.nl.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=EJ95202 5&site=ehost-live

Emersen, S.C. (2008). Exposing the essay: A study of ninth graders and expository writing. Online Submission, M.A. Thesis, Biola University, 1-50. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com.proxy.nl.edu/login.aspx?direct=true&db=eric&AN=ED5063 55&site=ehost-live

Graham, S., Harris, K.R., and Mason, L.H. (2006). Improving the writing, knowledge, and motivation of struggling young writers: Effects of self-regulated strategy development with and without peer support. American Educational Research Journal, 43 (2), 295-340. Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/stable/3699421