Assessment of Writing
Today in English we have been looking at how to assess children's writing.
We started by looking how the settings we have experienced assess writing, we came up with:
-Formative/ Summative Assessment
-SATS, Phonics Check, SPAG
-Teacher Assessment
-Two Stars and a Wish.
-Group discussion
We then discussed what writing was and the writing process.
Communicating a message for a particular purpose and audience. Handwriting and spelling makes sure that the message gets through and it can affect the message as well.
The Writing Process
Prewriting – purpose and audience, form, brainstorming.
Writing – organisation, voice, word choice, sentence fluency.
Responding – teacher/ peer conference, self/peer evaluation.
Revising- clarifying, reorganisation, refining, practice language.
Editing – conference
Publishing/ Sharing – bulletin board, website, performance, author’s chair.
Then we discussed that children might struggle with writing if:
- They do not understand the audience, they are writing for.
- They may have a physical barrier to writing.
- They also may not know how to start their writing
Then we looked at Composition and Transcription
Composition: is articulating ideas and structuring them in speech and writing. It also involves generating ideas, deciding on the form of the written text and thinking about who will read it and why.
Transcription: is spelling and handwriting. It involves paying attention to how the writing is presented so that others can read and understand it easily. This includes aspects such as handwriting, spelling and the general layout.
What the National Curriculum says about composition and transcription.
Composition
Effective composition involves forming, articulating forming, articulating and communicating ideas, and the organising them coherently for a reader. This requires clarity, awareness of the audience, purpose and content, and an increasingly wide knowledge of vocabulary and grammar.
Transcription
Writing down ideas fluently depends on effective transcription: that is on spelling quickly and accurately through knowing the relationship between sounds and letters and understanding the morphology and orthography of words. Writing also depends on fluent legible and eventually speedy handwriting.
Formative and Summative Assessments
‘As part of our reforms to the national curriculum, the current system of ‘levels’ used to report children’s attainment and progress will be removed. It will not be replaced. We believe this system is complicated and difficult to understand, especially for parents. It also encourages teachers to focus on a pupil’s current level, rather than consider more broadly what the pupil can actually do. Prescribing a single detailed approach to assessment does not fit with the curriculum freedoms we are giving schools.’ (National Curriculum, 2014)
The importance of Composition
‘if writing is understood by a teacher as a largely mechanical process – getting spellings and punctuation right…then pupils will understand that this is what writing is about and no more.’ Ings (2009:20)
‘Teaching writing well will involve developing knowledge, skills and understanding through meaningful and interesting contexts and experiences’ (Warner in Waugh et al, 2014 181)
Terminology
Working towards the expected standard
Working at the expected standards
Working at greater depth within the expected standards
These are measured nationally and age related.
From this lesson i have been able to look into how to assess children's work to support their learning and development.
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