Edtpa Ele Lit Assessment Commentary 403h2q

Elementary Education - Literacy Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

TASK 3: LITERACY ASSESSMENT COMMENTARY Respond to the prompts below (no more than 10 single-spaced pages, including prompts) by typing your responses within the brackets following each prompt. Do not delete or alter the prompts. Commentary pages exceeding the maximum will not be scored. Attach the assessment you used to evaluate student performance (no more than 5 additional pages) to the end of this file. If you submit as a video or audio clip and your comments to focus students cannot be clearly heard, attach transcriptions of your comments (no more than 2 additional pages) to the end of this file. These pages do not count toward your page total.

1. Analyzing Student Learning a. Identify the specific learning objectives and standards measured by the assessment you chose for analysis. [ The assessment I chose is intended to measure Reading Literature standard for fourth grade number 9: Compare and contrast the treatment of similar themes and topics (e.g. opposition of good and evil) and patterns of events (e.g. the quest) in stories, myths, and traditional literature from different cultures. This learning goal is also expressed in the student objectives: I can explain similarities or differences between the themes of two stories; I can explain similarities or differences between the topics of two folktales; and I can explain similarities or differences between the pattern of events in two folktales. ] b. Provide a graphic (table or chart) or narrative that summarizes student learning for your whole class. Be sure to summarize student learning for all evaluation criteria submitted in Task 3, Part D. Mastery

Developing

Beginning

Topic

4 students

1 student

1 student

Pattern of Events

2 students

2 students

2 students

Theme

1 student

5 students

0 students

[ I have sorted student assessment scores into the rubric. ] c. Use evidence found in the 3 student work samples and the whole class summary to analyze the patterns of learning for the whole class and differences for groups or individual learners relative to ◼ the essential literacy strategy AND ◼ requisite skills Consider what students understand and do well, and where they continue to struggle (e.g., common errors, confusions, need for greater challenge). [ The students in this group are really starting to understand how to pick out the topic and theme of a story. Theme needs a bit more work, and their level of understanding of pattern of events is quite wide. Four of my six students were able to talk about the topic in both stories and somehow relate them to each other, giving responses like, “The tricker got tricked.” This response shows Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 1 of 4 | 10 pages maximum All rights reserved. V3_0914 The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the of a written license agreement.

Elementary Education - Literacy Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

that the student has a strong understanding of both stories‟ topics because he is able to synthesize both of them. One student left this question blank, which means I will need to follow up to find out if she didn‟t understand something, or if she just ran out of time. The answers for theme almost all fell in a very narrow range, indicating that the students don‟t have a lot of confidence identifying it on their own but that my instruction has been bringing up their level of understanding. For pattern of events, the answers fell in a relatively wide range. This, too, is partly due to students not fully addressing the question, but in this case I think it‟s from lack of understanding. One reason I say that is that the second focus student writes about characters and setting when he‟s trying to write about the pattern of events. Another reason I think that is because it wasn‟t just one student. ] 2. to Guide Further Learning Refer to specific evidence of submitted to your explanations. a. In what form did you submit your evidence of for the 3 focus students? (Delete choices that do not apply.) ◼ Written directly on work samples or in a separate document; b. Explain how provided to the 3 focus students addresses their individual strengths and needs relative to the standards/objectives measured. [ Focus student 1 didn‟t explicitly state whether the pattern of events was similar or different, so in my I suggest that “The next step is figuring out whether they are similar or different. You can say, „The pattern of events is similar in both stories because…‟” Focus student 2 did give a strong statement of the topic in response to question 1, which allows me to draw on that to craft a helpful suggestion for how he can try to discern the pattern of events. He wrote, “the trickster got tricked” so in my reply I prompt him to consider what events needed to happen before that could transpire. Focus student 3 already did an excellent job of pulling out the topic, theme, and pattern of events in both stories, and even kind of compared them (“They both have people who trick other people” for topic). For this student, I tried to use my to encourage her to make those comparisons explicit in her writing. “You clearly understand what the theme, topic, and pattern of events are in each story. Next, I would like you to really compare them to each other. You might say, „The themes are similar because…‟”] c. Describe how you will students to apply the to guide improvement, either within the learning segment or at a later time. [ I will the students to apply the within a subsequent lesson as we continue learning tasks based on these standards for the remainder of the unit. For students who don‟t really understand pattern of events, I will review that and have them identify common patterns using familiar stories. For students who are struggling with comparing or contrasting identified elements, I will cut out strips of paper with various theme statements printed on them and have the students use these to help in identifying the theme of a story. ] 3. Evidence of Language Understanding and Use You may provide evidence of students‟ language use from ONE, TWO, OR ALL THREE of the following sources: 1. Use video clip(s) from Task 2 and provide time-stamp references for language use. Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2 of 4 | 10 pages maximum All rights reserved. V3_0914 The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the of a written license agreement.

Elementary Education - Literacy Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

2. Submit an additional video file named “Language Use” of no more than 5 minutes in length and provide time-stamp references for student language use (this can be footage of one or more students‟ language use). Submit the clip in Task 3, Part B. 3. Use the student work samples analyzed in Task 3 and cite language use. When responding to the prompt below, use concrete examples from the video clip(s) (using time-stamp references) and/or student work samples as evidence. Evidence from the clip(s) may focus on one or more students. a. Explain the extent to which your students were able to use or struggled to use language (selected function, vocabulary, and additional identified language demands from Task 1) to develop content understandings. [ The students were able to use some of the vocabulary in expressing their understandings: student 3 used “theme” appropriately in her answer to #3. However, for the most part they shied away from using the vocabulary I identified as necessary for full understanding of the lesson. I don‟t think this means they didn‟t get the understanding, since several of them did complete the assigned task. What it does mean to me is that they might have benefitted from more direct syntax , for example if I would show them how to use a prompt like, “The topic of myth A is similar to the topic of myth B because they both…” ] 4. Using Assessment to Inform Instruction a. Based on your analysis of student learning presented in prompts 1b–c, describe next steps for instruction ◼ for the whole class ◼ for the 3 focus students and other individuals/groups with specific needs Consider the variety of learners in your class who may require different strategies/ (e.g., students with IEPs or 504 plans, English language learners, struggling readers, underperforming students or those with gaps in academic knowledge, and/or gifted students needing greater or challenge). [ There are pretty clear patterns in the data from the assessment that I will use to plan the next steps for whole group instruction. Almost all the students are understanding topics very well, so I can move up a level of difficulty by having the students apply their knowledge grouping and classifying different topics in myths, fables, and folktales. I will also closely monitor the two students who With regard to themes, most of the students in the group are beginning to understand how to compare themes between stories, but will benefit from additional practice and . At this point I will provide another short focus lesson, where I model how to apply the skill and we talk briefly about how to use it, so that no misunderstandings work their way into student‟s thinking and to help push them to the next level of understanding. The group‟s understanding is scattered all across the board with regard to pattern of events, so I can look at the other groups in the class to see if I can form new groups to focus on pattern of events with at different levels. That way, I can give extra to one group, and give extra opportunities for enrichment to another group, providing each student what she needs. There was also a pattern within one of the focus student‟s work that leads me to believe Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 3 of 4 | 10 pages maximum All rights reserved. V3_0914 The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the of a written license agreement.

Elementary Education - Literacy Task 3: Literacy Assessment Commentary

she might not be receiving enough in this group and might benefit from being placed in a different group for now. While she was actively participating in the lesson and discussion, her written answers did not demonstrate significant understanding of the content. I will continue to monitor her to see if that was a one-time instance or a recurring issue. ] b. Explain how these next steps follow from your analysis of student learning. your explanation with principles from research and/or theory. [ Based on constructivist learning theory, I will progress from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract, learning tasks. I do this by having the students gain experience with comparing and contrasting themes, topics, and patterns of events before having them analyze them and classify them into groups. In a similar fashion, my desire to have students in groups with students who need similar levels of (or in the same skill) is based on their Zone of Proximal Development.]

Copyright © 2014 Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 4 of 4 | 10 pages maximum All rights reserved. V3_0914 The edTPA trademarks are owned by The Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. Use of the edTPA trademarks is permitted only pursuant to the of a written license agreement.