crystal perez- planning paper 2013

7/28/2019 Crystal Perez- Planning Paper 2013

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Crystal Perez

EPS 541-0

March 22, 2012

CONCEPT MAP


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The central focus of my concept map was to guide my instruction

for teaching thewriting process, specifically detailing the steps that

we would take to reach our end product. The Common Core Standard

that I focused on is 8.W.4- Production and distribution of writing. Its

extremely important for our students to write for a variety of

purposes, but it is even more important that students can produce

clear and coherent written pieces. My focus was the development,

organization and style of my students work. I want them to be able to

differentiate their writing to the appropriate format, purpose and

audience, so my focus on my Concept Map was a step-by-step

process.

The objective that corresponds to Common Core Standard 8.W.4

is having my students answer the question; Hammurabis Code, Were

they Just.After analyzing documents from Mesopotamian history they

would ultimately answer the question in a five-paragraph essay

format. Based on our year together I knew that extended response

could be extremely difficult and time consuming, so I was able to

foresee that there would be a lot of push back from my kids. Especially

since they struggle with their writing. The best way that I could make

writing this essay as painless as possible was to get my kids to think in

terms of steps. I started my concept map with the big ideas of;

prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. These were my


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main focus followed by the breaking down of individual ideas. Since I

understand that the writing process is a reflection of the time and

forethought one puts into their work I knew I couldnt rush my

students. I had to schedule large blocks of time for them to work. I

prepared myself for the potential challenges of students being absent,

students who have underdeveloped vocabularies as well as the

struggles that some of my students with special needs might have. I

also took into account specific secretarial and authorship struggles,

after all a majority of my kids are low level in reading and writing.

When it comes to my students knowledge base I knew that in

7th grade they all had extended response preparation with Mrs. Stokes.

She had relayed that the students struggled, especially with providing

evidence to support their arguments. So going in I knew where I

would have to spend some extra time, specifically in the editing faze

where I would be able to go back and push them to explain their

ideas. I also knew that they had experience with using graphic

organizers, but struggled with outlines. I knew that the students could

write in paragraph format, but it was going to be difficult to push them

to create a five-paragraph essay that connected. Based on my

knowledge of my kids I knew they were in the habit of writing single

paragraphs or what I like to call run-on paragraphs. These are multiple


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paragraphs that are supposed to be related but somehow end up

straying away from the topic.

When it comes to the tasks and skills my students needed I

focused on Thinking Aloud and being totally explicit about the writing

process and had my students reflect. I feel that my students struggle with the

metacognitive component. They tend to not dig deeper about their ideas,

they simply stop at initial thoughts. I encouraged my kids to contribute and

allowed them to really think about how writing is built upon continuously.

The first learning target was prewriting. The students had

already read all of the documents, so they had a solid understanding

of the direction they were going to go with their arguments. I didn't

just want my students to start writing randomly, because they are

somewhat behind in their writing skills I knew that they needed plenty

of support so I modeled my ownTHINK ALOUD. I started off our pre

writing by writing a paragraph while articulating my thoughts. Then we

composed another paragraph together, and finally moved into

independent prewriting.

As the teacher I really wanted to focus on the authors role of my

students writing. This included the planning, drafting, editing, revising

and publishing components of the writing process. I really wanted to

focus on making my kids practice and think about their writing. When

it came to the Prewriting component I introduced strategies like


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clustering, brainstorming, and free writing. Prewriting is the first stage

of the process and the point at which we discover and explore our

initial ideas about our subject. I wanted to make sure hat my kids had

plenty of opportunities to go back to the drawing board. Prewriting

strategies really helped us to get our ideas on paper, even though they

werent organized, but their brainstormed thoughts eventually made

their way into their writing. Another strategy that I incorporated was in

the editing stage was peer editing. Students had three opportunities to

have their peers read their work and edit it. I chose to have students

peer edit three times, because I wanted my students to have multiple

perspectives. I also wanted to give them the opportunity to play with

ideas to improve their writing. Then I would have conferences with

students after their peers edited their papers. The conferences were

more questioning than picking apart the paper for grammatical errors

and I was able to get students talking about their ideas and really

push their thinking.

From this point on giving my students ample time to practice

their writing with weekly or even daily writing prompts will allow me to

monitor their progress. I believe that both during and after that

conferencing component really give me a leg up when I comes to

monitoring a students development over time. As they grow and

develop their thoughts they should be able to articulate their ideas into


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their writing and I trust that I will be able to see continue growth over

time. In terms of their assessment that was their essay and I believe

because we took our time and kept going back to the drawing board it

really made for some great ideas in their papers.

crystal perez- planning paper 2013

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