When assessing a child’s
writing, educators must consider three important aspects. These aspects include
the student’s strengths, weaknesses and recommendations to improve their skills.
To further discuss the core areas mentioned above, there is one thing that must
be carried out first. This is called an observation. Teachers should observe
this learner in their beginning writing stages, even before writing and once
the final piece has been completed down to the final product presented. Before
the observation ever begins, the teacher should have a readymade checklist to clearly
identify the things which is to be observed. Broken down below are each of the
three aspects which are not only associated with physical attributes of the
handwritten piece but also social and emotional attributes.
Strengths-
In this section of the writing, the teacher keenly pays attention to the
correct parts of the child’s writing which may include capitalization, subject-verb
agreement, punctuation and more. The teacher overall critically reviews each
sentence structure.
Weaknesses-
Here, the teacher identifies the students’ weak areas as well as the challenges
they repeatedly face. This may be as simple as not starting the sentence with a
capital letter or not using the punctuation marks in the manner that they
should be utilized. For instance the sentence: i woke Up late I missed the bus?
Recommendations-
After detecting the student's strengths and weaknesses, the educator may
begin to make adequate suggestions on what the child should be learning
more about or needs more practice with. Suggestions may also be made of his/
her teacher using a different writing strategy than what may be accustomed like
Microsoft Word (editing tool) or a peer review.
Though detecting strengths and weaknesses and making recommendations, all students are considered excellent writers or authors of their pieces and should be viewed accordingly.
References
“Make the Switch to Using Pens during
Writing Workshop - the Primary Pal.” The Primary Pal, 20 Jan. 2019,
theprimarypal.com/make-the-switch-to-using-pens-during-writing-workshop/.
Accessed 10 Nov. 2024.
This is a very refined version of the observation process of a student's writing. I appreciate the mentioning of a checklist: planning and having a research tool is detrimental to any form of research. Recording a student's writing strengths gives teachers a foundation on which to apply strategies to further develop their writing skills. Considering weaknesses also help teachers develop differentiated instructions and provides them with a blueprint on which improvements to a student's writing can be made. Bothe weaknesses and strengths assists teachers with prescribing recommendations to not just improve the student's writing skills, but to also sharpen the skillset and confidence as young writers.
ReplyDeleteI think all teachers should be given the chance to observe the writing process of students because they would have the experience to recognize any strengths and weaknesses and develop strategies to assist them. If a teacher develops their observation skills they would be better equipped to develop writing skills in their students by considering their own recommendations they proposed in the past.
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