Laura Wipf EPS 541 May 2, 2013 Formative Assessment Project LITERATURE REVIEW: 1.

What are the big ideas or skills that students need to understand and/or master in your chosen topic area? Why are they important?

Before a student can begin to classify words, they must have completed the beginning stages of literacy development. This means that they should have mastered the alphabetic/sound and pattern stages of reading/spelling. Only after this, can they read fluently and develop vocabulary with experience in reading (Blachowicz). Students acquire extensive vocabularies with frequent exposure to targeted vocabulary words. By using a contextual approach to instruction, teachers can enhance childrens understanding of word meanings (Buenger, et al, 2010). However, Learning new vocabulary words is not a simple known or unknown phenomenon. Ones background knowledge and experience play critical roles in determining where a word falls along the continuum of word knowledge ("Effective vocabulary instruction", 2008). Likewise, it is important that students have multiple skills to classify words. In order to classify words in a list, students can use context clues such as synonyms or examples to figure out which word belongs in a group. In addition, they need to know how to recognize and use information from word parts, such as prefixes, suffixes, and roots, as a strategy for determining word meanings ("Effective vocabulary instruction", 2008). They should also be able to use the process of elimination strategy to eradicate words that do not belong.

2. What does a student learning progression to look like in your topic area? FRAMING GRAPHIC: Defining a Learning Progression

Learning Progression Topic Area: Classifying Words (Grade 2) Learning Standard: NWEA Vocabulary Use & Functions o Vocabulary Acquisition and Use 174 Classifies a word as belonging with given words Practitioner: Defining Concept(s) Classify a word as belonging with some familiar given words. Student can read and understand the meaning of some words. Student can find similarities/differences between words in a list and use this strategy to eliminate unknown words. Independent/Expert: Defining Concept(s) Classify a word as belonging with unfamiliar given words.

Novice: Defining Concept(s) Classify a word as belonging with familiar given words.

Student can read and understand the meaning of each word.

Student will be able to tell which word belongs in a list out of a group of common words. Example: Which word belongs in the list? red, green, purple a. b. c. d. pencil star fork blue

Student will be able to tell which word belongs in a list out of a group of some common words. Example: Which word belongs in the list? fish, whales, seals a. b. c. d. horse paper dolphin dog

Student can read and figure out the meaning of some words. Student can find similarities/differences between words in a list and use this strategy to eliminate unknown words. Student can utilize knowledge of morphemes (affixes) to categorize words. Student will be able to tell which word belongs in a list out of a group of uncommon words. Example: Which word belongs in the list? tractor, thresher, cultivator a. b. c. d. locomotive harvester vacuum microwave

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT TOOL DESIGN: 1. Which word belongs in the list? plant, tree, flower a. b. c. d. grass car snow sun 2. Which word belongs in the list? soccer, basketball, rugby a. b. c. d. cement notebook hockey television 3. Which word belongs in the list? disentangle, unravel, disassemble a. b. c. d. misprint redo prepare undo

3. What is the formative assessment tool? How would it be embedded in your teaching routines? How would the assessment help you to know that students are making progress? How does the evidence relate to the learning progression you developed? My formative assessment tool is designed exactly like the examples in my learning progression. In question number one, students have to classify a word as belonging with familiar given words. For question number two, they must classify a word as belonging with some familiar given words. In the example above, most students in the United States probably know that soccer and basketball are sports. Therefore in this question, rugby is most likely the unknown term. By looking at the possible choices: cement, notebook, hockey, and television, they can eliminate the terms that are not sports. Question number three requires students to classify a word as belonging with unfamiliar given words. Most second graders would not know the meanings of disentangle, unravel, or disassemble. However, they can use their knowledge of prefix meanings to determine the word that fits in a list. If they look at dis- and un-, they can hopefully recall that these prefixes mean not. Therefore, they can eliminate the answers with the prefixes mis-, re-, and pre-.

Since I previously assessed my students on their ability to classify known words in a list (and the majority of my class has mastered this skill), I could incorporate these next more challenging examples into my teaching routine. If students can move on to the skill of using the process of elimination strategy, I will know that they are making progress. Most of my students are currently in this practitioner stage.

4. What differentiated responses might a teacher make to students showing different degrees of progress on the formative assessment? That is, how would you differentiate your instruction based on your formative assessment of student learning? I currently only have a couple of students that are not able to classify words that are familiar to them. I will not move them on to the next step in my learning progression. I will have to reteach these students how to find similarities and differences among the words they know. Instead of focusing on classifying words, I will first assess them at a more basic level to see if they can classify pictures. Next I would try utilizing word sorts to see if they can categorize words by topic. For students who have difficulty classifying words when some terms are unknown, I would teach them how to find commonalties among the words that they do know. We would practice crossing out the words that clearly do not belong, and analyze the remaining options. I would make a checklist of multiple-choice test-taking tips that they should utilize such as: 1. Read the question before you look at the answers. 2. Read all the options before choosing your answer. 3. Eliminate the answers you know arent right.

Lastly, for my students who struggle in the independent/expert stage, I would focus on affix instruction. I would create a word sort like below: Directions: Sort the following words based on their prefix meaning: mistake before dislike preschool not uneven mislead precut

bad/wrong

Hopefully these types of differentiated responses would allow for my students to move through the learning progression successfully.

CONCEPT MAP: How would I differentiate my instruction based on the formative assessment?

Resources: Blachowicz, C. Best Practices in Vocabulary Instruction. Leadership Letters: Issues and Trends in Reading. Retrieved from https://perspective.pearsonaccess.com/content/resources/teachingresourc es/professionaldevelopment/blachowicz.pdf

Buenger, A., Butler, S., Eisenhart, C., Gonzalez, N., Hunt, M., Urratia, K. (2010). A Review of the Current Research on Vocabulary Instruction. National Reading Technical Assistance Center, 1-26. Retrieved from http://www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/support/rmcfinal1.pdf

Wright, T., & Neuman, S. (2013). Vocabulary Instruction in Commonly Used Kindergarten Curricula. The Elementary School Journal, 113(3), Retrieved from http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/668766?uid=3739656&uid=2129&ui d=2&uid=70&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21102231635757

(2008). Effective Vocabulary Instruction. National Center for Reading First Technical Assistance, Retrieved from http://www.maine.gov/education/rf/summerliteracyinstitute/vocabularybrief. pdf