UNIT: Breathing Life into Essays (Lucy Calkins)

Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker

Unit Reflection

Planning, assessing, and teaching this unit have allowed me to reflect

in a number of ways. I have been reflective in my planning based on
the students’ performance on assessments. I have been reflective in
my teaching. I have been reflective in my feedback for my students.
And now, I have reflected on the unit as a whole.

When assessing what my students learned, I used a summative

assessment rubric. The rubric was compiled by using the Michigan
GLCEs, a pre-existing rubric from the Lucy Calkins unit, and a rubric my
CT had created to align with the Ann Arbor report card. The rubric
allowed me to see what individuals had learned, and also what the
class as a whole had mastered. Also, at the end of the unit, I asked the
students to write to me telling me at least one thing they learned, one
thing they enjoyed, and one thing they would change for next time.

I found that throughout the unit the students learned the steps of the
writing process. They learned to make observations about the world
around them, and turn those observations into ideas. They learned to
use their ideas to formulate a thesis with supporting topic sentences.
They learned the structure of an essay (in this case, an introduction,
three body paragraphs, and a conclusion). They learned how to include
information from outside sources, how to tell supportive mini stories,
and how to incorporate lists, details, and other things to strengthen
their writing. Many of the students wrote in their notes to me that they
learned what essays were, a new genre. They also learned the
importance of being productive and work well independently, because
in this unit, it was easy to fall behind.

When considering ideas for revision, there were a few things that came
to mind. One of the challenges I faced was dealing with how to catch
up students who had been absent or pulled from the room during
writing workshop. This unit was not at all flexible and each day had a
very specific isolated lesson. It was difficult for students to catch up
when absent because they would have missed an entire mini-lesson
followed by forty-five minutes of independent writing. During my three
way meeting with my CT, my FI, and myself it was suggested that I
teach four lessons a week, as opposed to five. If I were to teach lessons
Monday through Thursday, I could dedicate Friday as a catch up day.
During Friday’s writing workshop, I could catch up students who were
gone, and spend additional time with any other students who may be
in need of more support.

Another idea for revision arose when considering differentiation. This

UNIT: Breathing Life into Essays (Lucy Calkins)
Adapted by Lindsay Shumaker
unit was very difficult for me to teach effectively when it came to
trying to differentiate. I constantly battled the challenge of spending
time with individuals who needed a lot of support versus spending time
circulating the class and checking in with everyone. I also encountered
a great deal of difficulty when facing the language barrier with my ESL
students. I was able to utilize Susan as a resource with my students
that needed additional help. She worked in a small group with them
and gave them a great deal of support. I think that using a catch-up
day each week will, in the future, afford me the opportunity to give
those students the support that they need. I have also considered
using parent volunteers to help me during individual writing time. As
far as my students that write above grade level, I found that they often
finished their writing early. It was suggested in the three way meeting
that in the future, I allow those students to write additional paragraphs,
and not limit them to three body paragraphs.

The assessment rubric seemed to be another area in need of revision. I

found that it was not fair to assess each student with the same
expectations. Although my ESL students and some of my lower leveled
writers did not succeed in every area of the rubric, they did make
tremendous progress for themselves. The rubric for assessment did not
show their progress nor did it praise their individual accomplishments. I
will keep working toward revising the rubric so that it can assess each
individual’s progress and successes.

When reflecting, it is also crucial to considered insights I have learned

throughout the unit. As previously stated, I learned the difficulty of
balancing individual attention with whole class circulation. I learned
that students work at different paces, and this needs to be accounted
for. I also learned not to expect the same outcome from all of my
students. I learned that feedback is labor intensive. The feedback via
sticky notes seemed reasonable until I was lead teaching. It became
obvious very quickly that it was not feasible to respond to each student
every other day. Periodic individual conferences served as a way to
give specific feedback without having to do it so frequently. Most
importantly, I learned that flexibility and adaptability are crucial. My CT
runs her classroom under the mentality that you must always “monitor
and adjust.” I envy her flexibility and have realized, in this unit and
student teaching as a whole, that it is imperative to having a
successful classroom.