TM: Was asttle writing level 2A, this writing was 3P. I don’t think 3P reflects what she can do independently most of the time (usually below that), but she is clearly hitting Level 3. What made the difference for T with this writing was conferencing and making her accountable (high expectations). She has also been focussing on the “We like writing that..” checklist which lifts her writing to a Level 3 standard.
NL: Was asttle writing Level 1, this writing came out at level 2A. I am thrilled to have him move a whole level (accelerated!) from well below national standard to the below range, but he will have to reach level 3B by the end of the year to maintain this range. He as shown improvement across all areas.
PM: Was asttle writing level 2P, this writing came out at 3B. The main improvement was in his structure and language. P should meet national standards in writing by the end of the year.
NH: Was asttle writing Level 2P, this writing came out at 3B. I don’t believe that it reflects what he achieves independently most of the time though. He is still very much a level 2 writer. The significant improvements that came through in this piece of writing were in his organisation of ideas and punctuation.
TB: T’ asttle level was 2A and this piece of writing came out at 3B. The areas he improved in were organisation and punctuation.
EN: Ella’s asttle level was 2P (well-below for Year 6) and this writing came out at 2A. Her areas of improvement were spelling and organisation. If Ella can progress to level 3B, she will come in below national standard as opposed to well-below.
RL: R was not a target student for this inquiry. He is ORRS funded. His level was 1B at the start of the year and has come out at 2P in this piece of writing. Great acceleration!
What made a difference to these learners for this piece of writing was a graphic organiser to plan their writing as well as first reading exemplars of quality writing for the genre in question. This will have helped with structure and language features as well as organisation (which they all scored well on). Punctuation has improved for a lot of them, so the self-assessment check-lists and our team punctuation workshops will have helped with that.
The students are also continually being reminded to state what their writing goal is and to focus on this when doing their writing in class. They are BLOG posting to show that they’re achieving their writing goals. This student agency will have helped also e.g. T needs to stop using random capital letters in his writing, which he has done successfully in the piece I assessed. T and N both had a punctuation goal and their punctuation scores went up. TM is trying to make her writing interesting for the reader as well as proof-reading, and she has certainly achieved that in the piece I assessed. E’s goal is to use tools to help with her spelling, and her spelling has moved up a level in the latest asttle assessment. N’s is to take risks and give writing a go, not worrying about spelling and being wrong, and he certainly has done that.
What still needs work? Vocabulary still needs development for ALL of these students. Perhaps this can be part of the next inquiry.
Here is a link to the completed Spiral of Inquiry for Term 1 & 2
This is only accessible to people at St. Joseph's with the link.
