Student Work Samples

Starting Point (September 30)

Student writing samples from the first few weeks of school; this was a typical contrast in writing ability. From the first, I saw some immaturity and developing potential as a writer who used evidence but lacked the ability to express it effectively in writing. I see the second example below as more carefully integrating evidence into the paper, so that it is both subtle and powerful.

Of Mice and Men (Late December)

Students were much more successful at “code-switching” between the academic pieces and creative pieces in their portfolios. Students really improved on adding quotations and evidence to their work. I also saw students improve greatly on presenting their work.

Memoirs (#1 in November; #2 in March)

Check out Let Us See with 9C for more writing. Some of the memoirs are loaded there, by students who wanted to publish and be public.

Student A: Memoir #1 | Memoir #2

Student B: Memoir #1 | Memoir #2

Student C: Memoir #1 | Memoir #2

CAP Assessments

After several months in the freshmen classroom, I had Pete, one of my mentor teachers, administer the Elementary & Secondary Education (ESE) Student Feedback Survey. The feedback was a majority favorable and I appreciated the time my students took to help me in my ongoing improving practice.

In my journal for that week, I wrote a summary of my reflecting on these comments and data:

“A few notes: students pegged my strengths as (1) My teacher demonstrates that mistakes are a part of learning, (2) My teacher asks me to improve my work when he or she knows I can do better, (3) The work in this class is challenging but not too difficult for me, and (4) I use evidence to explain my thinking when I write, present my work, and answer questions. I definitely think that I do a good job at pushing my students to think about questions in many possible ways. I also always underscore finding textual evidence to support claims. I was overall pleased with the number of “Agree” responses, as they made up 48.9% of all survey responses.

“My areas of weakness to continue to improve upon were (1) Students push each other to do better work in this class, (2) My teacher asks me to rate my understanding of what we have learned in class, (3) In this class, students are asked to teach other classmates a part of whole lesson, (4) Our class stays on task and does not waste time, and (5) In class, students are allowed to work on assignments that interest them personally. […] Students are more respectful now, and the last few weeks have significantly better. The classroom community can continue to develop in positive and respectful ways.”

Not many wrote comments, as this section was optional, though here are just a couple:

“I think you are a great teacher (students such as myself is hardheaded) You will be a fantastic teacher in the future!!”

“I’m sure he will turn out to be a great teacher….good luck”

“Too much work and homework.” Perhaps pushing students extra hard?