IPT- HighSchool_Composition

Language ArtsW r i t i n g C o m p o s i t i o n H I G H S C H O O L

INSTRUCTIONAL PLANNING TOOL

STAAR™

Copyright©2012 Education Service Center Region XIII3

Instructional Planning Tool User Guide

Overview This tool is designed to support teachers in instructional planning, by providing a means to process the sampling of assessed standards on the released STAAR items. Using this process, educators will:

review historical assessment data; read and solve sample STAAR items; analyze assessment prompts in order to consider the multiple steps required to generate a response; anticipate varying approaches and steps students might take; and reflect on his or her current classroom instruction.

The goal of this tool is to guide effective planning, including probing questions, and monitoring of student progress, which support student success. The Instructional Planning Tool is organized by the learning standards assessed on STAAR. Each standard is labeled as Readiness, Supporting, or Process.

As you work through the tool, keep in mind that the intent is to help think through the instructional implications of each standard. This tool provides an option to work through this thought process and can be customized to fit the needs of each campus.

Contents Each booklet contains:

all learning standards assessed on STAAR for a grade and content area; table to insert state, region, district, and grade TAKS performance data; sample STAAR items; example solution steps; reflection questions to assist educators in increasing the rigor of classroom instruction.

READINESS STANDARDS: SUPPORTING STANDARDS: PROCESS STANDARDS: are essential for success in the

current grade or course; are important for preparedness for

the next grade or course; support college and career

readiness; necessitate in‐depth instruction; address broad and deep ideas.

may be emphasized in a subsequent year (although introduced in the current grade or course);

may be emphasized in a previous year (although introduced in the current grade or course);

play a role in preparing students for the next grade or course but not a central role;

address more narrowly defined ideas.

will be assessed in context, not in isolation in the content areas of Social Studies, Science, and Math;

will allow for a more integrated and authentic assessment.

Copyright©2012 Education Service Center Region XIII 4

Writing Composition High School Analytical ▲

Copyright©2012 Education Service Center Region XIII

Test Genre: The analytical essay could be literary or informational. Students must learn to look at the top of the page to guide their critical reading: are they using a rhetorical lens or a literary one? They must also be taught to address what the prompt is asking them to do, for it might be very specific.

Think/Analyze/Apply:

Organization/Progression: The organizing structure of the essay is clearly appropriate to the purpose and responsive to the specific demands of the prompt. The essay is skillfully crafted because the writer uses organizational strategies that are particularly well suited to the analytical writing task.

Form/Structure: The writer synthesizes textual evidence and enters into a conversation with the original text. It is clear that the writer’s purpose is to analyze the author’s use of historical facts.

Organized: The essay is organized into four paragraphs: an introduction that contextualizes the topic and ends with the thesis, two body paragraphs that support the thesis and a conclusion.

The writer establishes a cogent thesis statement. All ideas are strongly related to the thesis and are focused on the specific aspect of the text the writer must address. By sustaining this focus, the writer is able to create an essay that is unified and coherent.

Thesis:

The writer states his/her thesis clearly (“…there are a couple obvious flaws in Kamikow’s support for his argument...”) and all textual evidence and ideas tie back to it.

Focus: The writer does not deviate from the topic or the form.

The writer’s progression of ideas is logical and well controlled. Meaningful transitions and strong sentence-to-sentence connections enhance the flow of the analysis by clearly showing the relationships between the ideas and the evidence presented, making the writer’s train of thought easy to follow.

Transitions: The writer uses compare and contrast (“however”), cause and effect (“therefore”), and spatial (“In addition”) transitions.

Sentence-to-Sentence Connections: The writer connects sentences through logic and cause/effect. The writer helps the reader maintain focus on his/her analysis by using straight-forward sentences rather than flashy, convoluted syntax.

Development of Ideas: The development of the essay is highly effective, and the analysis is credible and compelling. The writer offers an explicit, insightful, clearly analytical interpretation of the text and supports this interpretation with relevant, well-chosen textual evidence. Overall, the writer develops ideas in sufficient depth and smoothly integrates textual evidence.

Details: All details the writer includes support his/her thesis: that there are flaws in Kamikow’s argument. The textual evidence is appropriate and embedded.

The essay is thoughtful and engaging. The writer develops the essay in a manner that demonstrates a thorough understanding of both the text and the analytical writing task.

Thoughtful/Engaging:

The essay is engaging because the writer takes the more sophisticated approach to the topic; he/she chooses to argue against Kamikow. The writer enters into a conversation with Kamikow’s text, pointing out flaws in his logic.


Writing Composition High School Analytical ▲


Use of Language/Conventions:The writer’s word choice is purposeful and precise. It reflects a keen awareness of the analytical purpose and maintains a tone appropriate to the task. Word choice strongly contributes to the quality and clarity of the essay.

Word Choice: The writer uses high academic vocabulary that is effective and appropriate for an analytical essay.

Sentences are purposeful, varied, and well controlled, enhancing the effectiveness of the essay.

Varied/Well Controlled Sentences: The writer uses simple, compound, complex and compound-complex sentence structures properly.

The writer demonstrates a consistent command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Although minor errors may be evident, they do not detract from the fluency of the writing or the clarity of the essay. The overall strength of the conventions contributes to the effectiveness of the essay.

Conventions: The few errors evident do not detract from the overall flow and effectiveness of the essay.

Instructional Considerations: How do I currently teach this SE concept/content? How do I need to adjust my instruction based on this analysis?

What formative assessment will I use to be sure it’s working?

Copyright©2012 Education Service Center Region XIII 6

Writing Composition High School Expository ◊


Test Genre: The scaffolded prompt may be a distractor for some students who might get wrapped up in the reading of

the information box. It is important to teach the students to navigate the scaffolding appropriately and see it as a springboard for thought.

Think/Analyze/Apply:

Organization/Progression: The organizing structure of the essay is clearly appropriate to the purpose and responsive to the specific demands of the prompt. The essay is skillfully crafted because the writer uses organizational strategies that are particularly well suited to the expository task.

Form/Structure: The writer goes beyond explanation and into the realm of exploration, a mark of a more sophisticated expository essay. The writer also maintains the expository form without slipping into persuasion. The writing stays focused on the subject (expository) and not on the reader (persuasion), which is the main difference between the two genres.

Organization: The first two paragraphs are organized by comparison and contrast (yes, but) which is well-suited for an expository task. This organic organization structure (hinging on the whether or not task presented by the prompt) allows the writer to explore and weigh both sides of the issue. For example, in the first paragraph, the writer says, yes, “all children are taught to share…” BUT, adults don’t practice what they preach. The writer continues this format through most of the essay. The last paragraph resembles more of a traditional expository conclusion, considering the issue as a whole and coming to a grand truth.

The writer establishes a clear thesis statement. All ideas are strongly related to the thesis and are focused on the topic specified in the prompt. By sustaining this focus, the writer is able to create an essay that is unified and coherent.

Thesis Statement: The writer has somewhat of a reverse thesis (“It is very important in society today to remember the bigger picture, which often includes doing things to help others with no benefit to yourself…”). Instead of proving the thesis through examples that support the benefits of selflessness, the writer provides non-examples that show humanity’s selfishness such as our material and celebrity obsessed society.

Details: Again, the majority of each paragraph is formed around non-examples—the selfishness of our society. The writer uses the examples almost like concessions (“…thousands of people dying of hunger in third world countries…”). The writer is drawing from personal experiences and societal observations to inform his/her examples and ideas.

Focus: Each sentence contributes to the task presented by the prompt: whether people should be more concerned about others than themselves.

The writer’s progression of ideas is logical and well controlled. Meaningful transitions and strong sentence-to-sentence connections enhance the flow of the essay by clearly showing the relationships among ideas, making the writer’s train of thought easy to follow.

Transitions: The writer uses a combination of formal and informal transitions to show compare/contrast (“…rather than…” and “…somewhere down the line…”) relationships.

Sentence-to-Sentence Connections: The writer connects sentences by starting out with a general idea (“A glorified outlook on this way of life…”and moving to the more specific (“In media people are more concerned with…”). The use of comparison and contrast and cause effect relationships also adds to the unity of the essay.

Development of Ideas: The development of ideas is effective because the writer uses details and examples that are specific and well chosen, adding substance to the essay.


Writing Composition High School Expository ◊


Details: The writer develops his/her ideas through societal generalizations based on personal observations. Though at first glance it might appear the writer is clearly choosing a side, if we look more closely at the second paragraph, we see the writer is not casting judgment, but rather making observations about society.

The essay is thoughtful and engaging. The writer may choose to use his/her unique experiences or view of the world as a basis for writing or to connect ideas in interesting ways. The writer develops the essay in a manner that demonstrates a thorough understanding of the expository writing task.

Thoughtful/Engaging: The essay is engaging because of the writer’s unique take on the task. By the use of non-examples and specificity, the reader is drawn into the writer’s thoughts.

Use of Language/Conventions: The writer’s word choice is purposeful and precise. It reflects a keen awareness of the expository purpose and maintains a tone appropriate to the task. The word choice strongly contributes to the quality and clarity of the essay.

Word Choice: The writer uses academic vocabulary that is appropriate for an expository essay.

Sentences are purposeful, varied, and well controlled, enhancing the effectiveness of the essay.

Varied/Well Controlled Sentences: The writer uses simple, compound and complex sentences effectively and varies sentence lengths to create an impact on the reader.

The writer demonstrates a consistent command of sentence boundaries and spelling, capitalization, punctuation, grammar, and usage conventions. Although minor errors may be evident, they do not detract from the fluency of the writing or the clarity of the essay. The overall strength of the conventions contributes to the effectiveness of the essay.

Conventions: Since this is a high scoring essay, there are relatively few grammatical and usage errors. The errors present do not detract from the overall flow and effectiveness of the essay.

Instructional Considerations: How do I currently teach this SE concept/content?

How do I need to adjust my instruction based on this analysis?

What formative assessment will I use to be sure it’s working?

IPT- HighSchool_Composition

Documents

analytical essay

language artsw r i t

analytical writing task

cogent thesis statement

writers purpose

specific demands

body paragraphs

test genre