Writing Assessment: Student Analysis Student Introduction: KP, the student I have selected, is a kindergarten student at William Allen White Elementary School. I would consider KP to be a higher-ability student. He excels in most all subjects and has a great interest in learning. Most generally, he solves his own problems by exploring, asking questions, and using tools around the classroom. When he does not know the answer to something, it is almost guaranteed that he will ask or find the answer himself. As for attitude, he is relatively positive when it comes to academics. He shows happiness when he knows the answer or understands. When he comes across something he does not know or understand, it peaks his curiosity rather than making him upset. He is meticulous with his work, especially writing. He takes longer than the other students to complete work, writing or drawing slowly to ensure he does not make a mistake. If he does make a mistake, he is agitated and will start over. For example, the students were asked to reflect on the trip to the pumpkin patch by drawing a picture with details they saw. He spent the
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Writing Assessment: Student Analysis
Student Introduction:
KP, the student I have selected, is a kindergarten student at William Allen White
Elementary School. I would consider KP to be a higher-ability student. He excels in most all
subjects and has a great interest in learning. Most generally, he solves his own problems by
exploring, asking questions, and using tools around the classroom. When he does not know the
answer to something, it is almost guaranteed that he will ask or find the answer himself. As for
attitude, he is relatively positive when it comes to academics. He shows happiness when he
knows the answer or understands. When he comes across something he does not know or
understand, it peaks his curiosity rather than making him upset. He is meticulous with his work,
especially writing. He takes longer than the other students to complete work, writing or drawing
slowly to ensure he does not make a mistake. If he does make a mistake, he is agitated and will
start over. For example, the students were asked to reflect on the trip to the pumpkin patch by
drawing a picture with details they saw. He spent the entire time drawing, not easily distracted by
fellow students. When it was time to pick up, he refused to move on because he wasn’t finished.
The next day, there was time to finish the picture. He looked at his writing piece and noticed he
forgot to draw the school bus that picked him up. He threw away his picture, which he had spent
over an hour’s time time, and began to start over. This attention to detail is shown throughout all
of KP’s work. The student’s early work showed only pictures. As Mrs. Dalton introduced the
alphabet, his worked displayed letter strings. Now that the class is working on sight words, KP
often writes sight words he has memorized into his pieces of writing. When asked what his
favorite part of the day was, he confidently answered “journal time!”
Writing Samples:
(early sample)
This was a sample from the student within the first week of school beginning. While it
may look like a lot of scribbles, this does depict a story. KP’s writing shows detail but at this
time does not show any conventional letters or signs of pretending to write letters or sentences.
(recent sample)
This sample was taken weeks later, after the alphabet had been introduced. The class had
been working on saying the alphabet, knowing each letter, and slowing introducing letter sounds.
Unprompted, the student used journal time to write letters he knew. As you can see, a letter
string was written. Letters are identifiable and sizable when compared to each other. A mixture
of both capitalized and lower case letters were used. When asked about what he had drawn, his
letter string directly correlated with his picture. In this sample, he pretended to write sentences
and give a caption for his picture.
Troll Assessment:
30/32
38/42
18/24
38/42
30/32
86/98
Troll Assessment Analysis:
While I knew the student’s ability level was higher achieving, completing the TROLL
assessment and observing the student showed promising growth for the student’s writing
progress. The student scored an 86/98, placing KP in the 90th percentile rank. According to the
article Teacher Rating of Oral Language and Literacy (TROLL): Individuating early literacy
instruction with a standards-based rating tool, scoring in the 90th percentile suggests that the
“child should be encouraged to read and write at advanced levels in school and at home.” I
would have to agree, with diligent work from parental figures and the teacher, the student is fully
capable of advancing well past his current grade-level expectations.
During the TROLL assessment, some categories needed no observation. The student is
incredibly verbal, leaving quite the unforgettable impression. With that being said, I knew the
student confidently starts many conversations with both peers and adults. He often tells of home
experiences and always has something to share during “good things” in the morning. At times,
his shared stories/experiences are slightly unclear because he leaves out small details that make
them truly understandable. However, he does fill in the missing gaps when asked to clarify. As I
mentioned, the student has strong verbal skills. His strengths range from a wide vocabulary and
appropriately expresses curiosity. His reading skills are at about the same level, scoring a 38/42.
He expresses interest in reading, and is skilled at identifying words familiar words. He easily
memorizes new words and can sound out one syllable words without much assistance. Being that
he is newly introduced to technical writing, he is highly engaged in learning how to write. He has
begun with conventional letters, and repetitively writes what he has been taught thus far. He has
yet to explore a more creative form of writing, such as signs, labels, stories, songs, and poems. I
have no doubt that he will begin soon. Overall, the TROLL assessment accurately identifies is
oral, reading, and writing skills.
During the assessment, he thoroughly enjoyed the extra attention. While the TROLL
assessment requires more observation than questioning the student, he is clever enough to know
when I’m taking interest in his activities. Compared to what I’ve noticed in class, I have had to
take note of details to find his strengths and weaknesses. I expected the student to excel in this
particular topic area, but the TROLL assessment fine-tuned the strengths I would not have
noticed. For example, I hadn’t noticed whether or not he dabbled in creative writing. The
TROLL assessment revealed that he has not yet attempted this form of writing. Also, I didn’t
know how much he had paid attention to classmate’s names. We haven’t taken time to formally
teach other student’s names, I wasn’t sure if he would be able to identify them. To test his
abilities, there are job jugs in the room with each student’s name on them. I asked the student to
get me “so and so’s” job jug. To my surprise, he correctly identified his classmate’s names on
the job jugs. To conclude, I would say the assessment precisely identified the student’s skills.
More so, if I didn’t know his capabilities at the top of my head, using the assessment assisted me