danielles_journal8_2009

 Danielle Sutton 4/6/09

The assessment for this journal entry was creating a poem.

__General Outline of Assessment:__ For this assessment, students were assigned a partner and a color. With that partner and color, students had to construct a web about things that color reminded them of. Using the web, students then had to work together to write a 10 line poem using similes.

__Assessment Structure:__ This assessment was an introduction to poetry writing using similes. With a partner, students were given a piece of paper with their color scribbled in the middle of web circle, and together the partners had to come up with at least 15 things their color reminded them of. After creating their web, the teacher reviewed the webs with the partners and eliminated any ideas that were not directly related to the color. For example, one pair of students had the color red for which one of their ideas were socks and one was rubies. The teacher complimented them on the idea that rubies reminded them of the color red, but said that when she thinks of socks she can think of many different colors, not just red. After eliminating any ideas that were not specific enough, students had to rethink and get their broad ideas up to 15 specific ideas. After this, students traded color webs with another partner grouping. Once a pair of students had a new web, they each circled one idea they liked best and these two ideas had to be incorporated into the other group’s poem. The remaining 8 ideas could be chosen by the web makers themselves. Then the pair of students began writing a poem about their color. Each line began with “White is like a…” or “Orange is like…”. The students then traded with another pair of students for revising, and then handed in the rough drafts to the teacher. The teacher then met with the partners to go over and make final revisions to the poem. The poems were then typed and placed on colored construction paper and displayed in the classroom on a bulletin board for “Simile Poetry”.

__Assessment Results:__ Each pair of students turned in a well written, typed, 10 line poem with 10 similes. Everyone received full marks for the assignment.

__Reflection of Assessment:__ My favorite part about this assignment was the extensive editing. I liked how the partners had to first create a web of 15 ideas, then work with the teacher to pull out the best ideas and rework to get up to 15 ideas again, then trade with another partnership and circle two ideas they liked best, then start writing a poem, then revise another partnership’s poem, then get revisions from the teacher, then type a final draft. All this editing culminated in each partnership having a well constructed poem that include 10 great similes. I also liked how during the editing stage, students had to circle an idea they liked from another partnership, as the students felt pleased when their peers liked one of their ideas and gave them a boost of confidence when writing their poems. I thought it was a great way to move through many stages of editing, introduce how to write a poem, and incorporate similes while doing so. When students are now asked to incorporate similes into writing, many of them refer to the poetry bulletin board and say things like “Oh yeah, a simile is like saying ‘Yellow is like a fresh lemon’, you need to use is like or as…”

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