Writing Workshop: Writing Analysis, Lesson Plan, Reflection

Grade: 3rd grade

Writing Sample Analysis:

This student does a good job writing top to bottom and left to right. She also capitalizes her Is
correctly and does a good job spelling high frequency words such as to, a, it, as, and. The topic
of wanting a Barbie House is also clear. There is no real beginning, middle, or end to this story;
we just know that she wants a Barbie house but it is expensive and that she possibly buys it.
There is no punctuation and she mixes upper and lower case letters throughout the sample,
specifically her Bs.

This student does a good job creating sentences and utilizing punctuation. They include several
details about the store, and the focus of the discussing the students favorite store is clear. He
does a good job attempting to spell words that he does not know and even though they are
misspelled, his spellings can be understood. There is no real order to this story, just a list of
details. Many words are misspelled but capitalization is correct more than half of the time. Start
of a beginning, but no real middle or end to create a flow.

This student does a good job writing left to write and from top to bottom. She does a good job
attempting to spell words she does not know and in doing so creates spellings that are
understandable. She includes a title, and her focus on Labor Day is clear. There is no clear
beginning, middle, or end to this story, just a couple of sentences with no clear order. The
sentences are very repetitive and offer little detail.
After analyzing the writing samples I realized that my students were not creating
coherent stories, but rather strings of sentences. I thought it would be beneficial to start with the
basics, and teach a lesson on developing a story through having a beginning, middle, and end.
Since the students are at a lower level of writing we went back to the second grade TEKS where
we found an emphasis on beginning, middle, and end. Developing this aspect of writing will
enable my students to create more detailed and meaningful stories that will make sense to their
readers.
Mini-Lesson:
Focus of the mini-lesson: To help students realize that for a story to make sense there needs to be
a beginning, middle, and end, as well as how to develop these parts in their own writing.
Link to Craft Lessons: Pg 21
Rationale: The writing samples were difficult to follow and in general did not make sense. There
was no development of the topic and there was a lack of a clear beginning, middle, and end
TEKS: 110.13. English Language Arts and Reading, Grade 2
(18) Writing/Literary Texts. Students write literary texts to express their ideas and feelings about
real or imagined people, events, and ideas. Students are expected to:

(A) write brief stories that include a beginning, middle, and end
Materials: 4-page blank booklets, teacher narrative written out to put on projector, highlighter
Script: What makes a story? Can you raise your hand and tell me what some important parts of
a story are? *Pause for answers from students.* It is important when you write to include a
beginning, middle and end to your story so the reader can follow your thoughts and understand
what you are trying to say. Im going to read to you a story I wrote about the time my sister got
lost at the zoo. Be listening to my story closely and see if you can figure out what my beginning,
middle, and end are. Remember your choices and when I finish reading we will highlight the
parts as a class.
*Read story*
One time when I was younger, my family decided to go to the zoo. I love animals so I
was really excited to see all the different kinds that lived at the zoo. My family all wore red
shirts so that my parents could easily keep an eye on us kids and so we could always see where
our parents were. On the car ride over, my parents told us some rules about staying together and
not wandering off. I was sort of listening but I was mostly daydreaming about all of the amazing
animals I was about to see. After what seemed like forever, we finally arrived at the zoo and
started our adventure. We first grabbed a map and picked the animals that we wanted to see the
most. We then planned a route that would take us to our most important animals, without
missing a single one. We walked around looking at the lions, elephants, and my favorites, the
giraffes. By this time it was starting to get pretty hot and my younger brother and sister were
getting tired of walking so much, but we pushed on, wanting to make it to all of the animals. The
last exhibit we went to see was the hippopotamuses, my sisters favorite. I didnt want her to
miss them so I called her name to get her attention. BrandyBraaaaandy!!! She didnt reply.
She was normally right behind me, but when I turned around, she was nowhere to be found. My
parents noticed Brandys absence and began to panic. We scanned the sea of people for a little
girl in red with pigtails. Just when my parents were about to call the zoo security, I spotted
something red moving in the basket under our stroller. I poked the red mass and it let out a yelp!
I screamed, I found Brandy! Brandy had gotten so tired that she wanted to take a nap, so while
no one was looking, she crawled into the stroller that we had been using to carry our bags instead
of children, and had fallen asleep. Brandy got to watch the hippos and as we left the zoo my
parents made us all hold hands out to the car so we wouldnt lose anyone again.
Who can tell me what this story was about, what happened at the beginning, middle,
end? *Allow students to answer these questions* Having a clear beginning, middle, and end
helped you as readers understand what my story was about. Now, we are going to get into two
groups and write our own stories focusing on what we just learned. *Divide class in half and
pass out booklets* So to help us write and keep the idea in mind about having a beginning,
middle, and end, we are going to write our stories in these little books. On the first page you will
write the beginning of your story, on the second page you will write the middle, and on the last
page you will write the end. When you finish you can create a title and illustrations for your
story. *Allow students to write while assisting them and conducting writing conferences*
*Join back together as a class after students have finished writing and have sharing time.*
Writing Conferences:

I had writing conferences with each student throughout the writing time. One student
who has special needs and is often pulled out of the classroom had difficulties coming up with a
topic. I sat with him and we came up with a couple of ideas and he ultimately wrote about a time
he went to the zoo. He then wrote a lot of words about the zoo and I told him that we could
make sentences with the string of words by using punctuation and capitalization. We went
through his work creating sentences which helped him create a coherent story.
Conferencing with another student, I discovered that they had only written one sentence
per page. I thought discussing the use of details would be beneficial for this student. I probed
her to verbally tell me more about her trip to Six Flags. After she recited these additional details
I told her that including them in her story would really help the reader understand what she did at
the park. She agreed and added a couple more sentences/details to each page.
I noticed with an ELL student that while they had a beginning, middle, and end, their
story still lacked a good flow. I suggested using transition words to help the story progress. I
referred back to my story and we went through highlighting the transition words I used. We then
read his story and verbally added transition words to see what fit. He then picked what he liked
and added them to his story. These words really helped to move his story along.
Sharing:
Script: Everyone has done some very good writing. I would like to ask the students that Laura
and I talked with to come up to the front of the class and share their stories with us. Remember,
as they read, think about what their beginning, middle, and end are. *Have at least one student
from each group read their story.* Those were good stories, I like how we were able to follow
their ideas as the stories developed. So, what did we learn about writing good stories today?
*Have students answer with something about beginning, middle and end.* Thats right, and you
can use what we have learned with all of the stories you write from now on. Having a beginning,
middle, and end will really help your teacher and anyone else be able to understand your stories.
Sticking to this script, I chose Alex to share his story from my group who wrote about the
time he and his family went to the zoo. I chose him to share because having conference with him
I was aware of his story and it was at a high level. He had good details, a very clear beginning,
middle, and end, as well as humor. When I saw the part of his story where his little brother
screamed like a girl, I knew the class would enjoy it. Also, I could use this funny detail as a way
to see if my students were paying attention to what their classmates were saying. I was pleased
when Alex read his story and everyone laughed. As a class we were also able to identify the
parts of his story accurately and without any difficulties, further cementing the concept.
Since the stories had specific parts, and those parts were the main focus of the lesson, I
called on my ELL and special needs students to identify them. To challenge and promote the
involvement of my other students I prompted them to ask further questions of Alex such as any
clarifications they needed or information that they wanted to know more about.
Reflection After the Lesson:
I think that this lesson was definitely appropriate for my students and if they continue to
write like they did today, I do not think their teacher will have any problem understanding what
they are trying to say. When the teacher would give my students a topic to write about, what

they would turn in was a string of sentences that had no flow and often did not tell a story at all.
To help them develop and focus their stories, my partner and I decided to start with the basics,
teaching a lesson on beginning, middle and end. I first talked to the class about how important it
is that our stories make sense, and to do this we make sure our stories have a beginning, middle,
and end, so our readers can follow our thoughts. I then read a personal story that I had written
and as a class had them identify its beginning, middle, and end. We then broke into two groups
and my partner and I taught the rest of the lesson in these groups. We used a blank four-page
book for our students to write out the separate parts of their stories on the different pages.
Afterwards, one student from each group shared their stories and as a class we identified their
parts and reiterated the importance of having a clear beginning, middle, and end.
The whole group portion of my lesson went according to plan. I had prewritten my story
and printed it large enough to be projected in front of the class. This part of the lesson went well.
There was a good discussion about what is important to include when writing a story. My
students also responded well to my story and I enjoyed sharing a little part of me with them.
They were also able to correctly identify the parts of my story. Another part that went well was
sharing the finished products. My plan was, as I worked with my group, to pick a story that had
a clear beginning, middle, and end, and encourage that student to share it with the class. While
working, I found that Alexs story turned out very nice and even had some humor to it that I was
sure his classmates would enjoy. He agreed to share his story and as he read it to the class, they
all laughed out loud at the part where his little brother screamed like a girl. This was one of my
favorite moments of the lesson because my students were being the most actively engaged I had
seen them all semester, and were supporting each other in the process.

One thing that I was not planning on taking up so much time was my students coming up
with a topic to write about. In the future I would make sure to teach this lesson after teaching
one on topic selection. In this way, the students who had difficulty coming up with something to
write about could refer back to topics that we had talked about as class. This would not only
help prevent my students from staring at me blankly saying they had nothing to write about,
which they did this time, but would also help to give them other ideas besides my story. This
was another issue I had; all of a sudden everyone wanted to write about the time they got lost at
the zoo. In the future, I think I would write a more generic story or read them a book so that they
would not think that the only thing they could write about was my example. Having a class topic
list or one in their writers notebook would also help them realize that they could write about
more than my story. I could even provide a prompt that requires them to make the topic personal
by filling in the blanks such as The best Birthday gift I ever got was _____.
A major aspect of my lesson that I did not really consider was time. I did not anticipate
the vast differences in time that it would take for my students to complete their stories. Some
took a long time coming up with a topic, others had problems staying focused, while still others
finished with time to spare. I had to think on my feet and decided that those who finished early
could still make their stories better, they could illustrate. I had them create a cover and draw
pictures to help tell their stories. This helped me to focus more attention on my students who had
special needs without drawing attention to the fact that they were still working. On a more
logistical aspect, in the future I would not try to cram so many students at one table. Throughout
the group work, I had to separate students and even move some to individual desks so that they
would not bother each other and would focus on their work. I like the intimacy of a small group

and the ability for them to bounce ideas off of one another, but I now would make sure that they
have plenty of space as well.
As a teacher of writing, I am learning that it is my job to show my students what good
writing looks like. One way that I can do this is by sharing personal examples like I did in this
lesson, as well as just having my students physically see me write. I think I would like to have a
daily writing time where my class would all write in their journals, including me, because I now
realize that students need to see writing as an important, everyday activity. Through my work in
the field, I have also learned that while my students are at different levels, they all have a story to
tell. Edgar has really helped me grow in this area. Most of the time I would have to physically
sit next to Edgar and basically beg him to write anything down on paper. However, I could also
sit next to him and listen to his wonderful stories or see them drawn in the margins of his
journals. For this lesson, I really encouraged Edgar to tell me his story verbally. This helped
him realize that he really did have a story to tell. I also motivated him to write by telling him
that he could draw some of his awesome pictures after he had written what he wanted to say.
With Edgars completed story, pictures and all, I felt proud and empowered. I now truly believe
that all my students have stories to tell, it is just up to me to figure out how to help them best
express themselves.