Informational Writing

Collaborate Report

Fourth Grade

Brittany Henderson

Fourth_expositorywriting_collaborativereport_socialstudies women abolitionist_Brittany_Henderson

Women Abolitionist: Harriet Tubman and Elizabeth Cady

Stanton

GEORGIA WRITING TEST

Prompt may be

informational writing

Must have knowledge

of relevant subject matter

Scoring based on:

IdeasOrganization

StyleConventions

PRE-ASSESSMENT PROMPTTopic: Students will write about themselves. They will include details about their personality, hobbies, likes and dislikes, family members, etc…

Genre: Informational Writing

Materials: Students will be given two pieces of wide-ruled notebook paper and two pencils.

Allotted Time: Students will be allotted twenty-five minutes to complete their assessment.

Procedures: 1. Hand out paper/pencils. 2. Explain topic (written on the board) 3. State, “There will be no talking during

this assessment.” 4. Begin assessment

INSTRUCTIONAL GROUPING

Teacher’s Instructional

needs

InstructionWhole Group

Ensure accuracy of instruction

PracticeWhole Group

Encourage questioning Ensure time on task

AssessmentSmall GroupsEqual amount of

biographies

GROUPING OPTIONS

Student’s needs

Developmental NeedsPeer advising

Mixture of abilitiesPeer modeling

Cultural or Linguistic NeedsExposed to peers and ideas

Peer with above-average writing skills

GENRE: INFORMATIONAL WRITING

Communicates facts and explains ideas

We use information from books, newspapers, the internet, etc… to create our writing.

The writing is only to inform the reader about the topic selected, not to persuade an opinion.

PrewritingRemember that there are

four main concepts to think about when prewriting:

1.Form: collaborative report

2.Purpose: convey information

3.Topic: Women abolitionist: Harriet

Tubman and Elizabeth Cady Stanton4.Audience:

parent/sibling/grandparent/etc..

We will complete The bio-cube Planning Sheet to help us to organize our information. After the organizer is completed, we will take trips to the computer to complete the Bio-cube.

No complete sentence

s

Don’t worry about

spelling!

Side Prompt Information1 Person’s name

SignificanceDate of birth

2 Personal background:•Place of birth•Life span•Family members•etc…

3 Contributions to society:•What did this person do?•How do you know who this person is?

4 Important facts:•5 important facts you feel someone should know about this person

5 My Choice:6 My Choice:

Component Fulfilled(3 points)

Adequate(2 points)

not fulfilled (1 points)

Personal information

All threecompleted

Two out of three

completed

Less than one completed

Personal Background

Four and above facts listed

Two to three facts listed

Less than one fact listed

Contributions to society

Four facts andabove listed

Two to three facts listed

Less than one fact listed

Five important facts

Five facts listed Three to four facts listed

One or two facts listed

Optional choice Legitimatetopic and many

supporting facts

Legitimate topic and some

supporting facts

No topic or related facts

Optional choice Legitimatetopic and many

supporting facts

Legitimate topic and some

supporting facts

No topic or related facts

Rubric for Informational Prewriting

ModificationsThe students with mild to moderate

intellectual disabilities: • assisted in the formulation of thoughts to be

expressed during the discussion. • be encouraged to signal the teacher when he

or she knows the answer to questions, during the shared writing on the SMART

board, so that I may call on them.

Developmental needs

ModificationsFor students with

emotional behavior disorders: • provide preferential seating to encourage

participation and eliminate behavior problems. • plan to redirect inappropriate behavior to

increase time on task and decrease time off task. • I have also found that positive

reinforcement works well with children

with emotional behavior disorders.

Developmental needs

ModificationsThe Hispanic population

is high around the school. For my students who speak

Spanish as their primary language, I plan to provide them with a

partner who can help them with their writing and the English

language. I feel this will provide my ESOL students

with support throughout

the writing process.  

.

Cultural And

Linguistic

DraftingThe drafting process is the second step of the writing

process. It consists of taking information from the prewriting (Bio-Cube

Planning Sheet) stage and converting it into sentences

to form a draft of your content.

Drafting will be written in pencil with the label, “draft” on the top line. Skipping lines is a must

in order to make revisions later. The lines you skip will have an x

put on the left-hand side of your paper.

Components

Fulfilled(3-4 points)

Adequate(1-2 points)

Not Fulfilled(0 points)

Topic Topic relevant to

overall content

n/a Topic not relevant to

overall content

Major Facts Three major facts given

n/a Less than major facts

Supporting details for

facts

Four or more

supporting details for major facts

Three supporting details for major facts

Less than two

supporting details for major facts

Conclusion Conclusion relevant

and tie up paragraph

Conclusion relevant but doesn’t tie

up paragraph

Conclusion not relevant

to writing

Informational Drafting Rubric

Revising“The revising stage is the third step of the writing process. To revise means to look again, this is exactly what we do

when revising. What do you feel we are looking for? Should I look to see if I like my writing? I want everyone to reread

your section of the rough draft. We look for places to add, change, delete, or

rearrange content of our writing. We use symbols for each of the four revision

components.

5 3 1Idea Development: Clear, focused ideas.

Accurate, relevant supporting details Interesting, useful information that answers all the questions for the reader.

Some ideas are clear, others not so. Some questions left unanswered. Needs more information from a couple of different sources. Some supporting details, but needs more.

Main idea is foggy. Too many questions left unanswered. Needs more focus. Uses generalities, not details. Needs a lot more research.

Organization Main points easy to identify. Introduction lets the reader know what's coming. All details relevant..

Clear introduction, but main point a bit fuzzy. Wandered from the main point sometimes. Some details are not relevant. Just gab.

No introduction. I just started writing. Confusing order. Little or no connections to the main point.

Voice The language fits the topic and audience. (serious/humorous) The writer's personality can be heard in the paper. Knowledge of topic is obvious. Sounds confident.

Most of the time the language fits the topic and the audience. Is it too serious or not serious enough? Sometimes it sounds like the writer, and other times it sounds like a textbook. It sounds like the writer needs more knowledge in certain areas.

Sounds like a school report from the encyclopedia. Doesn't sound like the writer was interested in the topic, so neither is the audience. Or...the writing goes overboard trying to be too technical or too humorous. Overkill?

Word Choice My words make my meaning clear; precise language. My verbs are strong, making it interesting. No overused words or words that are too technical. Words convey writer's interest.

Some words confuse the reader. Lots of is, are, was, were type verbs. Used some jargon or cliches. Some overused words. A bit too technical - need to define some words.

Use too many words with no specific meaning like 'nice'. Words make it confusing. Unclear and uninteresting. Too technical--do you know what this says?

Sentence Fluency Varied sentence length and construction. Writer gets to the point. It's easy to read. Uses transition words effectively.

Some transitions, but needs more. Some sentences are OK, but some are choppy or too long. Some run-ons, some are not sentences. Reader needs to take a bit of time to read it, somewhat difficult to read.

Few transition words used. Sentences are choppy or too long. Too repetitive. All sentences seem the same. Main points not obvious. Difficult to read.

Editing“Today we will be focusing on the editing stage. The editing stage is the last step

before the final published piece of writing. When undergoing the editing stage, we

need to evaluate our writing for mechanics and grammar. Someone tell me what

mechanics are? What does grammar mean? We will all use our writer’s handbook, so

we have a universal understanding of what mechanics we are using. We will focus on punctuation, spelling, use of commas and

quotation.”

Category 4-Exceeds PLO 3-Meets PLO 2-Partially Meets PLO

1-Does Not Meet PLO

0-Does Not Meet PLO

Spelling 0-3 errors in spelling(E)

4-5 errors in spelling(M)

6-7 errors in spelling(PM)

8 or more errors in spelling

No attempt

PunctuationCommas,

apostrophes, ending punctuation

0-3 errors in punctuation (E)

4-5 errors in punctuation(M)

6-7 errors in punctuation(PM)

8 or more errors in punctuation

No attempt

CapitalizationBeginning of

sentences, names, and proper nouns

0-3 errors in capitalization(E)

4-5 errors in capitalization(M)

6-7 errors in capitalization(PM)

8 or more errors in capitalization(D)

No attempt

.

Publishing“Today we will be discussing the

publishing stage. Does anyone know any details about the publishing stage?

The publishing stage starts with an evaluation of our handwriting skills. The

published piece must contain appropriate handwriting skills expected in your grade level. Publishing should also contain how you will present your

final piece. Will you make a book cover? Will you enlarge an excerpt to intrigue

students? How will your piece of published writing stand out?”

Objectives Exemplary Performance Average Low Performance Topic Sentence 2points

Topic sentence gives reader a good idea of what will be discussed in the paragraph.

1point Topic sentence does not give reader enough information about the paragraph.

0points No topic sentence.

Supporting Sentences

2points Supporting sentences relate to the topic sentence and use detail.

1point Supporting sentences relate to the topic sentence.

0points Supporting sentences do not relate to the topic sentence.

Ending Sentence 2points Ending sentence summarizes paragraph without using same words as topic sentence.

1point Ending sentence repeats topic sentence often using the same words.

0points No ending sentence.

Content 2points Sentences make sense and all sentences relate to topic sentence.

1point Sentences make sense but may not all relate to the topic.

0points Sentences do not make sense or do not relate to the topic at all.

Sequence 2points A sequence is used and all sentences follow logical order.

1point A basic sequence is used but 1-2 sentences are out of order.

0points No sequence or illogical sequence is used.

Paragraph Indent 2points Paragraphs are always indented

1point Paragraphs are indented at least 50% of the time.

0points No paragraphs are indented.

Spelling 2points 0-1 words are misspelled.

1point 2-4 words are misspelled.

0points More than 5 words are misspelled.

Mechanics 2points 0-1 errors are made in capitalization and punctuation

1point 2-4 errors are made in capitalization and punctuation.

0points More than 5 errors are made in capitalization and punctuation.

Subject Verb Agreement

2points 0-1 errors in subject verb agreement occur.

1point 2-3 errors in subject verb agreement occur.

0points More than 3 errors in subject verb agreement occur.

points points