![]() ![]() Page from “The Animated ABC Book” by Jim Bryson Frequent writing practice with adults attributing meaning and assuming competence is how individuals move to the next point on the scale. ![]() Then we continue to use those same two adult superpowers to teach them that print has meaning and that everything they say they can write. This is the stage at which an individual doesn’t recognise the difference between writing and pictures – and this is the point at which we (the adults) do lots and lots of attributing meaning and assuming competence to teach them them that they are a writer. If we go back to my blog post called Emergent Writing: Focus on Function, this is how we would rate Mathilda’s first “writing sample” – which I have also put below. Accommodations: Selection of a picture by a who cannot hold a traditional pencil or marker. Level 1 Drawing – lines and curves that appear to represent objects. ![]() We use the level descriptors to decide what level each piece of writing is at – and then those level descriptors help us to work out what skills we need to teach them to move to the next level.Īnd now, to demonstrate how this process works, let’s look at each level on the scale along with examples. Sometimes there is a considerable debate about this and people work to persuade others to their point of view – and we usually let this happen for a short period and then call for final votes! Some samples, however, are easily scored and we move on quickly.Īs I said earlier, the Developmental Writing Scale is a 14 point scale that goes from emergent to conventional and then through the early stages on conventional writing – in the Australian Curriculum the highest level on the scale is at a grade 3 and 4 writing level. The lowest score that anyone in the room gives the sample, is the one that it receives. The sample is shown then rated by the group. We remove the students’ names from the samples so that we minimise the risk of expectations influencing moderation – and at many schools moderation is done as a whole school process, or several staff do their classrooms together. Once we’ve collected the samples then we moderate them. In terms of the three samples, I prefer that at least 2 of them are written with alternative pencils and if all three are with alternative pencils then that’s fine! Handwriting is always optional.Īnd just to refresh everyone’s memory – there’s a writing sample collection form in last blog post if you want to refer to it. ![]() We want each student to have a chance to put their best piece of writing forward – so we want them to do free writing with the easiest possible pencil for them. Each of these pieces of writing are very different in style, complexity and purpose and would get very different scores on the Developmental Writing Scale. I am typing this blog post on a computer, but earlier today I wrote several text messages on my phone and I even used handwriting to add to my shopping list on the fridge. We also want to ensure that the student is given an opportunity to write with different pencils – just as we write with different pencils each day. We prefer to use the Developmental Writing Scale through a moderation process – with 2 or more staff rating three or more writing samples from each student. Most importantly it also has accommodations listed for students who use alternative pencils – which is important for most of the students I work with. This scale is so useful as it allows us to track a student’s writing progress from emergent to conventional with a 14 point scale. The Developmental Writing Scale (Sturm et al 2012) is a key part of this. In my last writing blog post, I talked about using writing data walls to keep track of whole school writing progress – and, of course, each and every individual student’s progress as part of this. ![]()
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