Child Writing Allows for a Child\'s Full

Child Writing

Writing allows for a child's full self-expression, especially when the activity offers the opportunity for the child to explore beyond the written word itself. For example, younger students in classrooms stocked with colorful writing implements can use color, shape, and size of lettering to convey emotion and intent. Whereas older children are training themselves to apply strictly cognitive processes to the writing exercise, a young student in the second grade still explores writing from a holistic perspective. It is therefore possible to evaluate and analyze one young child's writing sample from a holistic standpoint. Arianna is in the second grade, and she wrote a letter to a classmate as part of this assignment. Clarity, support, organization, and mechanics are the four criteria used to evaluate Arianna's material, albeit from an age-appropriate foundation.

Arianna's sample reveals a strong sense of clarity for someone her age, as she writes a letter directly to a classmate about an event that occurred in the past. In this case, the event was her friend's party. The first sentence of the letter reads, "Dear Cameron, I enjoyed seeing you and your family at your party." After this, Arianna describes why she had fun and recalls several details. She does not stray from the main idea of the letter, which is the party and how much she enjoyed and appreciated it. The final sentence reads, "Your party was lots of fun, thank you." Moreover, it is clear that this is a thank you letter and not a letter that is about anything else. Arianna remains on topic, and exhibits genuine gratitude to her reader, Cameron. Therefore, Arianna's letter deserves a 5 on a scale of 1-5 for the criterion of clarity.

Arianna describes the party using a striking amount of detail to support her thank you letter. For example, she mentions seeing her friend's family and states that it was "nice" to do so. The restaurant was also "nice," and "the food was good." Therefore, Arianna recalls and communicates the details of her experience, using shared icons like the family, food, and restaurant to communicate with her friend clearly. Likewise, Arianna mentions that she had fun playing games at the party, as well as eating cupcakes. Because of this level of detail, Arianna's writing sample deserves a 5 on a scale of 1-5 for the criterion of support.

Arianna's thank-you letter is organized sequentially. The opening address and the closing statement sandwich a list of detailed elements related to the main topic of the children's party at a restaurant. After addressing Cameron directly, Arianna lists reasons why she appreciated the party, why she had fun, and how she liked the food. Arianna mentions the cupcakes separately from the food for several reasons. For one, the cupcakes likely came out later in the party than the main meal. This is why the cupcakes are mentioned alongside the games as opposed to the food. Second, cupcakes are qualitatively different in a child's mind to the main meal. For this reason, the organization of the letter remains sound. Because Arianna's level of organization is appropriate for her age and the subject of the thank-you letter, the scoring for the criterion of organization is 5 on a scale of 1-5.

Finally, the mechanics of Arianna's letter include the presentation on the page as well as her diction, spelling, and grammar. Arianna wrote with a blue colored pencil, and her penmanship exhibits a slight slant. This shows that the author, Arianna, is intent on personalizing her message rather than delivering a sterile one as would be done on a computer. The angle of her writing symbolizes the personal "slant" she has, or her opinion of the party. Mechanically, the choice of colored pencil and handwriting is appropriate for the nature of the writing exercise. Arianna's spelling is good for her age. With the one exception of writing "your" instead of "you" in the sentence that reads, "I enjoyed seeing your and your family," there were no errors. Diction for Arianna is age-appropriate with vernacular words like "yummy" interspersed with more stoic words like "nice." Because Arianna is in second grade, her overuse of the word "nice" can be forgiven, but in the future educators should look for a more nuanced vocabulary. Arianna deserves a 4 on a scale of 1-5 for mechanics.

Next Steps for Instruction (chart)

These steps relate to the areas of need I noticed in Arianna's writing sample. In this case, the only potential area of need is the improvement of Arianna's vocabulary. A specific activity or lesson can greatly enhance Arianna's vocabulary. For example, we have several digital aides that offer children the opportunity to have fun while learning new words. These applications can be taken home and practiced with parents or in Arianna's free time. Because Arianna's clarity, organization, and support needed no apparent improvements, we should focus primarily on mechanics. Mechanics include vocabulary and overall execution.