1. Karen Field <br />Dr. Jones<br />FRIT 7430<br />11 June 2009<br />Learner Analysis<br />Introduction <br />The target group of learners for this analysis comes from a public high school set in an urban environment. All participants are first time ninth graders completing a year of instruction in the Literature and Composition Course. They all experienced the same instruction for the year with the same teacher. However, their report cards CRCT, and EOCT scores from the 8th and 9th grades reflect varying levels of mastery in Reading and Writing. The standard for this learner analysis is<br />ELA10LSV2: The student formulates reasoned judgments about written and oral communication in various media genres. The student delivers focused, coherent, and polished presentations that convey a clear and distinct perspective, demonstrate solid reasoning, and combine traditional rhetorical strategies of narration, exposition, persuasion, and description, including<br />b. Evaluates the clarity, quality, effectiveness, and general coherence of a speaker’s important points, arguments, evidence, organization of ideas, delivery, diction, and syntax. <br />c. Analyzes the types of arguments used by the speaker, including argument by causation, analogy, authority, emotion, and logic. <br />d. Identifies logical fallacies used in oral addresses (i.e., attack ad hominem, false causality, red herring, overgeneralization, bandwagon effect). <br />e. Analyzes the four basic types of persuasive speech (i.e., propositions of fact, value, problem, or policy) and understands the similarities and differences in their patterns of organization and the use of persuasive language, reasoning, and proof. <br />Demographics<br />Our High School, a public school in Happy County, serves a variety of socioeconomic levels. Primarily though, our students hail from middle to upper middle class households. The tables below provide additional demographics for this group of learners:<br />RACE<br />BlackWhiteAsian234<br />GENDER<br />MaleFemale54<br />AGE<br />15 (entering 9th grade)16 (entering 9th grade)54<br />Enrollment at Our High School was1737 for the 2008-2009 school year; it is presently at 1790. The ethnic composition for Our High School student population was 73.3% white, 13.4% Black, 2.2% Hispanic, 9% Asian/South Pacific, and 2.1% other. The number of students identified as Economically Disadvantaged decreased to 13%, a two percent change from the previous year. Two of the students in the group are ESL students and one student has participated in the gifted program. <br />Entry Skills and Prior Knowledge<br />8th GRADE WRITING SCORES<br />MeetsDoes Not MeetNot Applicable/Not Tested711 *New ESL student. Scored 4 on the Grade 9-12 W-APT assessment.<br />Student #1 (DB)<br />**First four columns are from the GA 8th Grade Writing Assessment<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9211Meets2.53.02.54.010 of 15Meets13 of 18Meets7 of 14Does Not Meet<br />Student #2 (KC)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9213Meets3.03.53.03.012 of 15Exceeds13 of 18Meets11 of 14Exceeds <br />Student #3 (AC)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9200Meets2.52.03.03.011 of 15Meets16 of 18Exceeds12 of 14Exceeds <br />Student #4 (RP)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9210Meets3.03.03.03.014 of 15Exceeds17 of 18Exceeds12 of 14Meets <br />Student #5 (BL)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9216Meets3.03.03.03.514 of 15Meets16 of 18Meets13 of 14Exceeds <br />Student #6 (JP)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9197Does Not Meet2.53.02.52.012 of 15Meets12 of 18Meets8 of 14Meets <br />Student #7 (WB)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9205Meets2.53.03.03.010 of 15Meets16 of 18Meets13 of 14Exceeds <br />Student #8 (SA) <br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9219Meets3.03.03.53.514 of 15Exceeds16 of 18Meets13 of 14Meets <br />Student #9 (EI)<br />Scale ScoreIDEORGSTYCNVResearch and WritingInformation and Media LiteracyWriting,EOCT9 6 of 14Does Not Meet <br />**Student is new to the system and did not test in the 8th grade.<br />To address the students’ prior knowledge and entry skills, I used the CRCT and EOCT data to make these judgments. As you can see, 6 of the 9 students met the standard when tested on Writing, Research and Writing, and Information and Media Literacy and 7 of 9 met or exceeded the 9th grade EOCT writing standard. In addition to this data, I could also use the final grades to evaluate the students’ readiness for the 10th grade writing standard this unit of instruction will address. The same two students who did not meet the standard on the 9th grade EOCT also did not pass 9th grade Literature and Composition. That indicates that they will need additional assistance in the 10th grade, especially if they are forced to take both 9th and 10th grade Literature next year. This unit will have to address those students and make accommodations for their deficits. As previously noted, one of the two students is an ESOL student who is currently working at a proficiency level of 3.6 in writing and must score a 5.0 in order to be released from additional ESOL assistance. I obtained all of this data from each of the student’s school records. I am also attaching a PDF file that contains each of the student’s end-of-year writing reflection. This piece of writing asked the student to discuss what he/she thought was his/her best work, why, and how the tenth grade teacher might assist them in their writing instruction in the fall, one focus of this unit. <br />Academic Motivation<br />Using my experience as an educator, as well as my year with this group of students, I would say that the majority of these students are motivated by their own desire to do well, their recognition of the necessity of these skills, and the competitive nature of our high school. Their middle school report cards reflect primarily A-B level students, with the exception of lapses which might reflect troubling times in the student’s life or a lack of interest in a unit of study. Additionally, given the standard of using evidence to make an argument, these students will be motivated by the idea that making and validating arguments is an every-day, real-life skill, whether it’s convincing their parents to buy that first car, extend their curfew, competing to get into college, their first job, and other life situations. <br />Student #1 is also motivated by his participation in sports. When he thought he was going to play baseball in the spring, his grade improved from the previous nine weeks. However, because he is also motivated by his peers to be a quasi-gangster, he found the competition too much and succumbed to the easier of the two choices. I also thought that since he was being raised by a single mom, I could use that information to motivate him to do well. Unfortunately, his mother accepted his excuses and “everybody is against me” to explain why he is not successful. <br />Student #2 is also motivated by a need to compete with another classmate. Each time we had any kind of assessment, student #2 and her friend always compared their success. This proved to be beneficial toward the end of the year because her friend is a solid student and this competition forced her to work really hard in an attempt to outdo her friend. <br />Students 3, 5, and 8 are naturally goal-oriented students. They come from homes where their parents constantly check their progress. They see themselves working toward college and know that having these skills will prepare them for that endeavor. All three students take pride in their work and are not satisfied with mediocre performance. However, they were very motivated when the reading and writing assignments were personally interesting. This assessment comes from their reflection. Most of the students enjoyed writing about the books they enjoyed reading.<br />Student 4 has a lot of personal issues that stood in the way of his success. During the course of the year, due to deficits in the class, I found out through the student’s mom that he is Russian who had been adopted by a military family. His parents had recently divorced and this young man was rebelling against his mother, whom he was being forced to live with. I did not realize until I spoke to the mother that this student had been in some gifted classes in middle school and just wasn’t working up to his potential. I realized that his motivation stemmed from a one-on-one with the teacher or a close connection to another student in the class. He needed someone to take personal interest in him and his success. Once he had that, his performance changed. One factor that allowed for this was our school’s initiative this year to establish a power period where students get 25 minutes of enrichment or remediation. It was during this time that 3 teachers from the Language Arts Department were able to attend to this student and realized how to provide the necessary attention he sought. He also befriended another young man in the class and their kinship seemed to change the way he approached his work.<br />Students 6 and 9 are students who are or were in the ESOL program. These two young ladies are motivated foremost by their parents who chose to move them from their homelands to America because they saw this move as an opportunity for their children to be successful and to have opportunities not afforded them in their home countries. Additionally, because they both are from Asian backgrounds, that, too, provides additional motivation. Typically, and our school has a large population of Asian; these families are very goal oriented. Often their parents are more successful here because of their work ethic and they convey that to their children. Although student #9 did not see herself as successful this year, as evidenced in her end-of-year reflection, she was only in the U.S. for 5 months, so she had come a long way in her road to learning the language and being in a foreign environment. <br />Like these previous two students, student #7 comes from a home with a mother who is not an English speaker. Student #7’s mother is Korean and she wants her son to be successful in Language acquisition. He is also motivated by his desire to be a part of the school band. When parents have students who participate in extracurricular activities, is it easier for them to influence that student’s success. Student #7 knew that if he wasn’t successful in class, he could not participate in the band. Student #7 is also OCD, as you can see from his end-of-year reflection. He was not able to finish the reflection because he did not have enough time to ensure that each letter was perfectly penned. This OCD was something the mother informed me of early in the year when he was not turning in some work. I had to allow him additional time to write his assignments or he could type, ensuring absoluteness neatness. This student was not able to finish the end-of-year assessment because we only had one class period in which to complete the assignment and it was our final day together for the year. .<br />Motivational Strategies<br />Since getting the attention of the entire student group is important, that is where I think I can start addressing all of the students in this group. However, since this group is also diverse, I would be sure to include diversity in the methods that I would use to instruct as well as to assess the students. I know that many of the students in this group enjoy short segments of video to help reinforce their learning. As such, I would incorporate short video segments on the writing process as well as the art of persuasion. This would include allowing them to write their responses using a variety of modes. The skill of argument is itself very relevant to their individual lives. I would use previous student models to help students see and understand what an effective argument sounds like. Graphic organizers are also very effective for the writing process. Young writers often have difficulty getting started. When they have a graphic that guides them from one paragraph to the next, they are more inclined to begin writing. I would also consider that not every student has to brainstorm or visually draft the same way; I would give the students the opportunity to choose their method of expressing their ideas. Some students find it easier to just free write while other needs to create a cluster; however, requiring students to complete a pre-determined format often stifles their ideas and creativity. <br />I would certainly convey the importance of having these skills and pull in every day, pertinent examples to use so that they would see the usefulness in strengthening these skills, beyond passing the 10th grade or high school. Once again, I would consider the diversity in the class and allow students to choose the medium in which they demonstrated an effective argument. Some students would prefer to write a letter versus standing in front of the class and making that same argument. Some of the more creative students would prefer to write a song, a play, or a poem to demonstrate how convincing they can be. This would be a good time to allow students to role-play to demonstrate the strength of a solid argument. Debates have been quite successful, especially when the class gets to work in small groups rather than presenting an individual debate. The small-group debating, as well as other group activities allows the students to gain confidence prior to getting up in front of the class or establishing an individual argument. All tasks/assessment should have clearly defined objectives so that the students are comfortable up front with what is expected of them. Whenever possible, the students should be contributors in establishing the criteria for their assignments. If they are able to articulate what they should be expected to do, they should be able to go into an assignment with confidence. As each of the students is different, it might be necessary to establish individual goals for each student so that he/she can track his/her individual progress and be able to focus more on what is important to his/her individual success. With each positive step forward in the learning process, the student can gain satisfaction knowing that the praise he receives is genuine. The student will be able to see the challenges ahead of him, but he will know that the skill of argument is life-long and has the power to help him acquire jobs, success, fairness, and empower him to take control of his future. <br />Learner Characteristics<br />The majority of my target group exhibits interpersonal skill, so much so that it was often hard for them to maintain their focus. I base this statement on their behavior during the course of our year together. When I became so frustrated with them, I just asked, “Why do you talk so much during this class period?” Their response was “a lot of our friends are together in here, and we’re comfortable. But we are still paying attention.”<br />Whenever I provided opportunities for these students to collaborate versus working independently, they all chose to work with a partner rather than alone. Two exceptions were the ESOL students. Each chose to work independently and assume full responsibility for the assignment. This might have been due to their choice in demonstrating their understanding. One of the ESOL girls was extremely creative, so she always wanted to do an art project for her assessment and student #9, the other ESOL student, was often out of class, so it was beneficial for her to work independently; however, I believe that her language barrier played a critical role in her choice to work alone.<br /> Student #1 is more of a kinesthetic learner. He hardly sits still and has to complete work that allows for movement. He responded well to our Hip Hop Poetry and the classics because he could identify with the hip hop artists and knew their music; hearing music sends the message that movement is expected and allowed. When I looked at his middle school report card, I also noticed that his highest grades were in PE, which led me to believe that he excelled because of the interactive nature of PE.<br /> Six of the nine students exceeded the standard for math. Therefore, I might surmise that they might have strengths in logical or spatial learning, depending on the area of math they performed well in. I would imagine that these students would perform well in constructing an argument because of the logic. I can say they did well as a group in writing an editorial about To Kill a Mockingbird, which was based on taking a side about an issue from the book and explaining the unjustness of a character’s/society’s behavior. I also noticed that 3 of the students were successful in mastering Advanced Math as opposed to the traditional Math 6, 7, and 8 in middle school. Since this group is very interpersonal and logical, the learning environment should be well-structured. Additionally, I know some of these students are also musical and linguistic learners, so this unit should offer a variety of modes with regard to activities and assessments. For example, rather than requiring all the students to write about the literature, they can rap, create an artistic representation, create a diorama, or write and they would certainly have opportunities to work collaboratively in small groups.<br />Since this group is heavily culturally diverse, the task and the learning situation are going to be greatly influenced. If some of the students come from cultures that have not experienced success in the classroom, this will have an effect on the students. If students have not been read to on a regular basis, or they don’t see their family members reading, this might affect their reading skills as well as their desire to read. If parents didn’t have the opportunity to earn a college education, they might not see the value of their children earning a college degree. However, the opposite is sometimes true. Those same parents want their children to have more than they did and they push them to be successful. Two of my participants are being raised in single parent homes. Each is different, however. The first student has a strong relationship with his mother while the second is at odds with his mom. The first student needs the influence of a father figure and is being tempted by gangs and thug behavior. The second student has experienced a lot of turmoil—divorce, anger issues between his parents, and disease. His year has been overly traumatic. He needs a stress-free environment, and exposure to situations that reinforce that people endure and can make it out of trying situations. <br />Since the majority of these students are Asian, I need to remember that their cultures are different and I should choose material that is relevant to their culture as well as trying to allow them to work collaboratively, so they would have a familiar person’s speech to hear. Rather than selecting a topic for them, I can allow them to choose something that speaks to their needs. This unit should draw on their multiple cultures. All too often, they read stories, novels, or plays that don’t relate to the world in which they reside. It is important for the students to share their diverse background and have an opportunity to experience others. <br />After spending a year with this group, I can say that their auditory skills were lacking; oftentimes they acted like they never heard information. This is a key area of concern since a lot of argument is meant to be heard rather than read and studied. However, in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of words, we often resorted to visuals to reinforce what they heard. For example, this group relied heavily on handouts, notes on the LCD projector, and subtitles when we viewed Romeo & Juliet. There were successful in mastering the concepts with these accommodations.<br />I used the students’ records and my personal knowledge of them to write the previous section. I believe that if the students had taken the 44 question survey that was part of our resources, I could obtain more data to support my assertions. <br />Accommodations<br />As I have previously commented, this group has two ESOL students, so I have to ensure that I repeat and speak slowly whenever possible. I also try to provide any lengthy notes, so they can focus on what I’m saying without worrying about writing down the words. Although I did not have to make this modification for my two ladies, I believe that if possible, students should be able to choose a novel in their home language, especially if they are new to the country. What’s important is for them to experience the text, not necessarily the language of the text. This idea was reinforced in the Tomlinson text, with the example of the Spanish student who asked his questions first in his home language then in English. <br />The other special needs student is my OCD student. Because his work must be meticulous, I had to allow him to take the necessary time to complete the work. If not, he would not even begin the task, knowing that he could not complete it. This same modification can be made for slower or methodical students as well. Teachers might also find that not all students will get to the same place at the same time. The first writing task of the year provides teachers with a guide to where a student is and should be used to guide instruction and expectations for each student.<br />I collaborated this year with a teacher who had 8 inclusion students. We often modified our existing assignments for this group. They were expected to demonstrate the same skills, but we often eliminated or reduced the tasks for more manageable work. Whenever we assessed, we often eliminated distracters, and there was an inclusion teacher who could read to this group, if their IEP required that modification. <br />I also had a sight-impaired student as well. Whenever I provided a handout, I increased the size of the font for her and I finally realized that we could increase the size on the computer screen, so that she didn’t have to be two inches away to read from the screen. <br />Although the gifted learner is often forgotten in the special needs areas, it is just as important that they receive enrichment along with the remediation necessary for other special needs groups. They can fall through the cracks just as easily as the lower level student if they are bored or not challenged in a class.<br />Possible Accommodations<br />Identify items in the classroom in varying language of students for ESL students <br />Provide books in the ESL student’s language <br />Use small group discussion so that students can share in smaller more comfortable setting before the whole group discussion takes place<br />Use graphic organizers<br />S.M.A.R.T. Management for Teaching and Learning – this is a good strategy for students who are ADD or ADHD in that a very structure learning environment is established and practiced. Expectations are clearly defined and the student and teacher work collaboratively to ensure success<br />Gifted – Grade on an individual basis, even when working as a group. I have adopted this philosophy with my AP students; they do not work well if they are in groups and their grades are impacted by the performance of others. Offer an environment that is creative and open-minded to differing views. **<br />**This would be true of any diverse environment; all students need to believe that the learning environment offers something specific to their needs, their interests, their lives…<br />Peer Review Feedback<br />Most of the changes that I made as a result of my peer review were grammatical/mechanical changes. However, after reading chapters 3 and 4 of the Tomlinson text, I added in some additional explanation with regard to characteristics. I also found myself making some changes or clarification after previewing some of the classes’ work. Being able to look at other people’s work brought to light some areas that I might need to highlight or made me evaluate the clarity of my analysis.<br />References <br />Barry, J. and Wise, BJ. (n.d.) “Fueling inclusion through technology: students with <br />disabilities can rise to new heights with assistive technology.” Central Kitsap<br />School District. Retrieved from http://www.netc.org/cdrom/fueling/pdf/fueling.pdf<br />Chapman, C. and King, R. (2003). Differentiated instructional strategies for reading in the content area. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press. <br />Cox, C. (2004) “General accommodations for gifted students in the regular classroom.” <br />Retrieved from http://www.grandviewlibrary.org/Curriculum Adaptations/ General_Gifted.pdf<br />Cummins, J. (1991). “Empowering culturally and linguistically diverse students with learning <br />problems.” Eric Digest 333652. Retrieved from http://www.teachervision.fen.com <br />/bilingual-education/teaching-methods/6046.html?detoured=1<br />Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities. (2008). “Understanding and addressing the needs in the classroom.” Project IDEAL. Retrieved from http://www.projectidealonlineorg/classMgt_StudentNeeds.php<br />Tomlinson, C.A. (1999). The differentiated classroom: responding to the needs of <br />all learners. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.<br />Willis, A. (2000). “Critical issue: addressing literacy needs in culturally and linguistically<br />diverse classrooms.” Learning Point Associates. Retrieved from http://www.ncrel.org/<br />sdrs/areas/issues/content/cntareas/reading.li400.htm<br />