TAKS: Secondary English Language Arts
The Writing Prompt
by
Lauren Smith
July 20, 2004
ED 6310: Curriculum and Methodology
Dr. Eisenwine
TAKS: Secondary English Language Arts
The Writing Prompt
Being a relatively new teacher, I am determined to prepare myself with as many resources possible for my new job as 10th grade English teacher. One of the main expectations for my position is to prepare my students successfully for the TAKS English Language Arts test. Earlier research has produced resource books and software available for purchase online to aid in holistic TAKS English Language Arts preparation. My focus for research is specifically the writing portion of the test. Because TAKS is a newly implemented test, there is limited TAKS-related resource material available. To better aid myself and other Secondary English teachers in preparing their students for the state assessment, I will provide related sites which address the writing skills required of these tests. The resources I provide are available to teachers without cost.
http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/teachers.html
At the TEA website, teachers can find the TEKS objectives tested, sample TAKS Writing prompts, sample essays and the scoring assessment, study guides, and rubrics the test scorers will be using to grade the essays. Many teachers found success in having students examine the examples of students’ essay response provided on this site and discuss reasons for the respective scores.
http://www.texasreading.org/utcrla/materials/secondary_writing_se.asp
The University of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts (UTCRLA)
focuses on assisting Texas educators in implementing the newly adopted state
standards for TEKS. This document is a
professional document available to download.
The guide includes strategies
for helping struggling readers and writers develop the Texas Essential
Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) necessary to write successfully and have greater
access to the general education curriculum.
Presentation slides, speaker notes and activities, references, and
applicible classroom strategies are included.
http://www.angelfire.com/wi/writingprocess/
This page titled “ABC’s of the
Writing Process” is a user friendly online resource for students and/or
teachers. By clicking on any one of the
five steps, Prewiting, Writing, Revising, Editing, or Publishing, the user will
be taken to a “world of ideas to help you along your way.” The Prewriting page, for example, provides
sources of inspiration, tips, and links to “print and use prewriting
strategies”.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
With over 150 instructional handouts in
the resources for writers section, Purdue Online Writing Lab is
one of the most extensive collections of advice about writing on the web. Most
other sites, instead of providing their own handouts, point to Purdue's. The
handouts are generally short but useful and contain examples.
http://www.pasadenaisd.org/sailon/
Subject Area Interactive Lessons Online (SAILOn) is a collection of interactive Internet resources addressing specific TEKS objectives to help classroom teachers integrate technology into their classrooms. This site includes grade/subject specific web quests utilizing TEKS objectives.
The Educator’s
Reference Desk provides a vast collection of lesson plans which are grade level
and subject specific. In my search for
Writing under 10th grade, I found 67 lessons ranging from
integrating writing with a particular piece of literature to styles of writing
to writing for different purposes. All
of which could be used to incorporate the TAKS writing objectives within the
curriculum.
Another valuable resource can be found in fellow teachers. Many successful strategies are ones borrowed from others who have implemented and experimented with techniques proven to be effective. None of the above resources are 100% effective in every classroom situation, therefore, it is the individual teacher’s responsibility to modify and change for adoption. With all of the resources I have listed and many others I haven’t, ultimately, it is the individual teacher who chooses what is best and most effective in the teaching of objective mastery for their students.