D.+Student+Audience

﻿Writing under the influence was designed for two different grade levels in the same public school. Approximately 825 K-6 students are enrolled at this urban elementary school.

ISTEP+ percent passing for Spring 2010
 * Language Arts- 3rd grade 76%
 * Language Arts- 4th grade 60%
 * Language Arts- 5th grade 65%
 * Language Arts- 6th grade 66%

There are five sections of Kindergarten in this building. I designed this unit with a particular K class in mind. This classroom contains 23 students. As of December, 14 students are reading above grade level, 4 students are reading on grade level, and 5 are considered to be reading below grade level. Other important things to know about this class:
 * They LOVE read-alouds.
 * Early in the year, they became hooked on Mo Willems after a read-aloud of //Knuffle Bunny.//
 * The structure for teaching writing is Writer's Workshop. They've been working on Making Books since September. Engagement is high during Writer's Workshop.
 * There are scaffolds in place to help all levels of writers have success during this time of the day. Students in this class are developmentally in very different places with concepts of print and the writing process.

The other grade level is actually a 4th/5th Gifted and Talented classroom in the same urban school. There are 24 students (ten are 4th graders, fourteen are 5th graders) in this split GT class. The students are bussed to this school from various elementary schools in the township. As of December, all 24 students in this class are considered to be reading above grade level. Other important things to know about this class:
 * Students are considered Gifted and Talented, although they are GT in many different ways.
 * Most students are considered GT in Language Arts, but this is not true of the entire class. Some students are extremely gifted in Math and Sciences, but not Language Arts.
 * These students are self-motivated learners. However, they differ greatly in levels of maturation and organization.
 * They enjoy working independently and collaboratively.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; overflow: hidden;">The structure for teaching writing is Writer's Workshop. The curriculum is organized into units of study. Some of those units of study include: Memoir, Narrative, Poetry, Opinion, Informational, and Persuasive.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; overflow: hidden;">The majority of the class enjoys and is engaged during Writer's Workshop. However, the teacher has struggled to motivate several writers who lack interest and confidence in writing.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; overflow: hidden;">Students in this classroom regularly "steal" time to read. They often carry their independent reading books to lunch, and hide them in their laps during class.