Recently I delivered a less than perfect lesson in a professional development session. It was developed in response to teachers who wanted better answers from students on constructed response prompts. My first mistake was trying to hurriedly condense an entire book (Better Answers) into an hour presentation. Second mistake, I used the background story and prompt supplied by the book; it was intended for elementary students. I did not take the time to find content and prompt suitable for the upper grades that I serve.
And my biggest error--I failed to convey how much my thinking on the topic of better answers had developed and moved past the original author. With a little prodding from my director and a lot of intense study, I came to believe that a mini-argument could be made in response to a test prompt. In other words, I extended the author's Better Answer structure of introduction, details, and conclusion to include claim, evidence, and warrants. I did not make this case with the participants. I know that when I practiced writing a prompt response with a mini-argument structure, I did not stop with the details. I made a claim that was pushed forward by the details/evidence, moving a step further in my thinking.
I have just returned from the NCTE (English teachers) convention in Boston. I purchased the book Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay, met the author and listened to her presentation, and read the book on the plane ride home. It is clear to me now that I was offering just another formula for responding to constructed response prompts, a clear departure from my usual practice of encouraging teachers to offer structure but steer away from formula. "...reliance on formula limits students' thinking and focuses their attention primarily on the structure of their essay rather than on what message they are trying to convey" (Campbell and Latimer 2012, 93).
I have revised my thinking. I now believe that students who are well-versed in writing an argument can apply the same thinking to short answer constructed response prompts. Examine the evidence in the text, compose a claim, and supply the warrant to tie evidence and claim together. No cute sandwich formula needed. Unfortunately, the sandwich formula offered a quick solution to improved response on test questions when there is no quick solution. I am withdrawing from the notion that there is such a thing as a one hour session which will move students toward better answers; the notion seems audacious to me now.
What then does it take to move students toward better answers? Campbell and Latimer say it takes lots of previous writing in support of thinking before they encounter test prompts. "Asking students to write during reading provides a low-stakes forum for strengthening their abilities to analyze what they read, to identify and develop their own opinions about what is important in a text, and to discuss the text with genuine understanding and curiosity" (61). They go on to suggest that low-stakes writing also offers teachers an additional formative assessment tool.
I will be spending time rethinking how I offer help to teachers who would like students to respond in depth to their prompts. It will require a dismantling of the PowerPoint I presented and a shift toward low-stakes writing ideas. In the end, perhaps the greatest help I can offer is my modeling of the reflection after a finished lesson. Better thinking creates better answers.
Campbell, Kimberly Hill and Kristi Latimer. 2012. Beyond the Five-Paragraph Essay. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse.
Cole, Ardith Davis. 2010. Better Answers: Written Performance that Looks Good and Sounds Smart. Portland, Maine: Stenhouse.
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