Writing Samples

I took a writing sample from three different students; each student is at a different level of achievement in terms of their literacy abilities. Each sample was taken from the students story book. Every day my CT has them either write a new story, or continue a previously started story and have them illustrate their work. Mike, the lower achieving student wrote one line of words. All of this letters blend together, appearing as if his story is one word. Clearly, this was not his intention because it is clear to see that he was trying to write the words “I went to a” however these words are clearly part of the Early Phonemic Spelling development stage. This is evident through his letter choices, he clearly recognizes that letters are represented by sounds, however he uses one or two sounds to represent the entire word.
Harper is in the middle in terms of ability for literacy between Mike and Charlotte (the third student that I took a sample from). Harper is closer to Mike’s development stage then Charlotte’s. Her words are spaced out, which shows me that she understand that words are made by letters that represent sounds. Although her spelling is incorrect, you can for the most part make out every work that she is trying to say. I think Harper is still in the Early Phonemic-Spelling development stage; however I think she is on the end of the spectrum for this stage. I feel the writing sample is not enough for me to say she is at the Letter-Name stage.
Charlotte, my higher achieving literacy student has the most developed story and elaborate illustrations. Her story takes up the entire writing space, however her spacing is not yet as developed as Harpers. You can see that Charlotte understands that letters are represented by sounds, however her spelling is not quiet there. When I asked my CT which student she believed would have the most advanced story she without hesitation said Charlotte, and it is clear to see that she has the best foundation of what story’s should look like and how words are formed and represented. I think Charlotte is also at the very end of the Early Phonemic-Spelling development stage, and could be at the beginning of the Letter-Name development stage.
For these students I think writing centers would be very beneficial for them and their understand of how words should look on a piece of paper. One center that I think would beneficial is to have words already written on a page and students had to copy re-write the words in the correct order. This would help then with the physical aspect of writing and also the spacing of the words.