Three Causes of Difficulty

March 9, 2011 | Posted in: Class Updates

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Let me start by asking you in the most plain way possible:  PLEASE read this.  I know it’s long, but this is important information for you to have about your child’s learning.

In a recent update, I wrote about our intense work in class.  One major focus right now is on helping students to improve the quality of their short answer responses.  We see this sort of task more often as part of a reading comprehension exercise, discussion, or assessment.  Unlike multiple choice, true false, or fill-in-the-blank items in which there is a clear right answer, SAR tasks create situations in which students’ success hinges on the quality of their responses, not just their accuracy.  After lots of work, I’ve narrowed most difficulties down to three areas that are spelled out on a poster hanging up in class:

1. Always show the reader that you read and understood the story or article.  PROVE IT!
2. Always include some sort of textual support to explain your answer.
3. Read the WHOLE question!  Answer the WHOLE question!

Can you tell what the big trouble spots are?  The most common weakness to a student’s short answer response is a lack of supportive detail taken directly from the text.  As I often remind the students, any SAR question faced during reading has one main goal:  To determine if the student understood and can interpret what he or she has read.  If the student’s response lacks specific detail from the text, the reader has no way of measuring the student’s understanding.  Take, for example, the following question and answer:

Question: What two questions would you ask the author of this article?

Answer: I would ask her why she chose to write about insects and what kind of insect is her favorite.

At face value, this response looks like it successfully answers the question – and in all fairness, it does.  But while the question does not explicitly require students to integrate information from the article, this (fictional) student’s failure to do just that leaves us with a weak answer that does not show any understanding of the story.  Both of the questions that the student suggested in his or her response show only a cursory understanding of the text: the story is about insects.  There is no evidence of any in-depth understanding.  This alternate response shows more in-depth comprehension by including details from the (pretend) article:

There are two questions that I would ask the author.  First, I would ask her “Why are centipedes called centipedes if they can actually have between 20 and 300 legs?”  Centi means “hundred,” so I would expect a centipede to have 100 legs.  I would also ask “Are insects with exoskeletons larger than those with skeletons inside their bodies?”  I’ve never seen a large insect before.

Notice a few strengths with this response.  First, the student clearly wrote two questions – ending in question marks.  Second, the student’s suggested questions include appropriately used terminology from the text (centipedes, exoskeletons) and explanations from the text (20-300 legs, meaning of centi, exoskeletons are outside the body).  This is a strong response.

So after lots of practice using several different genres, incorporating several kind of response types on several different weeks, why do some students continue to struggle?  I see three possible causes:

1. Some students are having a hard time.  This describes the student who sees the question, thinks about what the best possible response could be, but for any number of reasons, he or she is not crafting successful responses.  The student may not be struggling with the skill, per se, but he or she may simply have yet to master the grade-level expectations that go with the skill of writing a short answer response.   I’m continuing to work with such students on an ongoing basis.
2. Sadly, some students are unsuccessful because they simply did not carefully read the question being asked of them.  Consider the two part question: “Do you agree with Bella’s decision at the end of the story?  What advice would you give her so she could solve her problem without hurting Lester’s feelings?”  A student could write an outstanding response about why they do or do not agree with Bella’s decision, citing lots of support from the text, but without addressing the second part of the question, the response falls short, and so will the score.  Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for responses to be more off-base than the example I’ve cited in this paragraph.  Sometimes kids write an answer that may be well-crafted and thorough, but it may also be entirely irrelevant to the question asked, and again, points cannot be given.
3. I’m hesitant to bring up the third area of difficulty, but I think it’s important that I’m candid with you.  The most disappointing cause of difficulty is when students simply do not appear to be working with their best effort and focus.  This is not a lack of understanding or mastery.  Rather, in this situation, students may quickly write a cursory response that lacks detail or support because they chose not to work to their potential.  The response may be focused and relevant, but it is undeveloped and does not indicate a thorough understanding of the text, even though the student may truly have a high degree of comprehension.  This is most frustrating to me, probably, because it is not frustrating to the student.  Convincing students of the need to put more thought and effort into their work is very challenging, because it’s a decision they need to make for themselves.  No amount of prodding from you or from me will make it happen.  Rather, they need to choose (hopefully with our help) that it’s time to bring their proverbial “A-game” to class.  I’m bringing this up to you en masse for two reasons:  First, I think that all students can benefit from a reminder about the importance of doing their best possible work.  All of us, every now and then, fall short of this, so some helpful encouragement is valuable.  Second, and along the same lines, is the logic that the reading CMTs are now less than one week away.  If there was one single time when I’d encourage you to have this sit-down with your son or daughter, now is the time.  CMT scores will likely be the first piece of data that Thompson Brook teachers see about their incoming students.  It’s important that these data accurately represent students’ true abilities; not the diminished effort that they may show on a given day.  In some cases, I see this as a behavioral issue – if a student is choosing not to put in their best effort, despite having been reminded of the importance of doing so, they are not following directions and are not showing responsibility.  That’s something I hope we can tackle together.

A lot of corrected short answer response work has gone home in the past week.  I urge you to review my comments and your child’s work so you can see how he or she is performing.  Last week, I returned an elaborate writing project about a story called “The Hawk” in which kids responded to three SAR questions, examined sample responses, discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the sample responses, evaluated their own work, and finally revised their own work.  This is a great example of your student’s level of performance.  I also encourage you to log into Study Island (your son or daughter can show you) so you can review his or her responses to an article called “Achoo!”  Again, we looked at exemplars and revised together.  (Please note that the scores shown apply to the student’s first draft, even though their responses improved with revisions.)

It’s report card season and conference time is coming up, so I’m happy to discuss this more when we meet later this month.