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Written by Michelle Bellamy | michelle.bellamy@uamaker.nyc
Problem
I have noticed that when students analyze evidence, their analysis is often repetitive, nonexistent, or merely a summary of the author’s words. Many of them have been told that analysis is just “explaining how the evidence connects to the claim,” but they don’t have a process, nor the right words, to do so.
Hypothesis
If 9th grade students use the zoom-in/ zoom-out strategy to analyze their evidence, then their argument scores will increase due to stronger analysis.
Target group
All of my 9th grade students were given the strategy, and there was growth within all buckets of students. For this, I am specifically focusing on students who earned a 1 or 2 on their Unit 3 performance task for the argument standard.
Planning & resources
sample_assignment_-_zoom_in_zoom_out_close_reading_essay.pdfZoom in Zoom Out
Resource 1
A new approach to analysis.pdfZoom in Zoom Out
Resource 2
Perspectives in Writing
Data collection
Data collection
Baseline data
I reviewed their Unit 3 PT Essay and made a chart with all students who earned a 1 or 2.
Measuring success
I measured success by look to see if there was growth in the Argument standard. I usually confer with students at least once, so I know that they are on the right track with their thesis and claims. I leave the analysis up to them, so lower scores generally indicate that something went wrong with the analysis.
My data spreadsheet is linked below - red shows negative growth, yellow shows no growth, and green shows growth.
Overall findings & impact
I think I was successful overall in introducing a strategy to students that can be built upon as the years go on. I thought that I would see more growth with students who had earned a 1 or 2 for the Unit 3 PT, but I actually saw more growth with students who had earned a 3 on PT 3. I think this is because those students already had a general understanding of analysis, and just needed to strengthen it. The students who had a 1 or 2 for the Unit 3 PT didn’t show growth due to a number of variables that I can’t necessarily pinpoint: absences, effort, understanding of the task, forgetting essay structure, not reading the book, etc.
In the future, I’d like to specifically teach “diction” as a literary technique for them to use, because the zoom in/zoom out method works perfectly with it. I’d also like to spend more time looking at exemplars, looking at prompts and student samples from previous Regents, and having students read and critique each other’s work. Additionally, I’d like to scaffold the sentence frames more, so that essays don’t all sound so similar.
Actionable steps
If you want to use this strategy in your classroom, I recommend …
Doing a think-aloud to introduce zoom in/zoom out
Using evidence trackers that ask them to zoom in/zoom out
Giving students lots of opportunities, with built in revision days, to practice the skills
Having students read and analyze exemplars
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