Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively

Recommendation 3 

(continued)

E X A M P L E   3.2.

A graphic organizer to assess learning and determine action steps

82 

Write a literary analysis of “Sometimes, the Earth is Cruel.”

What students did well on in terms of 

their pre-tests:

What students did not do well on or are 

having difficulty with in terms of their 

pre-tests:

•

 They were able to summarize “Sometimes, 

the Earth is Cruel,” and understood the 

basic idea that the Haitians did not give up.

•

 They quoted or restated some facts about 

disasters from the articles.

•

 They had a basic command of sentence 

structure.

•

 They had some semblance of essay form, 

though without a strong introduction or 

conclusion.

•

 They did not present a theme statement 

about the central message of the article.

•

 They did not quote from the text or offer 

commentary.

•

 They wrote very simple sentences without 

much variety.

•

 Their introduction lacked a formal open-

ing that identified the text and author.