If I were...
After reading each part:
- in the left hand boxes, write all the things you think the poem might be describing.
- in the right hand boxes, explain how the evidence in the text supports your predictions.
This task can be completed using with pencil and paper or online (without auto marking).
Three important points to tell students are:
- There is no right answer. The best answers are based on what they already know and the evidence in the text.
- As students move through each part of this resource, the first boxes are for brainstorming what the poem might be about, and the next boxes are for giving evidence from both the poem and their knowledge to support their predictions.
- Not to change any of their original ideas when new evidence is shown.
- use comprehension strategies
- monitor their reading for accuracy and sense
as described in the Literacy Learning Progressions for Reading at: http://www.literacyprogressions.tki.org.nz/The-Structure-of-the-Progressions.
Y7 (04/2005) | ||
Part 1 | Suggestion:At least one of student's suggestions is consistent with all the evidence in the text, i.e., something that could range over farms, plains, houses, cities and seas, e.g., a cloud, a plane, a traveller, a god. | very easy |
Explanation:Student explains the links between at least one of their suggestions and all the evidence, i.e., how it can range over land and sea. | very easy | |
All student's suggestions are in the singular, e.g., storm, not clouds/birds. | very easy | |
Part 2 |
Suggestion:At least one of student's suggestions is something that could do:
|
easy
very easy
|
Explanation:Student explains the links between at least one of their suggestions and:
|
difficult
very easy
|
|
All student's suggestions are in the singular. | moderate | |
Part 3 |
Suggestion:At least one of student's suggestions is consistent with:
|
moderate
very easy
|
Explanation:Student explains the links between at least one of their suggestions and:
|
dfficult
easy
|
|
All student's suggestions are in the singular. | easy | |
At least one of student's final suggestions was consistent with all the evidence in all three stanzas of the poem. | difficult |
Results based on a trial set of 177 Y7 students.
The data analysis of student responses identified four main areas of difficulty:
- Making explicit links to evidence.
- Using grammatical/syntactic evidence.
- Synthesising evidence.
- Vocabulary.
These areas of difficulty are elaborated on below.
Inference involves linking evidence in the text with prior knowledge, which can come from personal experience, from another text and/or from "the world".
While students were largely able to use content evidence to support their answers, some were less able to use grammatical evidence. In this resource, such evidence was given at the outset by the word "a" in the title of the poem and repeated in the first line. 85% of student suggestions were in the singular in Part 1, falling to 40% in Part 2. This suggests that students were not making links to the prior evidence in Part 1, and a possible misconception that each of the "I" statements in this part were representative of separate objects. In Part 3, student suggestions that were in the singular rose to 72%. This suggests either that students did integrate their thinking with previous parts, or something was cueing them into the singular. This could be due to the fact that in this part there is only one "I" statement.
Some students may need cueing into the title of the poem and its repetition in the first line:"If I Were a _______________".
The trial revealed that by the end of Part 3, 75% of students' suggestions were not consistent with evidence across all parts of the poem, i.e., a majority of students were not able to suggest an answer that was consistent with evidence in all parts. Less than a quarter of these students articulated an awareness that their answer was inconsistent with at least one piece of evidence in the poem. This suggests that being aware of or articulating these inconsistencies is an area of difficulty for students.
A model of synthesis by a student from the trial is shown below: Part 3Now I think the poemis most likely to be about: because: A storm He can go anywhere he wants (Part 1 evidence) and [be]cause [of] things a storm does (Part 2 evidence) and [it says] pick up his black skirts (Part 3 evidence) as in dark clouds.
4. Vocabulary understandings
Student suggestion | Student explanation | Likely misconception |
A mountain | The writer uses the word "range", and you call mountains ranges sometimes. | Student used the word "range" in a noun context. |
A king | Because a king could take control of anything. | Student interpreted the words "range over" as implying a position of power. |
An angel | The writer uses the word "plains", and an angel can fly higher than plains. | Student confusion between the homophones plains and planes. |
A ship | Because on a cruise ship you can be on the ocean and drink wine. | Student read wine for whine. |
Different sentences the word "range" can be used in: | The meaning of the word "range" in this sentence is: |