Rosa Galindo

EDUC 486
TWS: Data Analysis

Student Work Analysis Protocol

Subject Area: Spanish I
Grade Level: 9-12, Novice -low
Formative or Performance Task: Students were asked to write three sentences using their unit
vocabulary to practice writing about any of their classes. They were asked to use the correct
articles for nouns. Students were given the option to write about what items are in the class or
what items they need for the class. They were encouraged to write as much as they could in
three sentences.
A. Reaching Consensus about Proficiency
a. What were the students expected to do? The students were expected to use the
correct articles for nouns, as well as expected to properly use the phrase "en la
clase de... hay..." or "para la clase necesito un/una"
b. Which standards or curriculum expectations are being met? This assessment was
addressing the state standards of 1.2 presentational communication- students
are required to present information in the target language
c. What do you consider to be a proficient response on this assessment? Exactly
what do students need to say or write for you to consider their work proficient? I
consider sentences that properly use the phrase : "en la clase de (whatever class
subject) hay " and proper use of indefinite or definite articles that correspond
with gender and number such as " hay un reloj," or "hay unas ventanas"
d. Did this give students a good opportunity to demonstrate what they know? I
believe that the five minutes given to them at the end of my lesson was
sufficient time for students to demonstrate to me that they can use the language
as was expected from them. I believe this to be the case, especially since the
twenty-five minutes prior to the assessment, the students participated in an
interpersonal activity where they were required to say, write and edit sentences
using the exact same sentence structure that was required of them in the
assessment. Also, I dedicated about five minutes reviewing sentence structure
with correct article usage immediately before asking the students to write their
sentences for the assessment.

B. Diagnosing Student Strengths and Needs

High
(Objectives Met)
L. J.
K. S.
R. K.

Expected
(Objectives Partially Met)
M. A.
C. C.
M. B.
A. D.
C. R.
M. A.
T. P.
D. D.

Low
(Objectives Not Met)
Z. R.
C. J.
M. C.
J. A.
N. A.
T. H.
D. W.
R. D.
G. J.
M. G.
G. D.
I. G.
THE FOLLOWING DID NOT
SUBMIT THE ASSIGNMENT:
14% of Class
(C.)
(M.)
(D.)
(C. H.)

11% of Class

29% of Class

44% of Class

C. Choose a few examples to review from each level and discuss and identify the
prerequisite knowledge that students demonstrated that they knew.
High
(Objectives Met)
L. J.: "En la clase de
matematicas necesito una
calculadora." - Here, L.J.
demonstrates her knowledge
of conjugation by
manipulating the infinitive
verb into 1st person, as well
as the unnecessary repetition

Expected
(Objectives Partially Met)
C. C.: "En la clase de ingles
hay cuaderno."- C.C. knows
that in order to say the
equivalent of "in English
class," she must use the
preposition "de." She also
demonstrates that she
recognizes that "clase" is

Low
(Objectives Not Met)
M. C.: "en la clase espaol un
ventana."- Here, M.C. proves
that he knows the gender of
"clase" as being feminine
since he uses the article "la",
as well as having knowledge
of when to use the definite
article when talking about a

of "yo" when verbs are

already conjugated into the
first person since she does
not place "yo" in front of
"necesito." She also proves
that she recognizes gender
and number by correctly
using "una calculadora." L.J.
also deomonstrates her
knowledge of using "de" for
the phrase "en la clase de
matematicas."

feminine by using "la" as the

definite article.

particular noun; he used "la"

instead of "una."

C. R.: "En la clase ingles

necesitar un libro."- C.R.
recognizes that libro is
masculine, as well as singular
since she used the indefinite
article "un." She also
demonstrates her knowledge
of when to use a definite
article for "la clase de ingles"

K. S.: "En la clase de

psicologia yo necesito el
boligrafo y el cuaderno."- K.S.
demonstrates her knowledge
of conjugation for the first
person as she uses
"necesito." She also reveals
to me her knowledge of
gender and number by using
the masculine articles for
both "boligrafo" and
"cuaderno." K.S. also
demonstrates her knowledge
for properly using the phrase
"en la clase de []" by using
the preposition "de."
R. K.: "En la clase de las
civicas hay unos estantes."Here, I am shown that R.K.
understands gender and
number by properly using
"las" for "civicas" and "unos"
for estantes." In both cases,
the articles correspond with
the number and gender of
the nouns. Further, R.K.
demonstrates knowledge for
using the general phrase "en
la clase hay." She was able to
correctly insert her class

M. A.: "En la clase de algebra

dos hoy un reloj; hoy unos
escritorios y un puerta."M.A. demonstrates his
knowledge of gender and
number by using "un" for the
singular and masculine word
"reloj." He further
demonstrates his knowledge
for masculine and number by
using "unos escritorios," as
the plurality and masculinity
are properly addressed in the
article "unos." Demonstrates
his knowledge on how to use
the phrase "en la clase de
[]."

C.J.: "en la clase espaniol me

lapiz y el papel."- Here, C.J.
shows me that he knows the
gender of "clase" as being
feminine since he uses the
correct article "la", and that
it is a definite article since he
is referring to a specific class.
Also, he shows me that he
knows the word "papel" is
masculine since he uses the
masculine "el."
M. G.: "En la clase espaol
huy unos cartel. En la clase
arte huy una tijeras."- M.G.
clearly recognizes the gender
of the word "cartel" since she
used the msculine article
"unos", and she knows that
"tijeras" is feminine since she
used to the article "una." She
also knows that the general
syntax that is to be used
since she has all the words in
the correct location in the
sentences.

name and complete the

sentence without any issues.
D. Using the reviewed samples from each level, discuss and identify the misconceptions
wrong information, and what students did not demonstrate that was expected.
High
(Objectives Met)
K. S.: "En la clase de
psicologia yo necesito el
boligrafo y el cuaderno."Although K.S. uses a
masculine and singular
article, I believe she might be
slightly confused as to when
definite and indefinite
articles should be used. Even
though this can be an
accurate statement, the
article should be indefinite
because the context does not
provide the necessary
information to establish the
need for the definite articles
for the nouns used.

Expected
(Objectives Partially Met)
C. C.: "En la clase de ingles
hay cuaderno."- C.C. does not
demonstrate to me if she
understands how to use
articles that are not included
in the phrase "en la clase"
since she omits the article
needed for "cuaderno."
C. R.: "En la clase ingles
necesitar un libro." - Here, I
am not shown if C.R. knows
how to use the phrase "En la
clase de" since she omits the
preposition "de" altogether.

M. A.: "En la clase de algebra

dos hoy un reloj; hoy unos
escritorios y un puerta."R. K.: "En la clase de las
M.A. seems to be a bit
civicas hay unos estantes."confused about how to
Regardless of the fact that
choose the correct indefinite
R.K. was able to correspond
both gender and number, for article for a feminine noun as
"las civicas," I do not believe he places a masculine "un"
bofore the feminine
R.K. realizes that
"puerta." Also, in the
"Civics," although plural in
English, does not translate to sentences that M.A.
submitted, he always writes
"las civicas" in Spanish.
"hoy" instead of "hay;" he
Instead, it would simply be
may not be certain of what
called "Civica" therefore
the word is, and is relying on
being said as "en la clase de
a misinterpreted sound of
la civica." This is simply an
error in vocabulary, and must the word "hay"
be reviewed.

Low
(Objectives Not Met)
M.C.: "en la clase espaol un
ventana."- Here, M.C.
demonstrates his struggle for
identifying gender since he
places the masculine "un" in
front of the feminine
"ventana." Also, he does not
seem to know how to use the
phrase "en la clase de
hay..." as he omits the
preposition of "de" as well as
the word "hay." He instead
runs his thoughts together by
saying "in class of Spanish a
window."

C.J.: "en la clase espaniol me

lapiz y el papel."- C.J. seems
to be confused about how to
use the phrase "en la clase
de..." since he omits the
preposition "de." Also, C.J. is
missing a key word/verb
since it is unclear to the
reader what the relevence of
"lapiz" is to the speaker. He
simply says "In class of
Spanish (reflexive "me")
pencil. He seems to be
confused about what verb is
needed, whether it be
"necesito" or the word "hay."
Also, there is no article

placed before the word

"lapiz," so I am unaware if he
is able to identify whether or
not it is masculine/feminine,
or plural/singular.
M. G.: "En la clase espaol
huy unos cartel. En la clase
arte huy una tijeras."- Here,
M.G. does not use the phrase
"en la clase de" correctly as
she negates to use "de" in
either of her examples.
Further, I am unable to
decipher if she can recognize
number in nouns for articles
since she makes the same
general problem twice in her
example. She uses the plural
article (unos) for a single
"cartel," and a singular article
(una) for an (always) plural
"tijeras."
E. Identifying Instructional Next Steps
After diagnosing what the student knows and still needs to learn, discuss as a team the
learning needs for the students in each level considering the following questions:
Based on the team's diagnosis of the student's performance:
a. What patterns or trends are noted for the whole class?
In general, I noticed that the students seem to struggle with how to use the phrase "en
la clase de " Most students do not include "de" and instead state the name of the
class. This is probably because there is not a direct translation from English into Spanish,
and most students are probably transliterating from English into Spanish and therefore
do not insert the preposition "de," since it has no functional place in the English
translation. In addition, there seems to be difficulty with the word "hay." Even though it
is a word directly from their vocabulary, many omit it completely, and others generally
seem to be confused by it and instead write "hoy," "huy," or "I." This is perhaps because
they are relying on phonetics, and are unable to decipher the sounds of "hay," and
therefore write what seems to make most sense to them- without knowing exactly what
it is they are writing. Another trend that is noticeable when reviewing the students'

assessments, is that many students seem to struggle with distinguishing when to use
definite versus indefinite articles.

b. What instructional strategies will be beneficial for the whole class?

I believe that the entire class would benefit if I were to explain, perhaps differently, why
it is necessary to include the preposition "de" for the phrase "En la clase de [subject]."
My strategy for reviewing this would be a visual activity where syntax is explained a bit
more thoroughly with word trains. Each student would be able to literally see why the
phrase cannot be said without the "de." By having a visual stimuli, students still might
not understand the reasons behind it, but they might at least be able to remember the
visual aids and see those ques in their minds when they go to write the sentence on a
paper.
In regards to the word "hay," I believe the whole class would benefit if the word were to
be explained by doing word games and match-ups. Originally, the students had a very
brief introduction to the word by being provided a simple English translation. Since
"hay" is a connector for "there are" and "there is" its presence is equally as necessary in
Spanish as it is in English. I believe that by emphasizing the use in Spanish through an
English translation, students will better grasp the meaning and concept of "hay."
Finally, it is clear to me that definite articles, as well as indefinite articles, need to be
reviewed. I believe the entire class would benefit if given another, but more in depth,
lesson about articles. I strongly believe that the chart I drew up for the class the day of
my first lesson allowed students to visualize and make sense of which article means
what and when to use them. I would recommend providing each student with a large
chart where each article is clearly designated its own role. I would review this chart with
the class by playing a matching game where they can match articles with nouns to
provide more practices spotting gender number in nouns and articles.

c. Based on the team's diagnosis of student responses at the high, expected, and low levels,
what will students at each level benefit from?
High
The few students who
performed at this level would
also benefit from reviewing
articles, but more specifically,
when and how to use the
definite articles. Although
there were very few errors, if
any, in the assessments at
this level, the students did

Expected
When reviewing the
assessments of the students
who performed at this level, I
noticed that the most
commonly committed errors
were those of
"concordancia," or
correspondence, between
nouns and articles. These

Low
Students at this level will
strongly benefit from having
a hands-on lesson about
syntax in Spanish versus
transliteration. Many of the
students at this level
attempted to translate from
English into Spanish,
resulting in many omitted

demonstrate their desire to

manipulate the language in
such a way that has not yet
been entirely explained to
them. Therefore, in order to
continue to challenge these
students, I believe it is
important that they be
provided the opportunity to
learn the reasons why
definite and indefinite
articles cannot be used
interchangeably due to
context. To teach the
significance of contextualized
articles (definite), I feel these
students would learn a great
deal if exposed to reading
exercises that interchange
the articles, forcing the
students to decipher the
varied meanings caused by
the changes. I would also
have these students discuss
with each other what
meanings they made from
the changes and why. By
having to deduce meaning
and discuss with their peers,
these students will better
understand the differences
between the types of articles
and why they cannot be used
interchangeably without
changing the meaning and
context of the sentence.

students would benefit most

significantly if given more
review about articles and
noun genders. I believe that
gender is very difficult for
most English speaking
students to learn since it is
unlike anything that exists in
the English language.
Therefore, I would propose
to several lessons with
activities designed
specifically target how to
recognize gender and
number in nouns, and how to
match them with their
corresponding article. This
could be done by playing
games designed after the
card games "Go Fish" and
"Speed" where students
must ask for the correct
article, or quickly grab the
correct article before the
next player. I believe that by
blending fun games with
visuals with Spanish
grammar, students will be
more susceptible and
motivated to learning the
material, which in turn
results in the students being
better able to recall and use
that information at a later
time.

articles and prepositions. I

believe that in order to make
the lesson more
comprehensible, students
must see how words carry
significant weight and are
critical and must not be
forgotten. To teach this
message, the students at this
level will benefit by learning
and reviewing significant
phrases versus words.
Currently students at this
level seem to be
overwhelmed by the amount
of words they feel they do
not know. Therefore, by
grouping together words into
key phrases, students might
improve their target
language output by focusing
on phrases verses
individualized words. This
might be better
communicated by visually
grouping words on cards, and
students can rearrange the
groups to create sentences.
In addition, I believe that
these students need more
review and practice with
their vocabulary. Many of the
students in this group
repeated the same words,
only to be used for a
different class. I feel this is
because their lack of
vocabulary. Instead of
resorting to pulling out their
vocabulary list (which is
assigned to them as
homework to fill out) every
time they need to recall a

word, I believe playing a

"Loteria", or Bingo-like game
will greatly improve their
language acquisition levels.
By establishing wordassociations with visuals,
these students will be able to
recall vocabulary due to the
associations and connections
they've formed with the
words instead of having to
rely on their rote memory of
a vocabulary list.