Using MEAL Plan Strategies for Tempo Learning Short-Answer Responses

As a student in a Tempo Learning program here at Walden University, I’ve gotten into a groove with my approach to each new competency. I open it up, check out the announcements, and then my next click is to the “Assessment” section to see what I’ll need to produce. I see variety in assessment formats, but what I’ve seen often are the short-answer assessments, and that’s what I’ll focus on today.

 
For short-answer assessments, there are usually a handful of prompts that require a response ranging from a few sentences to a few paragraphs. Usually I’ll download the provided template and scan through it to see what I’ll need to cover in the assessment, which also helps me decide how much time and attention to give to each the competency readings and materials.
 
After working through the competency materials and taking good notes, I usually find it rather easy to pull together the ideas for responding to each of the short-answer prompts. However, I noticed a pattern developing in my own writing for short-answer assessments that, as a writing instructor, kind of caught me in my steps. I noticed that I was sometimes responding to these prompts with two or three pieces of paraphrased evidence, and that was it. Sometimes my answers seemed a bit choppy or lacked flow (it can happen to the best of us, right?). Here’s an example of what I initially wrote for one of the prompts:

Short-Answer Prompt
Explain how a 2-year-old’s physical abilities compare to a 4-year-old’s physical abilities in a typically-developing child.

Response
Children around age 2 are typically running, climbing, bumping into things, and self-feeding (Stassen Berger, 2012). Four-year-olds may be catching balls, hopping on one foot, using scissors, and pouring from a pitcher (Stassen Berger, 2012).

Reference

Stassen Berger, K. (2012). Developing person through childhood (6th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/1464166528/

Somehow, I overlooked something that I work with Walden students on every day, and that’s creating strong academic writing and paragraphs. Understandably, the format of short answer is different than what is typical in most academic writing situations, so it might be easy to not think about implementing our “normal” practices for academic writing in this context. The prompts typically allow me to use just a few sentences and don’t necessarily stress crafting a well-developed, cohesive paragraph. However, in my Writing Instructor role, I know what I would say to this student. I’d say something like:

This evidence from the literature is a great start, and it definitely addresses the prompt. To take it a step further and demonstrate your knowledge and academic writing skills, you might use your own voice to introduce the evidence from the literature and also follow it up with your own voice, maybe adding some analysis or a wrap up for the paragraph. One helpful strategy for crafting paragraphs that flow well and are driven by your own voice is the MEAL Plan. MEAL Plan paragraphs start out with a topic sentence, or main idea, to help ease the reader into the paragraph. Then, they typically include evidence, analysis, and a lead out. Even if you’re not expected to go the extra step and create MEAL Plan paragraphs, it’s a great opportunity to practice.

So, with that in mind, I made sure to revise, using the MEAL Plan strategy as a guide:

Short-Answer Prompt
Explain how a 2-year-old’s physical abilities compare to a 4-year-old’s physical abilities in a typically-developing child.

New Response
There is a wide range and progression of physical development characteristics that children will exhibit from 2 to 4 years old. Children around age 2 are typically running, climbing, bumping into things, and self-feeding (Stassen Berger, 2012). These skills and behaviors continue to progress, and by the age of 4, children may be catching balls, hopping on one foot, using scissors, and pouring from a pitcher without spilling (Stassen Berger, 2012). The running and climbing practiced as a 2-year-old help prepare the child at 3 and 4 to hop, pedal a tricycle, and maneuver stairs without the use of hands. Developments in both fine and gross motor skills mean children can do more complex and precise movements as time passes.

Reference

Stassen Berger, K. (2012). Developing person through childhood (6th ed.). Retrieved from https://online.vitalsource.com/#/books/1464166528/

This revised response addresses the prompt in a more cohesive and complete manner than my initial version, which included only paraphrased evidence. The MEAL Plan makes a great guide, and though it might not fit perfectly for every short-answer prompt, using it can help you create well-rounded responses in your short-answer assessments.

Final note: Maybe you’re a Tempo student who’s coming into the program with a lot of experience, so it’s easy to write assessment responses maybe without even doing the reading. That’s great! One thing to keep in mind is that using evidence and citing sources helps improve your credibility as an author, so it’s still a good idea to bring in some evidence from a published source along with the evidence based on your personal experience.

Amy Bakke is a senior writing instructor and multilingual writing specialist at the Walden Writing Center. She enjoys researching cultural differences in education and considering how people with different perspectives and histories experience education at Walden. She also enjoys learning about child development as a student in Walden's M.S. in Early Childhood Studies Tempo program.

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