Intervention and Rationale
Based on my needs assessment and what I learned about my students’ current attitudes towards writing, their academic achievement in writing, and the writing instruction methods currently in place in the classroom, I recognized the need for a significant change in the way my students’ writing opportunities are provided and guided. Very few of the best writing instruction practices that I read about during my literature review were implemented in the classroom and I wondered if this played a part in the negative attitudes students had towards writing and their achievement in writing.
To investigate this further, I planned to dedicate approximately one hour each day to writing instruction and opportunities -- a drastic change from the sporadic and inconsistent writing opportunities previously in place. These periods would be organized as a Writing Workshop and the first week or so of Phase One will be dedicated to introducing the students to the expectations of a Writing Workshop. Students will choose the topics of their writing pieces, mini-lessons will be given based on students’ needs, clear practices will be in place regarding the writing process, students will receive continuous feedback from peers and teachers, and writing pieces will be purposeful and written for an intended audience. Lucy Calkins states,
“The most important thing I can suggest is that we do not abbreviate the writing workshop so that it lasts only as long as our children’s attention for writing lasts. One of our major goals at this point is to encourage children to say more, to sustain their work longer, to approach a text expecting it to be more detailed, and all of this means that we need to give children more time for writing than they know what to do with. Once we’ve given them this time, we also need to help them grow into it.”
I realized going into this work that this significant adjustment in writing instruction would likely take some time for my students to grow accustomed to. However, as indicated by Calkins, students need regular opportunities to write in order to build their stamina, skill and confidence in their writing skills.
While my students will be exposed to all of the components of a Writing Workshop, I plan to focus my research specifically on how providing an audience for students affects their attitudes towards and achievement in writing. Providing an audience for my students as they learn about the writing process is intended to encourage students’ willingness to take part in the different stages in writing and find meaning and purpose within each step. My goal is that as my students build their stamina, confidence and skills as writers, I could learn how an authentic audience and different types of audiences influence their development as writers.
During the needs assessment approximately 85% of my students indicated that they felt writing was “too hard” because it is difficult for them to come up with ideas to write about. One student wrote, “I like when the teacher tells us what to write because I can’t think of things. It’s hard for me to think of things and that’s why I don’t like to write.” I kept this in mind while planning Phase One. Because many educators and studies state the importance of choice in the writing process, I wanted to ensure that my students took some ownership over what they would write about. However, I did not want them to feel overwhelmed or frustrated while choosing a topic as this is something they are not accustomed to. Consequently, I decided that during Phase One students would work on a writing piece that centers around a topic they are already experts in – themselves.
As noted earlier, my students love sharing stories about their accomplishments, their challenges and their experiences. My students had recently finished reading, “The Art Lesson,” by Tommie DePaola, which gave me the perfect segue into this writing project. Many of Depaola’s stories, including this one, are about his childhood, the challenges he faced and the lessons he learned from them. Using “The Art Lesson” as a mentor text, I will help my students identify the basic elements of a story (characters, setting, problem and solution) and assist my students in choosing an experience from their past to write about. I will further scaffold this project for them by focusing on one part of their story at a time. Several days will be dedicated towards developing and writing the beginning of their story (introduction and setting), several days will be dedicated towards the middle of their story (description of the problem) and several days will be dedicated towards the end of their story (description of the solution and the lesson(s) learned). This will give my students the choice that is needed for writers to feel ownership of their pieces as well as the guidance I anticipate they will require to start their first project in their Writing Workshop.
Throughout Phase One, students will be made aware of the audience that will read their drafts as well as the audience that will read their final stories. During the writing process, students will share and discuss their drafts with their peers and myself. On May 3, 2013, students will host an Author’s Celebration where their stories will be shared with their families, schoolmates, school administrators and district administrators. A voice recording of their stories will be published on the school website and their stories will be sent to SchoolMate Publishing to have them combined and printed in a hard bound book available for purchase. I wanted this first writing project to be celebrated in a significant way in order for my students to feel the great impact their writing can have on other people and on themselves.
To investigate this further, I planned to dedicate approximately one hour each day to writing instruction and opportunities -- a drastic change from the sporadic and inconsistent writing opportunities previously in place. These periods would be organized as a Writing Workshop and the first week or so of Phase One will be dedicated to introducing the students to the expectations of a Writing Workshop. Students will choose the topics of their writing pieces, mini-lessons will be given based on students’ needs, clear practices will be in place regarding the writing process, students will receive continuous feedback from peers and teachers, and writing pieces will be purposeful and written for an intended audience. Lucy Calkins states,
“The most important thing I can suggest is that we do not abbreviate the writing workshop so that it lasts only as long as our children’s attention for writing lasts. One of our major goals at this point is to encourage children to say more, to sustain their work longer, to approach a text expecting it to be more detailed, and all of this means that we need to give children more time for writing than they know what to do with. Once we’ve given them this time, we also need to help them grow into it.”
I realized going into this work that this significant adjustment in writing instruction would likely take some time for my students to grow accustomed to. However, as indicated by Calkins, students need regular opportunities to write in order to build their stamina, skill and confidence in their writing skills.
While my students will be exposed to all of the components of a Writing Workshop, I plan to focus my research specifically on how providing an audience for students affects their attitudes towards and achievement in writing. Providing an audience for my students as they learn about the writing process is intended to encourage students’ willingness to take part in the different stages in writing and find meaning and purpose within each step. My goal is that as my students build their stamina, confidence and skills as writers, I could learn how an authentic audience and different types of audiences influence their development as writers.
During the needs assessment approximately 85% of my students indicated that they felt writing was “too hard” because it is difficult for them to come up with ideas to write about. One student wrote, “I like when the teacher tells us what to write because I can’t think of things. It’s hard for me to think of things and that’s why I don’t like to write.” I kept this in mind while planning Phase One. Because many educators and studies state the importance of choice in the writing process, I wanted to ensure that my students took some ownership over what they would write about. However, I did not want them to feel overwhelmed or frustrated while choosing a topic as this is something they are not accustomed to. Consequently, I decided that during Phase One students would work on a writing piece that centers around a topic they are already experts in – themselves.
As noted earlier, my students love sharing stories about their accomplishments, their challenges and their experiences. My students had recently finished reading, “The Art Lesson,” by Tommie DePaola, which gave me the perfect segue into this writing project. Many of Depaola’s stories, including this one, are about his childhood, the challenges he faced and the lessons he learned from them. Using “The Art Lesson” as a mentor text, I will help my students identify the basic elements of a story (characters, setting, problem and solution) and assist my students in choosing an experience from their past to write about. I will further scaffold this project for them by focusing on one part of their story at a time. Several days will be dedicated towards developing and writing the beginning of their story (introduction and setting), several days will be dedicated towards the middle of their story (description of the problem) and several days will be dedicated towards the end of their story (description of the solution and the lesson(s) learned). This will give my students the choice that is needed for writers to feel ownership of their pieces as well as the guidance I anticipate they will require to start their first project in their Writing Workshop.
Throughout Phase One, students will be made aware of the audience that will read their drafts as well as the audience that will read their final stories. During the writing process, students will share and discuss their drafts with their peers and myself. On May 3, 2013, students will host an Author’s Celebration where their stories will be shared with their families, schoolmates, school administrators and district administrators. A voice recording of their stories will be published on the school website and their stories will be sent to SchoolMate Publishing to have them combined and printed in a hard bound book available for purchase. I wanted this first writing project to be celebrated in a significant way in order for my students to feel the great impact their writing can have on other people and on themselves.