Intervention and Rationale
Rationale
After conducting my needs assessments of my students behavior, attitudes, and achievements this past month I have noticed little to no change. There needs to be a change and intervention in the writing instruction and routine within the classroom. While conducting my research on different effective writing curriculum I have seen one common thread among the literature which is, students centered writing. This has stated that students will enjoy writing and become more independent in their writing if it is student centered. Meaning that the students are free to be more creative in their writing by not having the students be required to write a specific sentence, specific thought and spelling. I feel that right now my writing curriculum is not student centered enough and it also lacks routine. I feel that implementing a "Writers Workshop" in my classroom will help my students grow as writers because from my research on Writers Workshop it is student centered and involves routines and procedures. It will help my students transition from "students" to "writers." It gives the students freedom to grow as writers at their own pace and gives them choice. This will be a great first step into changing the writing curriculum and to possibly foster independence and growth in my kindergarten students.
My Intervention
There will be drastic changes to my students schedule. At the moment I only dedicate 15 minutes to writing and it is usually the writing of a specific word and/or tracing. I will be changing the time spent on writing instruction from 15 minutes to 35 minutes a day. I will be spending a total of 20 days on this procedure and then assess my students at the end of the 20 days and compare results from before Writers Workshop and after Writers Workshop. During these 20 days in the Writers Workshop students will learn what it is to be an author and writer, students will choose their writing topics, I will instruct mini lessons on clear writing expectations and processes, and students will receive feedback from myself and students so they can grow as writers.
For my research I will be focusing on my students attitudes towards writing, and their stamina during writing. Stamina is a correlation to their writing independence. Writing independently with out my assistance and having me write the words for them is part of their stamina growth. They will learn to try and spell the words themselves and to create their own sentences or words for their writing piece. Writing stamina also includes writing for longer periods of time. Learning to take your time while writing and to add to the writing piece by adding details in the writing or picture will help them grow as independent writers as well. This will help them grow as independent writers because they will know not to rely on my thoughts and will be able to use their own mental checklist to see if there is anything else that needs to be added to their work.
I want to see if implementing a Writers Workshop, with choice and structure will improve my students attitudes towards writing, their writing independence and if there will be growth academically. Right now my students want to finish their writing and pictures as quickly as possible in order to move on to the next thing, which might be more enjoyable to them. I noticed that my students just want to get the writing activity over with and have no invested interest in their writing. They want me to give them the "answers" when writing, leaving little creativity for them to explore. With my mini-lessons I will use "Think Alouds" to show the students how we think about our writing and drawings. I will model every step from writing the name and date, to the picture and details to the relationship the sentence has with the picture. During this time I will also explain that in order to do our best work we need to build stamina. This word stamina will be used daily so students know that this is something that we will work on as a class. Teaching my students to take their time and give them a clear goal to build their stamina will help my students learn to focus on their writing pieces given. These mini lessons will give them the tools to build their creativity and create their own writing pieces and to become more successful independent writers.
During Phase One I will be focusing on what it means to be a writer, using mini lessons with appropriate materials and anchor charts to guide my students to write their own topics. I will also be working on the writing environment in my classroom. Students will receive individual feedback from me and their peers that will be constructive and positive. Additionally, I will be having my students wear imaginary "author" hats and giving them special pencils to write with which I will name their "writers pencils." I hope by doing this my students will assume the writing persona and feel a personal connection and excitement to becoming a writer. They will have their own writing portfolios, which will hopefully enhance this personal connection to writing and keep their work organized.
During this phase students will also present their writings to the class at the end of the lesson. Students who are the audience will then clap and say "Good writing ____." This will help build students confidence in their writing and learn to write for an audience. Additionally, students will have "author's" music on while they write. Which will be soft classical music. I will explain to the students this is one of the ways authors write their stories. To wrap up the end of the unit we will hand out personal achievement certificates in writing achievement. Along with this students will receive a special writers pencil where they can take this home. All of these aspects of the writing program is to help build the students confidence and interest in the writing experience.
What the writing intervention will look like:
Data Collection and Assessment Methods
Observations
During this time I will be taking notes during the writing time and after. I will be reflecting on the lesson and what I saw and heard from my students. This will help me learn what is working in my mini-lessons and what isn't working. This way I can find a connection and focus on building the lessons that are working well for my class. I will also be looking specifically at my students work daily and their behaviors.
Timing
I will additionally be looking at the time my students spend on their writing before I start hearing the phrase "I am done," and looking to see if we as a class can notice a longer time spent writing through out the days. I will be tracking this by using a stop watch and taking notes of the time daily. This will help me track my students and their stamina. I will also be sharing these times with my students at the end of the lessons. That way they are able to compare, monitor their time as well as set a goal for ourselves.
Student Feedback
At the end of the lessons I will take a thumbs up and thumbs down poll on the students feelings toward their writing performance. I will ask the students how they felt about the writing topic that day. This will help me find out what topics and lessons my students enjoyed. I will be keeping a running tally of these responses with the lessons for that day.
I will then use a survey that I will give to my students at the end of the unit. This survey will ask the students, if they feel like they are good writers, if they like writing, if they like drawing, and if they feel like I think they are good writers. This survey will be important to me as I want to see what my students feel personally, and if their confidence and attitudes towards writing has changed since the beginning.
Student Work
Lastly, I will use this rubric to analyze my students writing at the end of the unit. This will help me monitor their writing progress through this phase and the next phase.
Rationale
After conducting my needs assessments of my students behavior, attitudes, and achievements this past month I have noticed little to no change. There needs to be a change and intervention in the writing instruction and routine within the classroom. While conducting my research on different effective writing curriculum I have seen one common thread among the literature which is, students centered writing. This has stated that students will enjoy writing and become more independent in their writing if it is student centered. Meaning that the students are free to be more creative in their writing by not having the students be required to write a specific sentence, specific thought and spelling. I feel that right now my writing curriculum is not student centered enough and it also lacks routine. I feel that implementing a "Writers Workshop" in my classroom will help my students grow as writers because from my research on Writers Workshop it is student centered and involves routines and procedures. It will help my students transition from "students" to "writers." It gives the students freedom to grow as writers at their own pace and gives them choice. This will be a great first step into changing the writing curriculum and to possibly foster independence and growth in my kindergarten students.
My Intervention
There will be drastic changes to my students schedule. At the moment I only dedicate 15 minutes to writing and it is usually the writing of a specific word and/or tracing. I will be changing the time spent on writing instruction from 15 minutes to 35 minutes a day. I will be spending a total of 20 days on this procedure and then assess my students at the end of the 20 days and compare results from before Writers Workshop and after Writers Workshop. During these 20 days in the Writers Workshop students will learn what it is to be an author and writer, students will choose their writing topics, I will instruct mini lessons on clear writing expectations and processes, and students will receive feedback from myself and students so they can grow as writers.
For my research I will be focusing on my students attitudes towards writing, and their stamina during writing. Stamina is a correlation to their writing independence. Writing independently with out my assistance and having me write the words for them is part of their stamina growth. They will learn to try and spell the words themselves and to create their own sentences or words for their writing piece. Writing stamina also includes writing for longer periods of time. Learning to take your time while writing and to add to the writing piece by adding details in the writing or picture will help them grow as independent writers as well. This will help them grow as independent writers because they will know not to rely on my thoughts and will be able to use their own mental checklist to see if there is anything else that needs to be added to their work.
I want to see if implementing a Writers Workshop, with choice and structure will improve my students attitudes towards writing, their writing independence and if there will be growth academically. Right now my students want to finish their writing and pictures as quickly as possible in order to move on to the next thing, which might be more enjoyable to them. I noticed that my students just want to get the writing activity over with and have no invested interest in their writing. They want me to give them the "answers" when writing, leaving little creativity for them to explore. With my mini-lessons I will use "Think Alouds" to show the students how we think about our writing and drawings. I will model every step from writing the name and date, to the picture and details to the relationship the sentence has with the picture. During this time I will also explain that in order to do our best work we need to build stamina. This word stamina will be used daily so students know that this is something that we will work on as a class. Teaching my students to take their time and give them a clear goal to build their stamina will help my students learn to focus on their writing pieces given. These mini lessons will give them the tools to build their creativity and create their own writing pieces and to become more successful independent writers.
During Phase One I will be focusing on what it means to be a writer, using mini lessons with appropriate materials and anchor charts to guide my students to write their own topics. I will also be working on the writing environment in my classroom. Students will receive individual feedback from me and their peers that will be constructive and positive. Additionally, I will be having my students wear imaginary "author" hats and giving them special pencils to write with which I will name their "writers pencils." I hope by doing this my students will assume the writing persona and feel a personal connection and excitement to becoming a writer. They will have their own writing portfolios, which will hopefully enhance this personal connection to writing and keep their work organized.
During this phase students will also present their writings to the class at the end of the lesson. Students who are the audience will then clap and say "Good writing ____." This will help build students confidence in their writing and learn to write for an audience. Additionally, students will have "author's" music on while they write. Which will be soft classical music. I will explain to the students this is one of the ways authors write their stories. To wrap up the end of the unit we will hand out personal achievement certificates in writing achievement. Along with this students will receive a special writers pencil where they can take this home. All of these aspects of the writing program is to help build the students confidence and interest in the writing experience.
What the writing intervention will look like:
- Longer writing block from 15 to 35 minutes.
- Build students stamina in writing
- Build students self-esteem and efficacy towards writing
- Give them tools and roles to become writers
- Anchor charts and modeling writing
- Feedback
- Audience
- Extrinsic rewards
Data Collection and Assessment Methods
Observations
During this time I will be taking notes during the writing time and after. I will be reflecting on the lesson and what I saw and heard from my students. This will help me learn what is working in my mini-lessons and what isn't working. This way I can find a connection and focus on building the lessons that are working well for my class. I will also be looking specifically at my students work daily and their behaviors.
Timing
I will additionally be looking at the time my students spend on their writing before I start hearing the phrase "I am done," and looking to see if we as a class can notice a longer time spent writing through out the days. I will be tracking this by using a stop watch and taking notes of the time daily. This will help me track my students and their stamina. I will also be sharing these times with my students at the end of the lessons. That way they are able to compare, monitor their time as well as set a goal for ourselves.
Student Feedback
At the end of the lessons I will take a thumbs up and thumbs down poll on the students feelings toward their writing performance. I will ask the students how they felt about the writing topic that day. This will help me find out what topics and lessons my students enjoyed. I will be keeping a running tally of these responses with the lessons for that day.
I will then use a survey that I will give to my students at the end of the unit. This survey will ask the students, if they feel like they are good writers, if they like writing, if they like drawing, and if they feel like I think they are good writers. This survey will be important to me as I want to see what my students feel personally, and if their confidence and attitudes towards writing has changed since the beginning.
Student Work
Lastly, I will use this rubric to analyze my students writing at the end of the unit. This will help me monitor their writing progress through this phase and the next phase.