Literature Review
“In my experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy.”-Albert Einstein
After spending time with my students and conducting their needs assessments, I continued to do research to find out ways I can help my students in regards to their attitude toward writing and to improve their writing independence. After going through much research I found a lot of similar patterns and ideas, which all lead to student centered methodology.
I realized that in order for my students to change their perception on writing and to improve their writing independence I needed to provide them with more time and with more structure daily to do so. After reading many studies, articles and books on the topic of writing in kindergarten, I came across the Writer's Workshop model many times. Katie Wood Ray was an author and educator that I came across frequently in my research and her books gave me a better insight on how to improve my students' attitudes towards writing, my pedagogy on writing and how to use books to foster writing. Through my research, I found several positive results from implementing the Writers Workshop model in Kindergarten, where students learn to love to write, improve their writing ability, their stamina and learn to find their writing independence. Writing independence means that the students in a writer’s workshop are given a genre and a focus, but they are given the freedom to write what they choose. In writers workshop students learn to write by writing. The concept of writer's workshop is grounded in research and theory around children's learning and best practice in teaching. The principles that are the foundation of writer's workshop are explored in the sections below.
Targeted Instruction
Instruction by the teacher is part of the writers workshop model, but it does not need to be for an extended period of time. Instead, it is important for the instruction part to be brief but meaningful. This instruction is called the mini-lesson.The mini lessons are very important in the writer’s workshop model, as this is where I will be modeling how to write to my students. “Children need to hear their teacher talking through what she is doing as she writes on the overhead or the chalkboard. In this way, the children witness their teacher’s thinking.” (Graves, 2004) When I think aloud by my thought process of coming up with my writing idea, coming up with my sentence and then stretching out the letters in the words to come up with my writing, I am modeling what the students need to do. “Writing well involves skills that can be demonstrated, practiced, and learned. Teachers need to name explicitly and also demonstrate the skills and strategies that youngsters can begin to adopt” (Calkins, 2003). According to Bandura, by modeling the desired behavior students will then use that model behavior themselves. This is true in academic forms in regards to modeling. The instruction may be for a short period time, but with every action in writing even thought processes being shared with students, students will then use the same steps and thought processes being modeled by the teacher. Writer’s workshop also draws from Bruner’s concept of scaffolding. The process of scaffolding, an extension of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, gives students the opportunity to build upon prior knowledge and skills. As the learners’ abilities increase, the less they need the specific modeling by the teacher, therefore the teacher will model higher level of writing to the student's when this occurs. This is a great way to teach student's at all levels. For example, when modeling writing in the mini lesson, or speaking with the child individually, the teacher can effectively model adding more words or model editing for students who are ready to learn more. For the students who are still at their beginning stages of writing the teacher can model a more basic approach to writing. Writer’s workshop's mini lessons are a great way to target students’ needs by differentiating instruction. Additionally, it is useful when students work independently. Unlike worksheets, which come in a basic one size fits all format, students are able to write at their own level and with support and feedback from the teacher they are able to get that extra instruction that will help them learn and grow.
Predictability
As Katie Wood Ray explains in her book Wondrous Words:
"In the best writing workshops students know what is expected of them in terms of maintaining their writing--expectations about managing materials, supporting other writers, generating ideas, drafting, and publishing. Writing workshops need to be predictable places so that wonderful, unpredictable things can happen in them (pg. 212)." Writer's Workshop will make the class more predictable and bring routine to the classroom. This is something that my current curriculum lacks. Additionally, this will be a simple pattern for my students and myself to follow, yet it will bring more rigor to the classroom, I will be able to differentiate for my students, and my students will be able to produce work at their level therefore giving them the independence to write and be creative.
There will become predictability within the mini-lessons themselves. I will be repeating step by step processes to how we produce our writing, and then can invite students to help tell me what I need to add or do next, and have students help stretch out and spell the words collaboratively. This will create a more collaborative lesson and environment with the students, Vygotsky states "what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow" (Vygotsky, 1987). This coincides with the mini-lessons and how they will eventually become collaborative once the format becomes predictable.
My curriculum prior to writing workshops lacked focus, time, independence and predictability. “Predictability enables the child to prepare mentally for the next event; it makes compliance with routines more likely and helps children feel secure” (Brock; Green, 2009). It is important in any part of the classroom instruction or day for students to feel secure. When students feel secure it opens up their minds to learning.
Student Centered
Another great component of the Writer's Workshop model is that it is student centered. Every unit in developing a writing workshop is based on a genre, but it gives the students the freedom to write a topic of their choice.
Lucy Calkin's explains in her book A Guide to the Writing Workshop Grade 3-5:
"Writers do not write with words and convention alone; writers write above all with meaning. Children will invest themselves more in their writing if they are allowed--indeed, if they are taught--to select their own topics and to write about subjects that are important to them (pg.9)."
Within my classroom I plan on sharing with my students how in Writers Workshop they get to choose what they are going to write. I will be teaching them how to find topics to write about, through the mini lessons and the think aloud process. For example, "I am writing about what I did this weekend, hmm I went to the store, I went to the beach, oh! The beach is interesting and fun I will write about that! Okay now for my sentence..." This kind of sharing of brainstorming will help the students learn how to find their own topics. This will give them the guidance to learn to write independently and to be creative by coming up with their own ideas. Additionally, since it is their own topics they will become invested in what they are writing because it is meaningful to them.
Additionally, Writer's Workshop coincides with Piaget's theory of child development where he describes young children as active participants in their learning (Brock; Green, 2009). Piaget also believed that in order to develop, children needed the opportunity to have social transmission and experiences. Because of this, I will make sure that my students receive freedom in their writing choices and have the opportunity to share their writing with each other. This gives their writing an oral voice and gives them positive feedback and praise while sharing with me and the class. I will then see a rise in self-efficacy and esteem because the students’ will be receiving constant praise for their efforts.
When researching the Writers Workshop model I noticed many connections between the National Writing Project and Carl Nagin's book Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools. In the book it discusses how important it is to have students write on various topics in order for them to improve their writing. It also states that it is important for students to have lessons on editing and organizing their thoughts for the writing process. These components are some of the main ideas of the Writers Workshop model, which only proves to me how important it is to implement this model into my classroom to help facilitate my kindergartners writing.
Finding purpose and avoid reluctance.
Kindergartners are exposed to a wide variety of information in their first year of school, and this can be overwhelming. It is the first time, in most cases, they are expected to learn and perform. Therefore, many kindergartners are reluctant to learn how to write because it is too difficult and not enjoyable. In Regina Richards pamphlet When Writing's A Problem, she explains that there are a lot of stressful components that go into writing. Such as, producing the sounds of the individual phonemes, the actual motor skill of writing, the organization of writing, and the production of words itself. This is all very difficult for young beginner writers. When young student's automaticity skills are not fully developed then the act of writing is difficult. In the Writer's Workshop model a way to avoid this struggle and frustration, therefore causing lack of interest or distaste for writing, is inventive spelling. The idea is to let the students simply write down the sounds they hear, to not over correct the students spelling and grammar errors, and to provide an audience and praise for their efforts in writing. It also helps that the students are guided with writing topics, but have the freedom to choose their writing pieces and to perhaps draw a picture to help them express their thoughts.
Social context is profoundly involved in the writing process as students seek to discover the purpose, audience, and consequences of their writing (Brock; Green, 2009). When thinking about my class and the writer’s workshop, purpose and audience became more meaningful to developing the first unit of the writing workshop for my class. Finding purpose is important in the context of my classroom since there is no motivation or love for writing currently. Additionally, my students love to interact with one another and by writing for an audience; my students can find their motivation for writing.
Bringing research into the classroom.
In a Writer's Workshop students will watch as the teacher writes (model writing), as the students share in their writing (shared writing and interactive writing) and as they learn from each other (independent writing). Students will follow a predictable pattern, giving them a routine, which occurs daily. Components to the Writer's Workshop are:
-Mini Lessons (5-10 minutes)
-Independent Writing (15-30 minutes)
-Conferencing (during independent writing)
-Sharing (5-10 minutes)
It is also important to note that stamina is important in this process. Stamina means students will be learning to sit for a period of time to work on their writing. Building their stamina will help the student sit for longer periods of time. “If the goal of writing instruction is for students to become proficient communicators, the teacher must first help them understand and build stamina for creative kinds of work" (Ray, 2010). There are times I have a hard time sitting down and completing a task, but when I know I have to work and finish something I will sit there and finish my work. This is an important habit for students to build and learn early on. Having stamina in writing means that the students will take their time writing and drawing their pieces and be okay to returning to it the next day if they are not finished. This is an important component for the students to monitor themselves and to make a goal. I believe that building this stamina as well will help the students in their independence in writing.
Taking these components of Writer's Workshop into consideration with how my classroom schedule is and what my students need, I knew that I could fit this model into the schedule. I decided to dedicate 35-50 minutes a day to Writer's Workshop. I started one month before November break, giving the students and myself a chance to establish the routine and to have enough time to start and end a unit consecutively.
Implementing a writing workshop in my class brings students purpose, structure, routine, choice and independence in their writing. These are all aspects that I have found through research and personal experience to be important for any aspect of curriculum. I used this research to develop an action plan that can foster writing independence in my classroom and promote self-efficacy and esteem in writing.
“In my experience, the best creative work is never done when one is unhappy.”-Albert Einstein
After spending time with my students and conducting their needs assessments, I continued to do research to find out ways I can help my students in regards to their attitude toward writing and to improve their writing independence. After going through much research I found a lot of similar patterns and ideas, which all lead to student centered methodology.
I realized that in order for my students to change their perception on writing and to improve their writing independence I needed to provide them with more time and with more structure daily to do so. After reading many studies, articles and books on the topic of writing in kindergarten, I came across the Writer's Workshop model many times. Katie Wood Ray was an author and educator that I came across frequently in my research and her books gave me a better insight on how to improve my students' attitudes towards writing, my pedagogy on writing and how to use books to foster writing. Through my research, I found several positive results from implementing the Writers Workshop model in Kindergarten, where students learn to love to write, improve their writing ability, their stamina and learn to find their writing independence. Writing independence means that the students in a writer’s workshop are given a genre and a focus, but they are given the freedom to write what they choose. In writers workshop students learn to write by writing. The concept of writer's workshop is grounded in research and theory around children's learning and best practice in teaching. The principles that are the foundation of writer's workshop are explored in the sections below.
Targeted Instruction
Instruction by the teacher is part of the writers workshop model, but it does not need to be for an extended period of time. Instead, it is important for the instruction part to be brief but meaningful. This instruction is called the mini-lesson.The mini lessons are very important in the writer’s workshop model, as this is where I will be modeling how to write to my students. “Children need to hear their teacher talking through what she is doing as she writes on the overhead or the chalkboard. In this way, the children witness their teacher’s thinking.” (Graves, 2004) When I think aloud by my thought process of coming up with my writing idea, coming up with my sentence and then stretching out the letters in the words to come up with my writing, I am modeling what the students need to do. “Writing well involves skills that can be demonstrated, practiced, and learned. Teachers need to name explicitly and also demonstrate the skills and strategies that youngsters can begin to adopt” (Calkins, 2003). According to Bandura, by modeling the desired behavior students will then use that model behavior themselves. This is true in academic forms in regards to modeling. The instruction may be for a short period time, but with every action in writing even thought processes being shared with students, students will then use the same steps and thought processes being modeled by the teacher. Writer’s workshop also draws from Bruner’s concept of scaffolding. The process of scaffolding, an extension of Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development, gives students the opportunity to build upon prior knowledge and skills. As the learners’ abilities increase, the less they need the specific modeling by the teacher, therefore the teacher will model higher level of writing to the student's when this occurs. This is a great way to teach student's at all levels. For example, when modeling writing in the mini lesson, or speaking with the child individually, the teacher can effectively model adding more words or model editing for students who are ready to learn more. For the students who are still at their beginning stages of writing the teacher can model a more basic approach to writing. Writer’s workshop's mini lessons are a great way to target students’ needs by differentiating instruction. Additionally, it is useful when students work independently. Unlike worksheets, which come in a basic one size fits all format, students are able to write at their own level and with support and feedback from the teacher they are able to get that extra instruction that will help them learn and grow.
Predictability
As Katie Wood Ray explains in her book Wondrous Words:
"In the best writing workshops students know what is expected of them in terms of maintaining their writing--expectations about managing materials, supporting other writers, generating ideas, drafting, and publishing. Writing workshops need to be predictable places so that wonderful, unpredictable things can happen in them (pg. 212)." Writer's Workshop will make the class more predictable and bring routine to the classroom. This is something that my current curriculum lacks. Additionally, this will be a simple pattern for my students and myself to follow, yet it will bring more rigor to the classroom, I will be able to differentiate for my students, and my students will be able to produce work at their level therefore giving them the independence to write and be creative.
There will become predictability within the mini-lessons themselves. I will be repeating step by step processes to how we produce our writing, and then can invite students to help tell me what I need to add or do next, and have students help stretch out and spell the words collaboratively. This will create a more collaborative lesson and environment with the students, Vygotsky states "what the child is able to do in collaboration today he will be able to do independently tomorrow" (Vygotsky, 1987). This coincides with the mini-lessons and how they will eventually become collaborative once the format becomes predictable.
My curriculum prior to writing workshops lacked focus, time, independence and predictability. “Predictability enables the child to prepare mentally for the next event; it makes compliance with routines more likely and helps children feel secure” (Brock; Green, 2009). It is important in any part of the classroom instruction or day for students to feel secure. When students feel secure it opens up their minds to learning.
Student Centered
Another great component of the Writer's Workshop model is that it is student centered. Every unit in developing a writing workshop is based on a genre, but it gives the students the freedom to write a topic of their choice.
Lucy Calkin's explains in her book A Guide to the Writing Workshop Grade 3-5:
"Writers do not write with words and convention alone; writers write above all with meaning. Children will invest themselves more in their writing if they are allowed--indeed, if they are taught--to select their own topics and to write about subjects that are important to them (pg.9)."
Within my classroom I plan on sharing with my students how in Writers Workshop they get to choose what they are going to write. I will be teaching them how to find topics to write about, through the mini lessons and the think aloud process. For example, "I am writing about what I did this weekend, hmm I went to the store, I went to the beach, oh! The beach is interesting and fun I will write about that! Okay now for my sentence..." This kind of sharing of brainstorming will help the students learn how to find their own topics. This will give them the guidance to learn to write independently and to be creative by coming up with their own ideas. Additionally, since it is their own topics they will become invested in what they are writing because it is meaningful to them.
Additionally, Writer's Workshop coincides with Piaget's theory of child development where he describes young children as active participants in their learning (Brock; Green, 2009). Piaget also believed that in order to develop, children needed the opportunity to have social transmission and experiences. Because of this, I will make sure that my students receive freedom in their writing choices and have the opportunity to share their writing with each other. This gives their writing an oral voice and gives them positive feedback and praise while sharing with me and the class. I will then see a rise in self-efficacy and esteem because the students’ will be receiving constant praise for their efforts.
When researching the Writers Workshop model I noticed many connections between the National Writing Project and Carl Nagin's book Because Writing Matters: Improving Student Writing in Our Schools. In the book it discusses how important it is to have students write on various topics in order for them to improve their writing. It also states that it is important for students to have lessons on editing and organizing their thoughts for the writing process. These components are some of the main ideas of the Writers Workshop model, which only proves to me how important it is to implement this model into my classroom to help facilitate my kindergartners writing.
Finding purpose and avoid reluctance.
Kindergartners are exposed to a wide variety of information in their first year of school, and this can be overwhelming. It is the first time, in most cases, they are expected to learn and perform. Therefore, many kindergartners are reluctant to learn how to write because it is too difficult and not enjoyable. In Regina Richards pamphlet When Writing's A Problem, she explains that there are a lot of stressful components that go into writing. Such as, producing the sounds of the individual phonemes, the actual motor skill of writing, the organization of writing, and the production of words itself. This is all very difficult for young beginner writers. When young student's automaticity skills are not fully developed then the act of writing is difficult. In the Writer's Workshop model a way to avoid this struggle and frustration, therefore causing lack of interest or distaste for writing, is inventive spelling. The idea is to let the students simply write down the sounds they hear, to not over correct the students spelling and grammar errors, and to provide an audience and praise for their efforts in writing. It also helps that the students are guided with writing topics, but have the freedom to choose their writing pieces and to perhaps draw a picture to help them express their thoughts.
Social context is profoundly involved in the writing process as students seek to discover the purpose, audience, and consequences of their writing (Brock; Green, 2009). When thinking about my class and the writer’s workshop, purpose and audience became more meaningful to developing the first unit of the writing workshop for my class. Finding purpose is important in the context of my classroom since there is no motivation or love for writing currently. Additionally, my students love to interact with one another and by writing for an audience; my students can find their motivation for writing.
Bringing research into the classroom.
In a Writer's Workshop students will watch as the teacher writes (model writing), as the students share in their writing (shared writing and interactive writing) and as they learn from each other (independent writing). Students will follow a predictable pattern, giving them a routine, which occurs daily. Components to the Writer's Workshop are:
-Mini Lessons (5-10 minutes)
-Independent Writing (15-30 minutes)
-Conferencing (during independent writing)
-Sharing (5-10 minutes)
It is also important to note that stamina is important in this process. Stamina means students will be learning to sit for a period of time to work on their writing. Building their stamina will help the student sit for longer periods of time. “If the goal of writing instruction is for students to become proficient communicators, the teacher must first help them understand and build stamina for creative kinds of work" (Ray, 2010). There are times I have a hard time sitting down and completing a task, but when I know I have to work and finish something I will sit there and finish my work. This is an important habit for students to build and learn early on. Having stamina in writing means that the students will take their time writing and drawing their pieces and be okay to returning to it the next day if they are not finished. This is an important component for the students to monitor themselves and to make a goal. I believe that building this stamina as well will help the students in their independence in writing.
Taking these components of Writer's Workshop into consideration with how my classroom schedule is and what my students need, I knew that I could fit this model into the schedule. I decided to dedicate 35-50 minutes a day to Writer's Workshop. I started one month before November break, giving the students and myself a chance to establish the routine and to have enough time to start and end a unit consecutively.
Implementing a writing workshop in my class brings students purpose, structure, routine, choice and independence in their writing. These are all aspects that I have found through research and personal experience to be important for any aspect of curriculum. I used this research to develop an action plan that can foster writing independence in my classroom and promote self-efficacy and esteem in writing.