Description and Implementation
Week One-Introducing Writers Workshop
I started the Writers Workshop the last week of October. This week was an exciting week for the students, since it was Halloween week and this is all they could think about. It may not of been the best time for them to start a new routine, but we started that week that way I was able to have a month of Writers Workshop before their November break. When I introduced the Writers Workshop, I explained all the fun things we would be doing, such as: becoming authors, writing our own stories, drawing beautiful pictures, having special writing pencils and their own writer's journal where they will be able to write all their stories. They were very excited because I was so excited about this new and exciting routine of our class.
The whole week I focused on very quick and detailed mini-lessons where I read books with beautiful pictures and I talked about the relationship between words and the pictures. I would also model how to brainstorm topics to write about. I talked about using our sight words that we know, such as I like and I can and what sort of sentences we could do with those. I would model drawing the picture first, then adding words. I would demonstrate how we can go back to the picture and add details. I also explained to the students that it is okay to use our word wall to find ideas and to use the sounds we know to try and write the words ourselves.
I experienced a lot of excitement and frustration for my ELL students this first week. They were excited about the role of writers they were taking on and the special pencils they got to use. The frustration for my students was to be expected, because they were transitioning from me doing the writing for them, to writing on their own. They often came to me during the writing portion asking me to write the words for them or the phrase "I can't" or "I don't know". I assured all of my students that they can and that all we can do is try our best. I spent the majority of the writing time walking around and praising students and assuring them that they are all doing a great job. As the week went on, I experienced less push back, but with not much increase in confidence from my class. This showed me that I needed to continually show praise and admiration to my less confident students, in order for them to continue to try and grow as writers.
Week Two- Writing is Just Telling on Paper
During this week I focused on the same aspects of writing and drawing as the previous week. After the first week I noticed that many of the students were struggling to come up with their own sentences and pictures. Many of them wanted to copy the examples I modeled in my lesson and would get frustrated with coming up with their own topics. That Monday I focused on different topics we could write about, such as activities, places, people, and pets. I had more students come up with their own pictures and thoughts this lesson, but I was still experiencing many students trying to finish as quickly as possible, rather than building their stamina. After, this day I talked about stamina more to reiterate the expectations. I praised the students who were taking their time, working independently writing their own thoughts, and building their stamina. I had these particular students share with the class their stories. I did this to give guidance and encouragement to my students who were struggling to find their confidence and motivation. The students all admired and complimented their stories. I asked them to tell me what they liked and what they noticed. I explained that we can only get better and if we keep on trying. The next days I noticed the students adding more detail to their pictures and using the word wall, dictionaries, sight words and words from our phonics lessons to write about. I continued to circulate through the classroom praising and noticing different aspects of their pictures. I also began to try and push students to write as if they were talking. I wanted them to add more to their writing besides one word. To my students who were writing complete sentences, I pushed them to write more after they felt they were done. I reiterated that we can always add more. I began having students who were less confident share their stories with the class and guided the students to give positive feedback.
Week Three- Noticing Details
I continued to reinforce the expectations and to really try and add details in their drawing and their words. I experienced less students asking me to help them spell their words. I noticed more students using the words we learn in our phonics lessons and students using their sight words to make sentences. Students who wouldn't write legibly before were now writing one word sentences or building sentences with their sight words. Their stamina was improving and they were very excited to see that improvement. It was starting to become quieter during their writing time and I even noticed students asking each other for help in spelling. Although, I explained to the students all we can do is try our best to stretch out our words and spell them, many of them are still unsure of many of the phonetic sounds and those are the students asking for assistance. I noted that the majority of the students are proud of their work and really want to share their stories with the class. Although many students will ask me, if they can share their writing. I noticed that some of my students write solely to show the class and to take home and show their parents. When I ask students who say they are finished if they think they could add more to their story they will often go back and add more detail to their pictures. They are working hard on their stories and I have noticed a more positive attitude toward Writers Workshop. Students know what time of the day we do Writers Workshop and will excitedly remind me about their special pencils and that they have to share with the class their stories at the end of the day. When asked about their feeling about their writing and performance this week I had all thumbs up.
Week Four-Stamina Building
This week I explained to the students that this is their last week before November break and that they would be taking their writing home to their parents. They were so excited to have the chance to finally share with their parents, their work and to show them how much they have written. I also explained that we will display four students (from each class, 8 total) work of their choice on the Super Writer wall. This wall would be visited by the principal, vice principal and counselor to represent how great writers there are in kindergarten. They were super excited this week and everyone wanted to have their piece on the wall. On the last day Friday I chose 8 students, but I also praised them with Smencils and a Writers Workshop certificate award. I told them how proud I was of all of them and that they completed 20 days of writing. They were very excited and gave positive praise to each other and themselves towards their writing.
During that Friday I worked with students individually to complete the survey on their feelings towards writing. I received a lot of positive feedback and growth in their confidence. I asked them if they would be sad or happy if we didn't do Writers Workshop when we got back from break and all students said they would be sad. There may be some bias due to the fact that my students didn't want to disappoint me, but I could tell from the way they responded that for the most part this was not the case. I had the students all walk around and look at each others writings and asked them to praise each other. This was a very fun time for them and many of them came up to me saying, "We are such good authors." or "I love Writers Workshop."
Below is a sample from one student in particular who wanted to share his writing daily. He showed a tremendous amount of interest in his writing. First day simply wrote "moon" then on, the last week he started showing interest in making sentences, and was more comfortable in writing "sounds" he heard. The last one he wrote, "The sun and clouds in the sky."
Week One-Introducing Writers Workshop
I started the Writers Workshop the last week of October. This week was an exciting week for the students, since it was Halloween week and this is all they could think about. It may not of been the best time for them to start a new routine, but we started that week that way I was able to have a month of Writers Workshop before their November break. When I introduced the Writers Workshop, I explained all the fun things we would be doing, such as: becoming authors, writing our own stories, drawing beautiful pictures, having special writing pencils and their own writer's journal where they will be able to write all their stories. They were very excited because I was so excited about this new and exciting routine of our class.
The whole week I focused on very quick and detailed mini-lessons where I read books with beautiful pictures and I talked about the relationship between words and the pictures. I would also model how to brainstorm topics to write about. I talked about using our sight words that we know, such as I like and I can and what sort of sentences we could do with those. I would model drawing the picture first, then adding words. I would demonstrate how we can go back to the picture and add details. I also explained to the students that it is okay to use our word wall to find ideas and to use the sounds we know to try and write the words ourselves.
I experienced a lot of excitement and frustration for my ELL students this first week. They were excited about the role of writers they were taking on and the special pencils they got to use. The frustration for my students was to be expected, because they were transitioning from me doing the writing for them, to writing on their own. They often came to me during the writing portion asking me to write the words for them or the phrase "I can't" or "I don't know". I assured all of my students that they can and that all we can do is try our best. I spent the majority of the writing time walking around and praising students and assuring them that they are all doing a great job. As the week went on, I experienced less push back, but with not much increase in confidence from my class. This showed me that I needed to continually show praise and admiration to my less confident students, in order for them to continue to try and grow as writers.
Week Two- Writing is Just Telling on Paper
During this week I focused on the same aspects of writing and drawing as the previous week. After the first week I noticed that many of the students were struggling to come up with their own sentences and pictures. Many of them wanted to copy the examples I modeled in my lesson and would get frustrated with coming up with their own topics. That Monday I focused on different topics we could write about, such as activities, places, people, and pets. I had more students come up with their own pictures and thoughts this lesson, but I was still experiencing many students trying to finish as quickly as possible, rather than building their stamina. After, this day I talked about stamina more to reiterate the expectations. I praised the students who were taking their time, working independently writing their own thoughts, and building their stamina. I had these particular students share with the class their stories. I did this to give guidance and encouragement to my students who were struggling to find their confidence and motivation. The students all admired and complimented their stories. I asked them to tell me what they liked and what they noticed. I explained that we can only get better and if we keep on trying. The next days I noticed the students adding more detail to their pictures and using the word wall, dictionaries, sight words and words from our phonics lessons to write about. I continued to circulate through the classroom praising and noticing different aspects of their pictures. I also began to try and push students to write as if they were talking. I wanted them to add more to their writing besides one word. To my students who were writing complete sentences, I pushed them to write more after they felt they were done. I reiterated that we can always add more. I began having students who were less confident share their stories with the class and guided the students to give positive feedback.
Week Three- Noticing Details
I continued to reinforce the expectations and to really try and add details in their drawing and their words. I experienced less students asking me to help them spell their words. I noticed more students using the words we learn in our phonics lessons and students using their sight words to make sentences. Students who wouldn't write legibly before were now writing one word sentences or building sentences with their sight words. Their stamina was improving and they were very excited to see that improvement. It was starting to become quieter during their writing time and I even noticed students asking each other for help in spelling. Although, I explained to the students all we can do is try our best to stretch out our words and spell them, many of them are still unsure of many of the phonetic sounds and those are the students asking for assistance. I noted that the majority of the students are proud of their work and really want to share their stories with the class. Although many students will ask me, if they can share their writing. I noticed that some of my students write solely to show the class and to take home and show their parents. When I ask students who say they are finished if they think they could add more to their story they will often go back and add more detail to their pictures. They are working hard on their stories and I have noticed a more positive attitude toward Writers Workshop. Students know what time of the day we do Writers Workshop and will excitedly remind me about their special pencils and that they have to share with the class their stories at the end of the day. When asked about their feeling about their writing and performance this week I had all thumbs up.
Week Four-Stamina Building
This week I explained to the students that this is their last week before November break and that they would be taking their writing home to their parents. They were so excited to have the chance to finally share with their parents, their work and to show them how much they have written. I also explained that we will display four students (from each class, 8 total) work of their choice on the Super Writer wall. This wall would be visited by the principal, vice principal and counselor to represent how great writers there are in kindergarten. They were super excited this week and everyone wanted to have their piece on the wall. On the last day Friday I chose 8 students, but I also praised them with Smencils and a Writers Workshop certificate award. I told them how proud I was of all of them and that they completed 20 days of writing. They were very excited and gave positive praise to each other and themselves towards their writing.
During that Friday I worked with students individually to complete the survey on their feelings towards writing. I received a lot of positive feedback and growth in their confidence. I asked them if they would be sad or happy if we didn't do Writers Workshop when we got back from break and all students said they would be sad. There may be some bias due to the fact that my students didn't want to disappoint me, but I could tell from the way they responded that for the most part this was not the case. I had the students all walk around and look at each others writings and asked them to praise each other. This was a very fun time for them and many of them came up to me saying, "We are such good authors." or "I love Writers Workshop."
Below is a sample from one student in particular who wanted to share his writing daily. He showed a tremendous amount of interest in his writing. First day simply wrote "moon" then on, the last week he started showing interest in making sentences, and was more comfortable in writing "sounds" he heard. The last one he wrote, "The sun and clouds in the sky."
Establishing a Routine-To set and understand expectations
During this first phase I experienced a lot of excitement, growth, frustration and I repeatedly heard the phrase "I'm done." Prior to Writers Workshop students were only expected to draw a picture and trace and/or write a word. When they were done they were allowed to do some sort of writing worksheet until the rest of their classmates finished. I noticed that in this phase students wanted to finish quickly and were confused and frustrated when I sent them back to their seat to add more details. Initially I heard a lot of "I can't" or "I'm done!" but, I noticed towards the end of Phase One I head less of those negative phrases and noticed those students working harder on their work and understanding the routine of what writers workshop is.
Establishing a routine was difficult for myself and my students. It was a lot of repetition and reinforcement on my part. But, I noticed that modeling the writing expectations, leaving the choice of their topics in my students hands, writers workshop became a less stressful time for my students and I. I even noticed their appreciation and growth, when they would show me their work and you could see how proud they were of it.
Stamina and Writing Independence-To increase motivation and achievement
Increasing students stamina not only improved their writing and pictures, but it also improved their writing independence. While learning to write for longer periods of time, they also learned during that time to reflect, and to stretch out their own sounds and express their own thoughts with their own writing topics. Building stamina is a steady and slow process. It is to be expected for kindergarten students new to Writer's Workshop to slowly learn to sit for longer periods of time and to write down their own thoughts and expand on those thoughts by making sentences and more than a word. I noticed the majority of the students using the words around the classroom as their topics of choice. There were many students who not only used a list of words, but also made sentences with their sight words that they know and words around the room. Although, they were copying and not stretching out their own words, this was an improvement. They were now searching for words on their own and putting ideas together, rather than asking me what to write and writing the word for them so they could trace it.
I noticed that towards the end of the 20 day period a few students were now making their own words, by sounding them out and stretching out the sounds. This was a great improvement that made me realize that I want to give more opportunity and use my lessons for the next phase to give all my students this opportunity to write what they want even if the words are not in the classroom or have not been taught to them explicitly. I know that once they learn to try and do this and gain confidence and practice using words that they speak rather than words on the wall or that has been taught, this will help their writing independence grow. Once they feel confident enough to know that the spelling does not need to be perfect and that they can write what they speak then they wont need the dictionaries or words on the wall for their writing topics, this will become true writing independence. This is what the goal of the research is.
So, even though this first phase the students used a lot of the words on the walls, words taught and their sight words in their stories. They began to write with out my assistance. I no longer had to write the words for them or tell them what to write. As a class they also went from rushing to finishing their work, to taking their time and understanding the difference in their pictures and writing once they take their time and work diligently on their papers.
Every day I recorded how long the students wrote independently. This meant that the students stayed in their seat and continuously worked on their writing paper. As soon as students started to get off task by saying they are finished or getting loud and starting to talk about unrelated topics, then I would stop the clock. I would then let the students know how long they worked today and reiterate the goal of 20 minutes of writing. Below are the charts of their stamina for everyday and how long they wrote independently.
During this first phase I experienced a lot of excitement, growth, frustration and I repeatedly heard the phrase "I'm done." Prior to Writers Workshop students were only expected to draw a picture and trace and/or write a word. When they were done they were allowed to do some sort of writing worksheet until the rest of their classmates finished. I noticed that in this phase students wanted to finish quickly and were confused and frustrated when I sent them back to their seat to add more details. Initially I heard a lot of "I can't" or "I'm done!" but, I noticed towards the end of Phase One I head less of those negative phrases and noticed those students working harder on their work and understanding the routine of what writers workshop is.
Establishing a routine was difficult for myself and my students. It was a lot of repetition and reinforcement on my part. But, I noticed that modeling the writing expectations, leaving the choice of their topics in my students hands, writers workshop became a less stressful time for my students and I. I even noticed their appreciation and growth, when they would show me their work and you could see how proud they were of it.
Stamina and Writing Independence-To increase motivation and achievement
Increasing students stamina not only improved their writing and pictures, but it also improved their writing independence. While learning to write for longer periods of time, they also learned during that time to reflect, and to stretch out their own sounds and express their own thoughts with their own writing topics. Building stamina is a steady and slow process. It is to be expected for kindergarten students new to Writer's Workshop to slowly learn to sit for longer periods of time and to write down their own thoughts and expand on those thoughts by making sentences and more than a word. I noticed the majority of the students using the words around the classroom as their topics of choice. There were many students who not only used a list of words, but also made sentences with their sight words that they know and words around the room. Although, they were copying and not stretching out their own words, this was an improvement. They were now searching for words on their own and putting ideas together, rather than asking me what to write and writing the word for them so they could trace it.
I noticed that towards the end of the 20 day period a few students were now making their own words, by sounding them out and stretching out the sounds. This was a great improvement that made me realize that I want to give more opportunity and use my lessons for the next phase to give all my students this opportunity to write what they want even if the words are not in the classroom or have not been taught to them explicitly. I know that once they learn to try and do this and gain confidence and practice using words that they speak rather than words on the wall or that has been taught, this will help their writing independence grow. Once they feel confident enough to know that the spelling does not need to be perfect and that they can write what they speak then they wont need the dictionaries or words on the wall for their writing topics, this will become true writing independence. This is what the goal of the research is.
So, even though this first phase the students used a lot of the words on the walls, words taught and their sight words in their stories. They began to write with out my assistance. I no longer had to write the words for them or tell them what to write. As a class they also went from rushing to finishing their work, to taking their time and understanding the difference in their pictures and writing once they take their time and work diligently on their papers.
Every day I recorded how long the students wrote independently. This meant that the students stayed in their seat and continuously worked on their writing paper. As soon as students started to get off task by saying they are finished or getting loud and starting to talk about unrelated topics, then I would stop the clock. I would then let the students know how long they worked today and reiterate the goal of 20 minutes of writing. Below are the charts of their stamina for everyday and how long they wrote independently.
The last week I explained to the students that this was our last week before break to work really hard for the whole twenty minutes. All week we recorded the time and all of the students were really excited to meet this goal. The last day with much reminding about how much time they had been working they made it to twenty. They were very excited about their work and because of that I had the students all do a walk around to look at each others work. During these twenty minutes I made an effort to work individually with each student and give them individual goals for this writing. Since, I have been looking so closely at all my students work I had notes for what each child could improve on. Such as their name, date and adding a setting to their picture. I noticed that most of my students when finished had remembered what I said to them individually and shared with me. It was a proud moment for everyone.
It was very surprising to see the students grow so quickly and to work on their stamina and to work independently. There were some students who would go back and erase and edit their work, or there would be students who would sit and think about their writing topic for some time. I had some students who were writing a list of words instead of a sentence, but they drew what they were writing. This was a great connection, but it did help me to see that these students will need some extra help in thinking of complete thoughts and in sentence structure. I know that this was because they were getting words from the wall or words we learned and were trying to increase their stamina. So, this was a great progression in my opinion, and I was happy to see them try and progress.
It was very surprising to see the students grow so quickly and to work on their stamina and to work independently. There were some students who would go back and erase and edit their work, or there would be students who would sit and think about their writing topic for some time. I had some students who were writing a list of words instead of a sentence, but they drew what they were writing. This was a great connection, but it did help me to see that these students will need some extra help in thinking of complete thoughts and in sentence structure. I know that this was because they were getting words from the wall or words we learned and were trying to increase their stamina. So, this was a great progression in my opinion, and I was happy to see them try and progress.
Writing independence helps build self-esteem and self-efficacy
Before Writers Workshop my class had an overall low self-efficacy of their writing abilities and low self esteem. I had the students take a questionnaire the last Friday with the students individually at the end of the day. I gave them the questionnaire individually because I wanted to personally make sure they were answering truthfully and to get a good idea of how they felt. Below is a graph with the results from their questionnaire.
Before Writers Workshop my class had an overall low self-efficacy of their writing abilities and low self esteem. I had the students take a questionnaire the last Friday with the students individually at the end of the day. I gave them the questionnaire individually because I wanted to personally make sure they were answering truthfully and to get a good idea of how they felt. Below is a graph with the results from their questionnaire.
I was very happy to see that many of my students' self-efficacy about writing has improved and that almost everyone in the class think they are a good writer. I want to keep their self-efficacy high and for them to continue to have this positive attitude about their writing capabilities. So, I will continue to give warm and positive feedback and praise all the efforts made by them as a class and individually.
For the "I like to write words" survey I was very happy to see that there were less no's. During the initial assessment my students did not like to write words at all and the majority said a lot of "I can't". I am very happy to see that their self-efficacy has improved and their opinion has grown from "No Writing!" to the majority "sort of". After Phase Two I would like to see the students grow even more and to all say they like to write words. Nonetheless, this is an improvement that I am happy to see.
I was very disheartened when two of my ELL students answered no to my teacher thinks I am a good writer. I want all my students to think most definitely that I believe they are good writers. I believe that maybe this is due to the feedback I give my students and that some of my students may take offense to the feedback. I will do my best when asking the students to add more detail or to think about adding more, that they are praised for their immediate efforts, because I want all of them to know I know they are good writers.
I asked the students if they liked to draw because I thought it was important for them to still enjoy drawing, even if they are going back and adding more detail and growing as artists to take their time. I was very happy to see that most of the students enjoy drawing still and I hope to keep that opinion about drawing.
For the "I like to write words" survey I was very happy to see that there were less no's. During the initial assessment my students did not like to write words at all and the majority said a lot of "I can't". I am very happy to see that their self-efficacy has improved and their opinion has grown from "No Writing!" to the majority "sort of". After Phase Two I would like to see the students grow even more and to all say they like to write words. Nonetheless, this is an improvement that I am happy to see.
I was very disheartened when two of my ELL students answered no to my teacher thinks I am a good writer. I want all my students to think most definitely that I believe they are good writers. I believe that maybe this is due to the feedback I give my students and that some of my students may take offense to the feedback. I will do my best when asking the students to add more detail or to think about adding more, that they are praised for their immediate efforts, because I want all of them to know I know they are good writers.
I asked the students if they liked to draw because I thought it was important for them to still enjoy drawing, even if they are going back and adding more detail and growing as artists to take their time. I was very happy to see that most of the students enjoy drawing still and I hope to keep that opinion about drawing.
Academic Advancement
It was nice to see that the majority of my students writing and drawings improved prior to Writers Workshop. My students who were only writing if they could trace the words, are no longer tracing. They are using words of their own and even improving their penmanship. My students who were the most advanced writers have started to build more complex sentences, even using the word 'and' to connect two separate thoughts. I have also seen growth in stretching out words and using spaces for different words. I still have a few students using one word for their story and only using words on the walls or taught. I would like to see more independence and using their own thoughts to write sentences rather than single words. I would also like the students to grow in their story telling. I believe that the students have progressed greatly as a whole and I am happy to see their thoughts and writing grow.
Using the rubric I assessed that maintaining attention was the most growth I saw as a class. Although, most of the class is not maintaining attention ALL of the time, they are maintaining attention most of the time. And this was noticed from the stamina charts. About half of the class draws pictures and labels and the other half picture and/or words tell a story. I would like to work on storytelling more and see my growth in all of the students there. Just like the topic generation the class is split with half generating a topic some of the time and the other half generating a topic most of the time. For letter attempts the class as a whole did very well and I have seen much improvement in my students who were having a harder time with their penmanship grow significantly. Almost all letters are recognizable in the class. The last part of the rubric is where the class differed greatly. This is due to my wide range of backgrounds in my class from my ELL students, to students with no preschool and to my students who joined kindergarten just this October or November. I have students still at the lower end of the rubric all the way to the end. Although, many of the students used words and even formed sentences, I noticed that they repeatedly would only use words that are in the classroom. The students who have little phonetic knowledge are only writing words from the walls in the classroom. I noticed this from my personal phonetic assessments with all of my students, and this is something that I want them to eventually feel comfortable with and to try and spell their own words. Overall, I saw growth both academically and emotionally no matter how small. I would like to see ALL students grow in both these aspects after phase two.
It was nice to see that the majority of my students writing and drawings improved prior to Writers Workshop. My students who were only writing if they could trace the words, are no longer tracing. They are using words of their own and even improving their penmanship. My students who were the most advanced writers have started to build more complex sentences, even using the word 'and' to connect two separate thoughts. I have also seen growth in stretching out words and using spaces for different words. I still have a few students using one word for their story and only using words on the walls or taught. I would like to see more independence and using their own thoughts to write sentences rather than single words. I would also like the students to grow in their story telling. I believe that the students have progressed greatly as a whole and I am happy to see their thoughts and writing grow.
Using the rubric I assessed that maintaining attention was the most growth I saw as a class. Although, most of the class is not maintaining attention ALL of the time, they are maintaining attention most of the time. And this was noticed from the stamina charts. About half of the class draws pictures and labels and the other half picture and/or words tell a story. I would like to work on storytelling more and see my growth in all of the students there. Just like the topic generation the class is split with half generating a topic some of the time and the other half generating a topic most of the time. For letter attempts the class as a whole did very well and I have seen much improvement in my students who were having a harder time with their penmanship grow significantly. Almost all letters are recognizable in the class. The last part of the rubric is where the class differed greatly. This is due to my wide range of backgrounds in my class from my ELL students, to students with no preschool and to my students who joined kindergarten just this October or November. I have students still at the lower end of the rubric all the way to the end. Although, many of the students used words and even formed sentences, I noticed that they repeatedly would only use words that are in the classroom. The students who have little phonetic knowledge are only writing words from the walls in the classroom. I noticed this from my personal phonetic assessments with all of my students, and this is something that I want them to eventually feel comfortable with and to try and spell their own words. Overall, I saw growth both academically and emotionally no matter how small. I would like to see ALL students grow in both these aspects after phase two.
Next Steps
My goals for Phase One were to foster writing independence among my kindergarten students. Based on my assessments my student had an increase in their self efficacy and self esteem. During Phase One I saw much more independence with their writing due to freedom of choice, and that I would no longer write the words for the students or write the sentences for them to copy. I additionally noticed that their stamina was building and they were needing less help from me to stay focused.
There was a lot of growth of independence, which now gives me time to focus on the students individually. My original research question was:
How can I nurture writing independence among my kindergarten students?
Now that thanks to the mini-lessons and the Writers Workshop model, my students are on their way to writing independently, building stamina, and they have an increase in their self-efficacy and esteem. I have come up with a sub-question which will guide me for the Phase Two of my action research. My sub-question that I hope to answer in Phase Two is:
Will implementing individual conferences help improve writing at all student levels?
I now have the time to work with students individually, while the students write independently after their mini-lesson. I would like to meet with 2-3 new students a day during their independent writing period and follow up with one struggling student and discuss what they are writing, answer questions, and help guide their writing at their own level. This will give me the opportunity to see what each of my students need from me and what level they are at. This will give them the personal instruction they need to progress in their writing at their own level and pace. I hope not only to help them make goals for their writing piece and clarify writing expectations, but I also hope by meeting with the students I help build their confidence in writing and that they grow as writers. I would like them to use their own spelling and their own thoughts.
I believe by keeping up with the students and discussing their writing with them individually will help keep the students on track and I will also be able to give them feedback and guidance in their writing. I will work with my students on their goals for this writing piece depending on their individual needs. I will continue to praise and acknowledge the work they have done to keep and build their self-efficacy and esteem. I will use a binder where I will keep notes of what we discussed and different comments from the students. This will help me assess the students writing and attitudes.
My students have entered a routine during Writer's Workshop and expect it daily. Since, this is the case I will continue to implement the aspects of the Writer's Workshop model in Phase One, into Phase Two. I will keep the mini-lessons and continue to model and instruct new ways and ideas on how to write. I will continue to teach how to stretch out sounds to make words.
Lastly, I will continue to use the stamina chart, I will continue to observe my students behaviors and feelings on their writing, daily. I will also give the students the same questionnaire about their feelings about writing and see if there are changes. The new data I will be using are the notes from my individual conferences. I will also assess at the end how the students felt the individual conferences helped them and if they would like to continue the conferences. I will be using these questions to help guide my conference.
My goals for Phase One were to foster writing independence among my kindergarten students. Based on my assessments my student had an increase in their self efficacy and self esteem. During Phase One I saw much more independence with their writing due to freedom of choice, and that I would no longer write the words for the students or write the sentences for them to copy. I additionally noticed that their stamina was building and they were needing less help from me to stay focused.
There was a lot of growth of independence, which now gives me time to focus on the students individually. My original research question was:
How can I nurture writing independence among my kindergarten students?
- What happens to students self-esteem when they learn to write independently?
- How will learning to write for an audience aide in my kindergartners writing development?
- How are writing enjoyment and proficiency connected?
Now that thanks to the mini-lessons and the Writers Workshop model, my students are on their way to writing independently, building stamina, and they have an increase in their self-efficacy and esteem. I have come up with a sub-question which will guide me for the Phase Two of my action research. My sub-question that I hope to answer in Phase Two is:
Will implementing individual conferences help improve writing at all student levels?
I now have the time to work with students individually, while the students write independently after their mini-lesson. I would like to meet with 2-3 new students a day during their independent writing period and follow up with one struggling student and discuss what they are writing, answer questions, and help guide their writing at their own level. This will give me the opportunity to see what each of my students need from me and what level they are at. This will give them the personal instruction they need to progress in their writing at their own level and pace. I hope not only to help them make goals for their writing piece and clarify writing expectations, but I also hope by meeting with the students I help build their confidence in writing and that they grow as writers. I would like them to use their own spelling and their own thoughts.
I believe by keeping up with the students and discussing their writing with them individually will help keep the students on track and I will also be able to give them feedback and guidance in their writing. I will work with my students on their goals for this writing piece depending on their individual needs. I will continue to praise and acknowledge the work they have done to keep and build their self-efficacy and esteem. I will use a binder where I will keep notes of what we discussed and different comments from the students. This will help me assess the students writing and attitudes.
My students have entered a routine during Writer's Workshop and expect it daily. Since, this is the case I will continue to implement the aspects of the Writer's Workshop model in Phase One, into Phase Two. I will keep the mini-lessons and continue to model and instruct new ways and ideas on how to write. I will continue to teach how to stretch out sounds to make words.
Lastly, I will continue to use the stamina chart, I will continue to observe my students behaviors and feelings on their writing, daily. I will also give the students the same questionnaire about their feelings about writing and see if there are changes. The new data I will be using are the notes from my individual conferences. I will also assess at the end how the students felt the individual conferences helped them and if they would like to continue the conferences. I will be using these questions to help guide my conference.
With these guiding questions, this will help foster their writing independence and help them grow as writers without feeling like their current writing isn't good. Giving students constructive feedback properly at a young age will help them grow in all aspects of their life, because feedback is a part of growing as an individual.
At the end of Phase Two I would like to see my students achieve more writing independence, see their stamina grow consistently, and to see them discuss and expand on their writing and drawings with me during conferences. While they learn to write and to focus their writing pieces, and have individual conferences I would like to see their growth in their writing capabilities. I would like to see more writing on personal topics, and more phonetic spelling. I would like to gain insight on their writing capabilities and where each of the students are struggling and what extra assistance I can give them. The conferences will give me a better chance of differentiating their writing lessons and to help with the areas they need help with. I would also like to see them take the conferences and learn from them, while growing their love for writing words. I hope that by having individual conferences my students will gain more insight on writing, how to organize their writing, how to edit and revise and love for their own words and thoughts.
At the end of Phase Two I would like to see my students achieve more writing independence, see their stamina grow consistently, and to see them discuss and expand on their writing and drawings with me during conferences. While they learn to write and to focus their writing pieces, and have individual conferences I would like to see their growth in their writing capabilities. I would like to see more writing on personal topics, and more phonetic spelling. I would like to gain insight on their writing capabilities and where each of the students are struggling and what extra assistance I can give them. The conferences will give me a better chance of differentiating their writing lessons and to help with the areas they need help with. I would also like to see them take the conferences and learn from them, while growing their love for writing words. I hope that by having individual conferences my students will gain more insight on writing, how to organize their writing, how to edit and revise and love for their own words and thoughts.