Action Research Draft Report
Julia Barton
Use of New Writing Curriculum Inspired
by The Writing Academy to Improve Students’ Writing Performance on the State
Standardized Test (STAAR)
Our actual composition scores on the
personal narrative have been low for many years. The most 4’s we achieved on TAKS on any year
was 7 out of about 170 students.
Although we had a fair amount of 3’s, our percentage of 2’s dominated
our results. As the new writing
facilitator for our campus, I worked diligently to create a writing curriculum
for grades 2-4. This writing curriculum
was many of my own methods as well as bits of inspiration from theWriting
Academy. I chose to only measure my
class since it was a new program and many of the teachers would probably need
the year to learn it and adjust.
The students in my class were engaged in
the new writing curriculum in order to improve writing performance on the state
test. I began the year with a sample
writing from my students prior to any writing instruction. I used six weeks samples and benchmark scores
to determine necessary intervention strategies.
I also conducted one-on-one conferences with students regarding their
writing. “These
one-to-one conversations, commonly called "writing conferences," are
a focused, effective method for teaching writing. They allow educators to teach
to students' individual needs as writers and are one of the best ways to
differentiate writing instruction.” (Anderson
(2009)
According to Randi Whitney, the Writing
Academy uses brain-based research in that it takes the students through a
process of hearing, seeing, and doing.
She suggests that the brain needs to overview and then learn in small
chunks. The small chunks include
understanding the writing process, using the skills of magnifying, telescoping,
webb-writing, and implementing graphic organizers complete with colors and “hooks”
for students to make and maintain connections to the concepts. The new writing program focused on organization,
lexicon, idea development, voice, conventions, and sustained focus which is in
agreement with the 6 trait models of writing.
My principal and I decided that I would begin my action research first
with my class since I had the most experience with the curriculum being the one
who put it all together for the campus. We
felt this would give us the best indicator of how the writing program will work
with others once they are more familiar with it. Since all teachers will have a year
experience with the new program, next year I plan on continueing the research
by including all 4th grade classes.
Since I only conducted the initial
research with my own class, and it didn’t involve anything outside of my normal
job description of educating the students, I did not feel the need to
communicate the research plan with parents, other staff, or the students. Next year when I spread the action research to include the
entire 4th grade, I will have a meeting with the 4th grade
language arts teachers and present past writing data to facilitate a discussion
of the need to conduct the research.
I organized the implementation of the
project by collecting a pre-writing sample and scoring it. The samples were kept for later
evaluation. I recorded and kept data
from the results of each six weeks writing samples as well as benchmark writing
results. Because the action research
involved my class, I needed no additional money, time, or people to conduct my
project. I put priority on student
learning by ensuring that writing was an everyday activity. I also implemented one-on-one conferences
into my schedule to ensure personal conversation with each student regarding
their progress.
By using the six weeks writing data and benchmark
writing data, I could address areas of need for each student. I could personalize my conversation within
the student/teacher conference to best meet the individual needs of the
students.
By using the step-by-step method of
writing, the needs of slow learners and second language learners will be better
met. The one-on-one conferencing also
met the needs of all the students individually.
Each student could reflect upon his/her own weaknesses whether it was in
the area of organization, word choice, sentence structure, grammar and usage,
voice, or focus. Writing is one of the
most difficult subjects to teach because it encompases so many skills of which
many students vary on ability. All
children must be able to express themselves clearly and adequately through
writing no matter what their cultural background, educational abilities, or
economic situation. This method of
writing allows more of a focus on each student and his/her personal
ability. By conducting this research I
will be able to break down the data further to determine if there are groups
that are not being as successful as others and then be able to modify the
program to better meet their needs.
Resources
Anderson, C. (2009). Strategic Writing Conferences: Smart Conversations that Move
Young Writers Forward. Firsthand,
a division of Houghtin Mifflin Harcourt. Retrieved
Whitney,
R. (2008). The Writing Academy. Randi Whitney Consulting. Retrieved from
http://www.twa.net/academy.html
