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Writer's Workshop
Improving writing skills in first grade
DATA METHODS
The following methods were used to collect data to identify first grade students' writing conventions and improvement of idea development through a writer's workshop instructional approach.
PRE AND POST TEST
A pre and post-test was given at the beginning and end of the six-week data collection window. This piece of data gave me concrete evidence of student growth or lack of growth from the start of the implementation of writer's workshop to the end. To score my students piece of writing for both the pre and post-test I used two personally developed 4-point writing rubrics, one for writing conventions and one for idea development and organization. The conventions rubric was focused on four different convention pieces in writing: capital letters, finger spacing, punctuation, and spelling. The second rubric was developed to score students' idea development and organization, which included three parts: prompt, organization, and details. A rubric is used to evaluate students' work that includes specific criteria. Rubrics included one or more categories with specific expectations ranging on a scale. Within each of these categories on the rubric, it gave a written explanation or example to identify the expectation to receive that score. Rubrics are the most common form of scoring for the subject of writing, therefore, this served my population well.
At the beginning of the six-week data collection, students were asked to write a fully developed piece of writing including a beginning, middle, and end related to winter that also included details to better enhance their story with little to no conferencing. Students' writing was scored based on the two 4-point writing rubrics discussed above.
The post-test was structured differently to observe the difference between the implementation of writer's workshop compared to no structure. At the end of the six-week data collection window, students turned in a piece of writing that they had been working on for a week and half that was taught through writer's workshop instruction. Throughout this week and a half, students were taught through mini lessons, participated in conferences, worked in small groups, and had different resources to assist them with their writing.
WEEKLY WRITING
Weekly writing consisted of a piece of writing that focused on a specific skill or review of a skill within one of the seven categories on the pre/post test rubric. Each day, students completed a piece of writing with a weekly prompt to keep their writing focused. These pieces of writing were completed during students' independent writing time of writer's workshop.
Each week, students turned in what they felt was their best piece of writing that they had completed for the week. At the end of every week I would review the students' writing that they had completed and identified specific skills which showed a need of improvement within one of the seven categories on the rubrics. This determined my focus for the following week for whole group mini lessons, as well as small group instruction.
ANECDOTAL NOTES
Anecdotal notes are a form of observation of a student to give specific details of what is being observed. These can be used in a variety of ways to keep track of students' progress. This form of data was useful to keep track of an individual student's work. Notes were taken during conferencing as well as at the end of the week on their weekly writing. The first form of anecdotal notes was a weekly checklist with students names down the side as well as Monday through Friday, this was to quickly identify if students were able to meet the objective of writing for the week.
The second form of anecdotal notes used to inform my data collection was a conferencing sheet. I created a sheet for each student that included date of conference, teacher feedback, and student corrections. This allowed me to keep track of when I was meeting with students as well as what specific skills students showed a need for more support.
