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Writer's Workshop
Improving writing skills in first grade
REFLECTION
Time is a challenge in all aspects of teaching. Not having enough time for writing instruction was my biggest challenge while implementing this action plan. My goal each week was to have a one-on-one conference with each student, and many weeks that was not achievable due to lack of time. Many days I utilized the time scheduled for our whole group reading to allow enough time for writing.
All students showed growth from incorporating writer's workshop into their daily writing block. Not only were they successful with an increased score on their writing, but attitudes towards writing improved. Students now show great independence during work time and have built their writing stamina from the beginning of the six-week data collection.
C H A L L E N G E
S U C C E S S
IMPACT ON STUDENTS
Before incorporating writer's workshop into our daily routine, students were unmotivated and lacking confidence within their writing. Students became frustrated when they couldn't spell a word or were asked to expand their thoughts. After providing students with more structure and support through the writing process, students have shown more excitement and confidence with writing. The structure of writer's workshop has helped students with the use of conventions and idea development in their stories. All students showed growth with their writing and continue to utilize the resources and skills learned from writer's workshop.
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Observing students' work throughout writer's workshop, students showed great success utilizing the tools discussed within the action plan. Graphic organizers were a tool most students had not been familiar with prior to writer's workshop. Now, students are much more successful with planning a story when utilizing a graphic organizer before beginning the writing process. Although the spelling of sight words showed the least amount of growth, students have been much more successful with identifying sight words with the exposure to more words using their sight word list.
CURRENT AND FUTURE TEACHING
This study has directly impacted my teaching and future teaching within writing. Writing is one subject that easily gets overlooked and given little to no time. After conducting extensive research and collecting data, I have seen firsthand how successful students' writing can be if they are given time to write. Writing is a skill that takes time and practice. Students lack confidence when they are not given the time to practice new skills. Allowing students time and practice gives them more opportunity to grow as a learner. One major takeaway from this study I can apply to all areas of my teaching is the importance of structure. Students need structure and I can see, from the data I collected, how much more successful students were when given specific structure during writing compared to no structure. I will continue to use writer's workshop throughout the rest of the year. I am going to be focusing on different genres and taking a week or more to allow students to fully grasp the concept of the new genre.
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Prior to incorporating writer's workshop, my instruction was based on the resources provided by my school district. I was finding that there was little to no structure, the writing process was not taught, and writing instruction itself was unclear. I was also not utilizing differentiation within my teaching to reach all students. It was all focused on whole group with little to no conferencing. Writing tools such as graphic organizers, checklists, and sight words were not directly applied through these resources. As a first-year teacher, it is difficult to know what is the "right" thing to do or how to teach until you have taught it. Beginning the year with the provided resources has made me very reflective on what works and what did not. I have found that the more structured approach to writing instruction with a step-by-step process sets my students up to be more successful with their writing.
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While implementing this study, I have found new ways that I can improve my future teaching. I specifically want to focus on incorporating more writing within our daily schedule to boost student success and confidence. Starting at the beginning of my second year of teaching I also plan to begin writer's workshop as soon as possible. I have found this instructional strategy the most helpful for my students' writing success. My goal is to continue to use the district-provided resources as a guide, but use them at a different pace than what is suggested. Giving students more time to explore and practice a genre of writing will increase students' understanding of that genre.
PROFESSIONAL GROWTH
Through this research process I was able to work with other professionals to gain the best knowledge to implement my action plan. I began the process of the action plan with completing research regarding writer's workshop. I was able to gain insight for my research from a university writing professor that I had worked with prior to creating this action research. They gave me valuable information to apply to my research and action plan. I was also able to work closely with my internal stakeholders, specifically my mentor/school instructional coach. Together, we worked to create the two rubrics for the action plan. In addition, they were able to assist me with mini-lessons and conferencing through writer's workshop. As time was a challenge, having my mentor assist with conferencing allowed more availability to meet with students. Another internal stakeholder was my teaching partner who had great insight with teaching first grade. They assisted me by supplying resources and curriculum guides. I also worked with my school's reading intervention teacher to extend the writing practice within her small structured group. Students who met with our reading interventionist struggled with their reading skills which, also effected their writing. During their time with our reading teacher they continued working on correlating their reading with their writing skills in a small group setting.