Current Staus as of March 29, 2013

My action research project examines how effectively implementing a variety of critical writing experiences in all fourth grade subject areas will increase student writing achievement. Even though our campus was a “Recognized” campus, our writing success was low. I began by conferencing with my grade level team about the different writing experiences they could incorporate into their math, science, and social studies classes. I also implemented a “Sacred Writing Time” in my classroom where students read a quote, received a prompt based on a well-known fact, and were exposed to a vocabulary word they were expected to use in their writing. This “Sacred Writing Time” was in addition to the writer’s workshop format we were already following. I also provided materials and time for students to create a writing portfolio to store their writing. They thoroughly enjoyed this component, as they felt invested in their writing.  Once we had our first six weeks’ common assessment, our grade level met again to disaggregate data and brainstorm for further writing experiences. I used the data to pin point low skills, and proceded to meet with small groups on these skills. I continued to conference individually with students about their compositions, and implemented a “Share Time” every day for students to share their writing of choice with no criticism. I immediately observed an increase in student initiative to write. I even had students ask if they could write at home, and bring those pieces for share time. Additionally, our weekly writing homework was composed of an increased amount composition writing coupled with revising and editing questions. Fortunately, our benchmark data showed an increase since the last common assessment.  To further increase student writing achievement, I created a “STAAR Idol” game where students were selected to be “celebrity judges” that would use a rubric to score anonymous samples. The rest of the students served as the audience. We would read the compositions, then “America” got a chance to vote via our Smart Clickers as to what score the composition deserved. We also discussed the strengths and weaknesses of each piece, and why the composition deserved the score it received. The latest implementation I have made is a Spencer Kagan Cooperative Learning Strategy called “Student Teams Achievement Divisions”. This is a strategy that focuses on student improvement through cooperative learning. Just this last week, our grade level collectively improved 99 points. I posted our statistics for all to see, and after our series of quizzes, we will have a reward party for the individuals, teams, and classes that scored the highest in improvement points. The students were so excited to see their improvement, and it has helped increase effort and team work in addition to increasing writing skills. I will continue all of the above mentioned strategies and implementations throughout the duration of the school year. I look forward to reviewing the data at the end of the year to see if the strategies and implementations prove successful.