Rationale
History:
My capstone project was centered around 26 5th grade students in afternoon writing class. The methods used could be differentiated and implemented at any grade level. The majority of the students in the study lacked writing stamina and motivation, resulting in poor achievement during writing instruction and on final writing pieces. As of October 2018, there were 416 students enrolled in the entire building. In the 2016-2017 school year, 9.1% of students were receiving free or reduced lunches. The population of the school was 91.1% Caucasian, 3.1% Hispanic, 2.9% Asian, and 2.9% African American. The 5th grade classroom population reflected the school-wide population. Out of the students in the study, 24 students were Caucasian and two students were African American. My school was located in an area in which many families were of high socioeconomic status. Most were involved in extracurricular activities. School was not necessarily a priority to these students and families. Zero students received special education services outside of the classroom. Two students had Individualized Education Plans (due to diagnoses which impacted academic achievement) and one student had a 504 Plan (classroom accommodations). All students in 5th grade received 50 minutes of writing instruction four to five days per week from 2:20 pm to 3:10 pm. Twice a week, between two and six students were out of the classroom during writing instruction for band. Otherwise, neither attendance nor participation was an issue. Students received writing instruction for the following units of study: poetry, persuasive writing, creative fiction, narrative writing, and informational writing.
Need:
The data I collected from my students showed a need in writing. Specifically, students struggled with providing support for the main idea. At the end of the first quarter, seven students were achieving below a 70% in writing. Grammar counted for about half of this grade, while writing practice and formal writing pieces counted for the other half. Fourteen students missed 10 or more points on a recent persuasive writing piece after weeks of instruction. I used a scoring guide to grade this piece of writing and found that 18 students missed points in the category of “reasons and support” which showed that the biggest need resided in the area of providing support. Additionally, I informally observed students during whole group writing instruction. I found that I frequently reminded students to add more detail and/or support before they submitted assignments. With guidance and during whole group instruction, students helped to support teacher-provided ideas. However, they lacked confidence in supporting their own ideas. Further, students struggled to form supporting ideas and back up their opinions, especially when I expected them to do so independently (with little guidance). They struggled to grasp the very idea of supporting ideas with details. Whole group instruction paired with individual, informal questioning had little to no effect on student achievement. They could not explain how to support their ideas after teacher modeling and whole group instruction. When students were given a rubric for self evaluation, only four students scored themselves “excellent” in the category of “reasons and support,” which matched my own evaluations. This piece of data showed that they were aware of their lack of understanding and/or confidence in providing support for ideas. Very few students enjoyed writing and most lacked motivation. The majority of students wrote only as much as I required in order to pass.
Importance:
The information gained from this study allowed me to gain a better understanding of the types of writers in my room. It also helped me to understand the specific items standing in the way of student motivation and success. With this information, I was able to more effectively differentiate for students based on the needs I grasped through conferencing. Additionally, rubrics helped to guide the writing process and gave students a clear idea of what their final pieces of writing would look like. As we moved to writing topics which allowed more freedom in topic choice (i.e. creative fiction, narrative writing, and poetry), students needed to familiarize themselves with utilizing rubrics as tools while they wrote. This was especially beneficial since I was unable to conference with every student every day. The process of conferencing helped me to improve the way I used time when meeting with students about their writing (i.e. monitoring and goal setting).