Notes and Presentation from Thursday, June 21st, 2012

Joel Hilborn's Presentation: Research Question What methods are mosteffective in improving the writing skills of E.L.L. students? One of the main reasons I chose this topic is quitesimple. This upcoming school year willbe my ninth with Collier County Public Schools, and I have taught E.L.L.students seven of the nine years. Ihave taught second, fourth and fifth grades in Collier schools, and in thevarious writing assessments, my E.L.L. students typically score the lowest. I not only want them to do better on writingtests, but better in school and life in general. My goal is for all of my students to besuccessful. Although I didn’t do anextensive search, finding information on this topic, relative to elementarystudents was difficult. I didn’t findvery much. I have combined what I didfind with one of the articles that we read, Successwith E.L.L.s, by Margo DelliCarpini. Often the methods that target these students are simply goodteaching practice, and that appears to be the case in this topic as well. My reading coach is a strong proponent insilent sustained reading, and it is suggested that this is an important tool. Students become more familiar with language,and become more fluent readers. This inturn, helps them become better writers. Lucy Calkins, of writing fame, suggests that E.L.L. students learn aboutgrammar and punctuation through exposure to text. Evidence suggests that instruction of grammarthrough fixing mistakes is not beneficial. It makes sense that students will learn about grammar and sentencestructure through exposure; that is how we learn many things. I do implement S.S.R. in my room, and I planto place even more of an emphasis this year. My school implements The Daily 5 literacy model, written byGail Boushey and Joan Moser. In thisprogram, students are explicitly taught how to read silently for periods oftime, and learn to build stamina as they read. This is beneficial for so many areas in learning. I like this method, and have seensuccess. We learned in Success with E.L.L.s of the importance of student knowledge of textstructure in all genres of reading, as well as increased exposure to text. This is a practice of my guided readingprogram. I am finding that more and more students are interested in non-fictiontext, which is good, although it is important to have a balance. Students do need to be exposed to fiction aswell, to encourage creative thinking. Oneof the “aha” portions of the article was that students need to know the purposeof the text, as well as the justification for reading it. This is one of the challenges that I willtackle this year. I don’t want to teachtexts to students “just because”. Studentswill glean more from the text when it helps to accomplish a task, or answerimportant questions. I will work oncreating purposes for reading specific genres. It is interesting that the Common Core Standards stresswriting across the curriculum and research suggested that this is also aneffective method for English language learners. One source of my research suggested that writing should come prior tolearning to write. While I find thatinteresting, my students are already reading and writing, so this is not somethingthat I will explore. I will however, teachand encourage writing throughout all subject areas. Not only a sound practice, it is also aneffective method of assessing understanding. I plan on creating “do now” assignments. From the first article we read, Informal and Shared: Writing to CreateCommunity, by Deborah Dean and Adrienne Warren, my belief in frequentwriting was affirmed. I do believe thatstudents develop the writing craft by simply writing…not constant prompts. I have found that younger students especiallylike to write, specifically when their writing isn’t dissected and they aren’trequired to rewrite. Yes, there is atime for process writing a revising, but I believe that students need to enjoywriting and develop confidence first before we begin the revising step. My writing instruction will include processof writing, in preparation of writing assessments. This is not only necessary, but is also foundto be an effective method of teaching E.L.L. students. I plan on doing morethink a louds as we write, and involve students in the process. I willcontinue to work individually with writers, as well as small groups. I will focus on helping the writer ratherthan the written piece, another “aha” moment from an invitation to write duringthe Project. I am disheartened when student’s writing mirrors mine. I want to rid my writing workshops of thelong line of students waiting for me to rewrite their papers. My goal is for students to develop their voices, as they learn to write to communicate.