A Very Frustrating Assignment
One day during writing time I asked my first grade students to write
a sentence as a response to a story. After reading the story "Me
Gusta Jugar" (I Like to Play), I put a writing prompt on the board
for the students to respond to.
The writing prompt was "Con mi amigo ___________________ jugamos con
el ." (With my friend _________________ we play with the
__________________.) I thought that this was a very simple
assignment. The students had to copy the writing prompt and complete
the sentence. As the students began the assignment I heard a variety
of comments and noticed the reactions of my students. "No puedo
escribir" (I can't write), said Brenda. "Just try, copy the sentence
and fill in the blanks," I replied. Another student, Gloria, quickly
copied the sentence from the board and filled in the blanks. Then I
noticed Jose's reaction. He put his head down and was very quiet. I
walked towards him and asked, "What's the matter?" A tear ran down
his cheek as he answered, "I'm dumb because I can't write." I felt
overwhelmed as I observed the reactions of my students. The
assignment that I had thought would be easy and quick for my students
had turned out to be difficult and frustrating for most of them. I
realized that I had many levels of writing ability in my classroom
(Appendix A). Additionally, it seemed that many of my students were
intimidated by a writing assignment.
José's frustrated face stayed in my mind that entire night. I
was especially sensitive to his reaction because I saw myself in his
teary eyes. For that single moment I knew exactly how José was
feeling... frustrated. As a child, I also lacked confidence in my
ability to write. I could easily relate to José's feeling of
failure. As an adult, I still struggle with my confidence as a writer
and I still find it difficult to express my thoughts through
writing.
This experience with my class as well as my own reflection on my
experiences as a writer encouraged me to focus my teacher research
inquiry on the topic of writing. I wanted to take some sort of
immediate action in order to encourage my students as writers. I
realized that one of the greatest gifts I could give my students was
to help them learn to enjoy the art of writing.
My Classroom and My Students
The school where I teach is located in an urban area. The largest
percentage of students in our school are Latino. Many of the students
move back and forth between Puerto Rico and the United States. This
is an ongoing cycle. I am a Bilingual teacher in a first grade class
of twenty students. My students come from varied home backgrounds.
Most of the students live below the poverty level. The majority of my
students are Puerto Rican, some are Dominican and a few are Cuban. My
students' first language is Spanish. Instruction is mainly done in
Spanish. Therefore when I refer to the students writing, I am
referring to their writing in Spanish.
For this classroom inquiry I decided to focus my attention on three
students. I collected writing samples from all my students but report
on three students who displayed varied levels of writing proficiency.
The first student, Gloria, was at the early phonemic stage of
writing. She was beginning to use inventive spelling when writing.
Brenda, the second student, was at the random, letter making stage of
writing. When Brenda did not know a word she wrote random letters on
her paper. José, the final student, was at the pre- letter
stage of writing. He mainly drew and often wrote a letter or two on
his paper. I only chose three students because of the complexity of
the process of analyzing written work and because of time constraints
on the study.
My Classroom Inquiry
The topic of writing is broad I realized that I needed to narrow my
research inquiry. I began to read articles about writing in the
classroom to try and focus my inquiry on something more specific.
Cummings (1994) wrote that "... if you help your students realize
that writing is a process that results in a final product, they will
find writing easier and more exciting." This statement really
summarized what I wanted my students to understand. In order for
students to enjoy writing they had to see writing as something that
they could do. The idea of focusing on the process and not the
results excited me. Cummings also suggested strategies for teachers
to use to facilitate the writing process. My guiding question for the
classroom inquiry became: What happens when my students use the
writing process as a strategy to develop their writing skills?
The Writing Process in my Classroom
The five steps of the writing process are: Rehearsing (organizing
ideas), Drafting (getting ideas on paper), Revising (reworking
content), Editing (checking and correcting grammar) and Publishing
(sharing writing with an audience) (Hennings, 1994). The Rehearsing
Stage is when students think and organize their ideas. Every week we
read a different story and then we brainstormed ideas and made a
topic map. For example, we read the book "Mi Abuela" (My
Grandmother). This book is about a grandmother that imagines an
exciting trip around the city with her granddaughter. We brainstormed
the phrase "Mi viaje con abuela" (My trip with my grandmother).
Students were asked to think about where they would like to go with
their grandmothers. In the Rehearsing stage, the students told me
their ideas and I wrote them on chart paper. The outcome was a web
full of creative ideas. After developing the topic map, I instructed
my students to select one idea and sketch a picture of it. By drawing
a picture students expanded their ideas and illustrated them.
Once students finished their drawings they proceeded to the Drafting
stage. I provided them with a writing prompt to facilitate their
writing. It was up to the students to decide if they preferred to use
the writing prompt. In the Drafting stage students were encouraged to
use inventive spelling. They were also advised to ask their peers for
help in writing a word. The focus during drafting was on the flow of
writing, not on grammar. "Children need to feel free to guess at
spelling while composing, so that concern with correct spelling does
not diminish their enthusiasm for writing itself. Teachers can at the
same time encourage inventive spelling and lead the child to the
conventional forms..." (Lytle, Botel, 1990). Some of the comments I
made to the students were; "Good start, now what happened next?";
"Beautiful picture. What is happening here?"; "Can you tell me what
happened in a sentence?" I wrote the comments on the drafts of all my
students.
After writing comments on the students' writing, I attempted to have
conferences with as many students as possible. In the writing
conferences, I read the comments back to the children. I also asked
the students to tell me what they were going to write about next.
Since part of my writing philosophy is to give writers a purpose for
writing, the publishing state is essential: Students need to share
their work with an audience. In our classroom we have "La silla del
autor" (Author's chair). A student volunteer sits in the chair and
shares his/her writing. Classmates actively participate by listening
and asking questions. Sometimes students compile their writing pieces
and make class books.
Learning From My Student's Writing
I used several methods of collecting information to learn as much as
possible about the development of my students' writing abilities. One
method was to use journal writing in varied ways. The student journal
allowed me to obtain an initial assessment of students' writing and
it also helped me understand my students' personal feelings about
writing. For the initial assessment, the students were asked to
complete a journal entry about their favorite part of a story "La
Bella Hortelana" (The Beautiful Gardener) that I read to them. The
purpose of this activity was to establish a baseline for my students'
writing ability. Additionally, students were asked to write journal
entries on their feelings about writing on three different occasions.
The question for these journal entries was, "How do you feel when you
write?" Students were asked to draw a happy or sad face depending on
their feelings. Then students had to draw themselves writing and
finally they had to write about how they felt. Another method of data
collection was observation.
Lytle and Botel (1990) assert that by keeping anecdotal records of
students, or a journal of classroom events, teachers can remember and
reflect on particular students. I kept my observations in a journal.
When I made relevant observations during the day, I would write the
notes on Post-its, attach them to my journal, and later on that same
day transfer my comments to the journal. One observation I recorded
was the reactions of my students to writing assignments. I also used
observation in an attempt to determine how well they seemed to
understand the writing process. I was interested in identifying
possible reasons for why students became frustrated while
writing.
Throughout the classroom inquiry, I collected many writing samples in
order to judge how the students were progressing with their writing.
I chose three samples to analyze in depth for each of the three
students that were the focus of this inquiry and used the following
questions to guide my analysis of the writing: Was there any sign of
improvement? Did the writing remain the same? I determined
improvement by the quality of the writing itself as well as the
quality of the drawings. Did students take risks when writing? Were
they using inventive spelling? Did they write in sentence form?
Overall, I was looking to see if writing improved after applying the
strategies to facilitate the writing process.
The first writing sample that I analyzed was the final draft from the
assignment based on the story "Cu-Cu, Cu-Cu, Cantaba La Rana."
(Cu-Cu, CuCu, Sang the Frog). The question that the students
responded to was, "What was the frog doing?" The second writing
sample was the first draft from the writing assignment "Mi Abuela"
(My Grandmother). The third writing sample was the final draft from
"Mi Abuela." I also used a personal journal as part of my inquiry
which was different than the observation journal. In the observation
journal I recorded the students' reactions and interactions. In the
personal journal, I expressed my personal feelings about how the
inquiry was affecting me as a teacher, which I summarize in an
upcoming section of this paper.
Gloria Gloria is a very enthusiastic girl who loves to draw and
write. As I looked through her journal entries I noticed some
patterns. Gloria always expressed that she enjoyed the books we read
in class and she always finished the writing assignments that
followed the stories. Gloria's drawings were appropriate and were
related to the stories. As the activities progressed, Gloria began to
use inventive spelling.
It appeared that Gloria found writing to be a pleasant experience;
she was always excited about writing. Her journal responses to the
question, "How do you feel when you write?" indicated that she was
happy. On one occasion she even wrote, "Me gusta escribir" (I like to
write). Her drawings always displayed a girl writing with a big
pencil in her hand. She clearly saw herself as a writer. Many times
students asked Gloria for help in writing a word and she was always
willing to help her classmates. In the initial journal assignment,
Gloria did very well. She copied the sentence starter and finished
the sentence in a way that made sense. Because she was beginning to
use inventive spelling in her writing, Gloria was at the early
phonetic stage of writing Gloria's writing skills continued to
develop as she progressed in the various steps of the writing
process. In comparing the writing sample from "La Bella Hortelana" to
the sample from "Cu-Cu, Cu-Cu, Cantaba la Rana" (Appendix B). Gloria
copied the sentence starter and finished the sentence in the first
sample. However, in the second sample, she completed the sentence and
wrote another sentence using inventive spelling. Additionally, in the
second sample she spent less time drawing the picture and more time
writing her sentences.
Gloria enjoyed the assignment following the reading of "Mi Abuela."
In her journal she wrote that it was her favorite book. This was
reflected in her writing. In the drafting stage she wrote three
sentences. I wrote comments on her first draft about sentence
structure, reminding her that when writing her final draft she should
begin her sentences with a capital letter. Her revision was much
better (Appendix B).
Brenda
Although Brenda enjoyed drawing, she appeared to have a negative view
towards writing. In her literature-response journal, she had
responded with a sad face to all of the assignments. Her drawings
showing her sad feelings were elaborate and beautiful. Brenda's
writing was characterized by the use of random letters that have no
apparent connection to each other. My initial assessment of Brenda
was that she was in the random letter stage of writing. Brenda copied
the sentence starter and then copied words from the topic map for her
initial assignment. She did not add any additional words beyond the
words from the topic map and she put periods after each word. As time
progressed Brenda began to display a more complex understanding of
sentence structure. She demonstrated this understanding by writing a
complete sentence in the assignment following the story, "Cu-Cu,
Cu-Cu, Cantaba La Rana." In the first draft of this writing
assignment she had written one word. However, after she read the
comments that I made on her draft, she revised it and wrote a
complete sentence.
Brenda produced a picture full of details as a response to the story,
"Mi Abuela." The drawing clearly showed Brenda and her grandmother
playing in the park. I commented on how beautiful her drawing was and
spoke with her about it. I asked Brenda about where she was playing
and about what was going on in the picture. Suddenly, Brenda told me
a great story. I was surprised because she was usually very quiet. I
encouraged her to write the story that she had told me. Brenda looked
at me, smiled and began to write her draft. In her draft she wrote
many recognizable words. She also began using inventive spelling. In
her final draft she summarized her ideas into one sentence. I was
pleased with the progress that was reflected in Brenda's writing. Her
writing had clearly improved as she implemented the writing process
(Appendix C).
José Although José is in the first grade, he did not
recognize the letters of the alphabet at the beginning of this
inquiry; he was at the pre-letter stage of writing. His handwriting
was also very difficult to understand. I found only some scribbling
and many empty pages in his journal and felt that he would be my
greatest teaching challenge for the year.
For the initial assignment José made a drawing but did not
write any letters or words. When I asked him about the picture his
answer did not relate to the story and he did not seem to remember
what the story had been about. This was not surprising to me because
on occasions I had noticed that José did not pay attention on
a consistent basis. Sometimes he would put his head down and would
refuse to do his work. He seemed to be easily frustrated by
schoolwork.
In the journal responses about feelings related to writing, he
answered the question, "How do you feel when you write?" only one
time. The first two times he did not answer the question. Instead, he
simply wrote his name on the page. The last time I asked the students
to respond to the question, José drew a happy face. Although
José was at an early stage of writing and was clearly not on
grade level, I was encouraged by his growth as a writer. After giving
the assignment "Cu-cu, Cu-cu, Cantaba La Rana" I noticed that
José copied the word, "ratón" (mouse) from the topic
map (Appendix D). When I asked him about his writing José
explained that his story was about the mouse that the frog met on the
road. This answer was appropriate because it related to the story. I
was pleased because he was also beginning to make a relationship
between the drawing and the text.
When comparing the first and second draft from the assignment based
on the story, "Mi Abuela" I saw improvement in José's writing.
In the first draft José copied all of the letters of the
alphabet. He clearly wanted to communicate a message but he did not
know how. I had a conference with him about his first draft. On his
first draft I wrote, "José, I'm happy that you are able to
write the alphabet, but I would like to know about your trip with
your grandmother." I read my response to him and asked him to tell me
about his trip and his drawing. He described a trip on a boat but
told me that he could not write his story. I told him to go to his
table and to ask his peer for help. José was very happy about
this. He asked his neighbor how to spell "bote" (boat). When he
finished his work, José eagerly showed it to me. I had never
seen José so proud of his work; I also felt very proud of him.
José went through the entire writing process and had a final
product that reflected his intended meaning.
My Overall Impressions of the Students
The three students on which I focused my inquiry were different in
their writing abilities and had varied attitudes about writing. For
instance, Gloria always enjoyed writing and her attitude remained the
same throughout my inquiry. On the other hand, Brenda and José
did not express enjoyment for writing at the beginning of the study.
As the lessons progressed, José participated more and seemed
to enjoy some of the writing activities. Brenda, however, did not
seem to change her feelings about writing. Every time I assigned a
writing assignment Brenda shrugged her shoulders and frowned.
Nevertheless, her writing skills showed much progress. As the year
continues, I will try to determine if Brenda's attitude towards
writing changes when she chooses the topic for the writing
assignments. For this initial inquiry, I had provided the students
with a writing prompt, and my guess is that this has hindered
Brenda's enjoyment of writing.
The positive changes that I noticed in my students' attitudes towards
writing made my inquiry a rewarding experience. Additionally, I was
pleased by the improvement that was evident in the students' writing
skills. Gloria, the writer with the most advanced skills, showed a
slight improvement. She used inventive spelling in all her samples
and her writing was always meaningful and relevant. Brenda's writing
also improved after using the writing process. Specifically, she
began showing a more complex understanding of sentence structure and
grammar.
José, the student who I thought would be the greatest
challenge, showed the most dramatic improvement. At the beginning of
the study José could barely write his name and he did not seem
to have an understanding of the purpose of writing. However, as the
weeks progressed, José went from handing in a blank paper to
drawing a picture and finally to writing a word. I learned that
José's attention span increased when I broke tasks down into
simpler steps. This lead to more effort and concentration on
José's part as he sought to finish the writing assignments.
During the various assignments the students employed different
strategies. All of the strategies seemed helpful to the students, but
some were used more than others. For example, the topic map was
frequently used by all students. Once students realized that they
could use the topic map as a source of reference they referred to it
constantly. The topic map is a great way to rehearse ideas before
drafting. Through this study I realized how important it is for
students to brainstorm before writing.
Another strategy employed by the students was drawing before writing.
Once the strategy was introduced to the students, their drawings
improved. Since I stressed the importance of using details in
drawings, students were more careful when drawing. As a result
drawings were more detailed and descriptive. Students who took their
time drawing wrote better and longer. I also noticed that after
students began to understand the steps of the writing process they
began to use the terms of the stages. It was surprising to hear
José say the word "Lluvia de ideas" (Brainstorming).
Furthermore, I knew that he understood the meaning of this stage. The
other students also began to use the terms with much ease. This lead
me to conclude that they were beginning to understand the stages of
the writing process.
What I learned About My Teaching and Myself
I had many doubts about teaching writing and about my students'
writing skills at the beginning of this inquiry. Initially, my focus
was on the students' inability to write. However, as the study
progressed I began to see positive results and became really
interested in the growth that my students were making as writers. In
response to my research question, I found that after introducing my
students to various strategies of the writing process, their writing
improved. Students were drawing more elaborate pictures and they were
writing full and meaningful sentences. Overall, students seemed to
begin taking risks when writing.
I found that one way of facilitating the skill and art of writing is
to provide students with strategies that will guide them through the
writing process. It is important for students to see writing as a
process and not a product; students appeared more relaxed when
writing was presented as a process. I believe this was because
students understood that they were following a process that
eventually resulted in a finished piece of writing.
The findings of this study will definitely affect my instructional
techniques. I know that as part of my writing curriculum I will
always include the writing process. Reading about the writing process
in educational journals is very different from implementing the
process in your classroom. The writing process becomes a powerful
tool for instruction when you have seen the results in your own
classroom. However, I understand that there is still much for me to
learn about this topic. This study mainly focused on the rehearsing
stage of the writing process. In furthering this study I would like
to focus on the other stages. During this study, other concerns and
questions emerged that related to my topic of interest. For instance,
what happens to the students writing when they select their topic?
What happens when students are allowed to help each other with their
writing? What other variables affect students' writing? Does journal
writing improve when teachers respond to the entries of students
using a dialogue journal?
Although I struggled in getting this study started, I feel very
rewarded with the results. I am proud of having conducted research in
my classroom. I understand that I have much to learn about research,
but this initial inquiry has opened the door for me. This opportunity
was a great learning experience. It is not easy to be a
teacher-researcher, but it is definitively worthwhile.
REFERENCES
Botel, M. & Lytle, S. (1990) Reading, Writing and Talking Across
the Curriculum. Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania Department of
Education.
Cummings, A. (1994) A Writing Process Primer. Learning '94 22
(21).
Cumpiano, I. (1993) Cu-cu, cu-cu, Cantaba La Rana. New York:
Macmillan/McGraw Hill Publishing company
Dorros, A. (1991) Mi Abuela. New York: Dutton Children's Book.
Flor, A. A. (1993) Me Gusta Jugar!. New York: McMillan/McGraw Hill
Publishing Company.
Gomez, I. (1993) La Bella Hortelana. New York: McMillan/McGraw Hill
Publishing Company.
Hennings, D. (1994) Communication in Action. Boston: Houghton Mifflin
Company.