1 IMPROVING WRITING INSTRUCTION THROUGH PROFESSIONAL .

2y ago
12 Views
3 Downloads
911.96 KB
139 Pages
Last View : 5d ago
Last Download : 2m ago
Upload by : Kaden Thurman
Transcription

1IMPROVING WRITING INSTRUCTION THROUGH PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENTAND PROFESSIONAL LEARNING COMMUNITIES (PLC’S): A CASE STUDY OF SIXTEACHERS AT A MIDDLE SCHOOLA thesis presentedbyTerri MarculitistoThe School of EducationIn partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree ofDoctor of EducationDr. Chris UngerAdvisorCollege of Professional StudiesNortheastern UniversityBoston, MassachusettsMarch 2017

2AbstractWriting skills are crucial for student success in school. Students are assessed on their ability towrite well using both lower (grammar, sentence structure) and higher (writing to respond toliterature, demonstrate understanding of a topic) order skills. Writing is also important beyondthe classrooms, as many jobs require the use of strong writing skills. Our children areoverwhelmingly below proficient in the area of writing. According to The National Center forEducation Statistics, 74 percent of 8th grade participants and 73 percent of 12th grade participantsscored below proficiency. With only 3 percent of students in both grades achieving advancedstatus, which means only 24 percent of 8th and 12th graders are proficient in writing (NationalCenter for Education Statistics, 2011). This trend continues beyond 12th grade with manycollege professors assessing their students’ writing as fair to poor, (Mo, Kopke, & Hawkins,2014; Troia, & Olinghouse, 2014). Educators are clearly not doing enough to support writing inour classrooms. With the acceptance of Common Core State Standards, schools have to increasewriting throughout all content areas for a variety of purposes. Teachers in all content areas areexpected to have students write to demonstrate their knowledge and expand their understanding.Pair the preceding information with the fact that many teachers do not feel qualified or preparedto give writing instruction and it is evident why our writing instruction and practices are weak.Improving writing instruction at all grade levels is clearly needed if we want to create strongerwriters. Teachers need to be given the skills and pedagogy necessary to effectively teach writingfor their particular content areas. Districts and schools try to provide professional developmentworkshops that target teachers’ needs in the area of writing instruction but based on nationalresults, it’s clear that is not enough. This research will look beyond workshops and focus onprofessional development and professional learning communities (PLC’s), based on adult

3learning principles, to appoint several teachers with current writing research strategies, likeincreasing student motivation and how to build self-efficacy in both the student and the teacher.Keywords: Writing, writing instruction, Common Core State Standards, proficiency,student motivation, self-efficacy, professional development, PLC’s.

4AcknowledgementsI would like to sincerely thank Dr. Chris Unger, my advisor, for guiding and supportingme through the thesis process. Dr. Unger was able to keep me motivated and positive duringevery stage of this process. I would also like to thank Dr. Kelly Conn and Dr. MarieangieOcasio-Varela, my second and third readers and reviewers, for their time, feedback, and support.Getting to this point could not have happened without the support of my family. Myhusband, John, has been incredibly patient and encouraging. He never doubted me and thatbelief compelled me to keep going. My daughters, Allison and Emily, were my cheerleaders andmy inspiration. I hope that what they have learned from watching me go through the process isthat they can achieve anything through hard work and determination. I would also like to thankmy friends for providing me with breaks of levity and continuous support.Finally, I would like to thank my participants. This study would not have been possiblewithout their hard work, thoughtful contributions, and time. They were incredibly easy to workwith and remained candid and focused throughout the research.

5Table of ContentsTable of Contents .5List of Tables and Figures 7Chapter I: Introduction . 8Statement of the Problem . 8Significance of the Problem . . 9Problem of Practice . 11Rationale for the Research . . 11Research Questions . 12Positionality . . 12Theoretical Framework . . 15Chapter II: Literature Review 20Introduction 20Writing Theories - Past to Present .22Current Writing Instruction .25Changes in the Classroom .32Practices and Beliefs .35The Need for Professional Development .41Impact of Professional Development on Teachers 43PLCs as Professional Development .47Outcomes of PD 51Conclusion of the Literature Review 54Chapter III: Research Design 56Case Study Methodology .57Methodology .60Study Context 60Participants 61Data Collection .64Analytic Methods .66Data Analysis 67Presentation of the Findings .68Trustworthiness .69Conclusion .70

6Chapter IV: Research Findings 71Interview Participants .71Interview Responses .73Professional Development Workshop and PLCs .77Themes that Emerged from the Research 81Summary of the Findings .89Chapter V: Discussion of the Findings 92Revisiting the Problem of Practice .92Review of Methodology .93Discussion of Major Findings .94Discussion of Findings in Relation to the Theoretical Framework 98Discussion of Findings in Relation to the Literature Review .100Implications of Findings to Practice .102Conclusion 104Limitations 106Validity .107Recommendations 108Future Research 108Personal Comments .109References 111Appendix A - Initial Interview Protocol Questions .124Appendix B - Professional Development Workshop .125Appendix C - Final Interview Protocol Questions .127Appendix D - Classroom Observation Checklist 128Appendix E - Questionnaire for Teachers .129Appendix F - Professional Development Workshop Presentation .130Appendix G - Teacher Created Peer Editing Checklist .131Appendix H - Teacher Created Feedback Form .132Appendix I - Teacher Implemented Lesson 133

7List of TablesTable 1Timeline of Data Collection ActivitiesTable 2Participants’ Background and ExperienceTable 3Types of Writing InstructionTable 4Topics/Themes of Discussion at PLCsTable 5Themes Related to Research Question 1Table 6New Instructional Practices as a Result of PLCs and PDTable 7Themes Related to Research Question 2

8Chapter I: IntroductionStatement of the ProblemWriting is a necessary and critical skill in our communication driven world. Students areasked to write from kindergarten through high school. Writing helps express opinions, sharethoughts and deepen understandings about the world. Writing is everywhere and though it isoften informal on a day to day basis (notes, texts, memos), it is a skill that must be honed so thatit can be used to acquire jobs, address problems, and simply communicate well. Unfortunately,as a nation, we are not producing competent writers. The National Center for EducationStatistics released findings in 2011 that were troubling. The majority of 8th and 12th gradestudents were below proficient in writing with many students scoring well below basic ability(National Center for Education Statistics, 2011). If it is accepted that students are going to beassessed on their ability to write and that proficient writing is a necessity when entering theworkforce, it is clear that schools are not doing enough to create strong writers.Most researchers agree that writing is an extremely difficult task for many, that we areproducing weak writers in our country, and that we as educators need to do something about thatdepressing fact, (Harris & Graham, 2006; Hidi, Berndorff, & Ainley, 2002; Graham, Capizzi,Harris, Hebert, & Morphy, 2014; Zumbrunn & Krause, 2012).Writing instruction needs to be improved on a national and local level. Thoughtheories abound on how to improve writing instruction, and by implication, writing, no onetheory has produced significant long term results. Concerns about student writing proficiencyhave grown over the last decade. According to The National Center for Education Statistics, 74percent of 8th grade participants and 73 percent of 12th grade participants scored belowproficiency on a standardized writing assessment, (NCES, 2011).

9Educators are clearly not doing enough to support writing in our classrooms. With theacceptance of Common Core State Standards (CCSS), schools have to increase writingthroughout all content areas for a variety of purposes. Teachers in all content areas are expectedto have students write to demonstrate their knowledge and expand their understanding. Couplethe preceding information with the fact that many teachers do not feel qualified or prepared togive writing instruction and it is evident why writing instruction and practices are weak.Improving writing instruction at all grade levels is needed to create stronger writers. Much ofthe current research focuses on student motivation, self-efficacy, and frequency of practice asindicators for more successful writing (Graham et al., 2014; Hidi et al, 2002). This researchfocused on giving teachers the skills they want and need to more effectively deliver writinginstruction.Significance of the ProblemWriting matters because it is one of the main avenues of communication for all people.Writing skills are crucial for student success in school. Students are assessed on their ability towrite well using both lower (grammar, sentence structure) and higher (writing to respond toliterature, demonstrate understanding of a topic) order skills. Writing is also important beyondthe classrooms, as most jobs require the use of strong writing skills. In our country, we areexpected to write for a variety of purposes, regardless of our economic or social position.Whether you are a stay-at-home parent or the CEO of a company, you must be able to expressyourself in writing so that people can understand you. Writing is more than just acommunication tool; it is also used to persuade, encourage, change, demand, inform, andentertain the world. The written word has brought people together for a cause, it has scared us,and it has changed worlds. Imagine a world without the written communication skills of Martin

10Luther King, H.G. Wells, or Plato. We must all achieve a level of proficiency in writing inorder to successfully communicate with the rest of the world.What we know is that children are overwhelmingly below proficient in the area of writing(NCES, 2012). This is despite attempts at the national, state, and local level to improve studentwriting outcomes. Increased writing is taking place in all classes, not just content area classes,due to the acceptance of Common Core State Standards. CCSS asks students to create texts thatpersuade, inform, and narrate either from real or imagined events (CCSS, 2010). Students needto organize their writing, determine their audience, use appropriate language and collaborate withothers to revise their work. The CCSS also focuses on using writing in the content area todeepen contextual understanding and develop research and inquiry skills. Students will stillspend the majority of time improving and honing their writing skills in their English LanguageArts classrooms, but now they are also expected to write essays in physical education, describinghow movement is connected to learning or short open response answers in math explaining inwords how they arrived at their numerical answer. With all this frequent and required writing inschool, it might seem safe to assume that students are graduating from school and enteringcolleges or the work force with all the necessary writing skills they need to be successful. This isnot the case. Educators have a responsibility to identify weaknesses in the area of writinginstruction by looking at current research and individual practices. That data should be used toinform writing instruction in order prepare our with the necessary 21st century skills they need.One area where there is potential to greatly impact teacher instruction and thus studentperformance is professional development. The purpose of this study was to describe ways todirectly improve writing instruction by looking at professional development for teachers onwriting instruction. The study’s participants were 6 middle school teachers: a 6th grade special

11educator, an 8th grade social studies teacher, an 8th grade special educator, two 5th grade scienceteachers and a 7th grade social studies teacher The research will span at least one trimester butno more than two trimesters.Problem of Practice“Writing today is not a frill for the few but a skill for the many” (The NationalCommission on Writing, 2003). Writing instruction needs to be improved on a national, state,and local level. From elementary school through college, there is evidence that the majority ofstudents write well below standard proficiency levels (Mo et al., 2014). Writing is both afoundational skill for students and a necessary skill for all who need to communicate in theirlives. If schools do not teach the foundations for good writing than it follows that students willhave weak writing both in and beyond the classroom. Theories abound on how to improvewriting through instructional practices but no single theory has produced long termimprovements in writing outcomes, (Graham, Early, & Wilcox, 2014). This study focused onteachers’ instructional practices and how those practices change based on professionaldevelopment.RationaleThe study will determine what writing instructional practices are currently used in grades5 through 8 through observations and interviews. Focusing primarily on content area teachers,the study will attempt to determine: (1) if teachers feel prepared to teach writing and (2) if theirself-efficacy improves after receiving targeted professional development. While there is a greatdeal of research about how to improve writing instruction across content areas and manyresearch studies on student motivation in writing, there is limited research on teacher in-service

12training and the impact it can have on teachers’ writing instruction and their self-efficacy towardteaching writing.Research QuestionsThe driving research questions for this study are as follows:1. How can targeted professional development, in the form of professional learningcommunities, change teachers’ attitudes towards and improve their instructional skillsfor writing?2. What is the impact of professional development on teachers’ attitudes toward theirwriting instructional practices?Positionality StatementWriting skills are crucial for success in school, college, and the workplace. Students areexpected to demonstrate their knowledge through creative and analytical writing and employeesmust be able to communicate in writing for a variety of purposes. When someone is unable toclearly and concisely produce a piece of writing, it could lead to a poor grade or a missed jobopportunity. It could also lead to a judgment about that individual’s intellectual capability.Unfortunately, schools are not producing proficient writers based on testimony from collegeprofessors and The National Center for Education Statistics (Mo et al. 2014; National Center forEducation Statistics, 2011). Despite increased writing across curriculum to meet the demands ofthe Common Core State Standards (2010), students are still graduating from high school withweak writing skills. Schools, administrators, teachers and researchers need to assess past andcurrent writing instructional practices, including pre-service and in-service training, to see howwe can improve student writing.

13Researcher’s background. As a white, well-educated, professional woman who livesand teaches in the suburbs of Massachusetts, this researcher enters into the task of improvingwriting instruction aware of her position of privilege. The researcher’s educational experience ofa girl’s boarding school and several college degrees affords her some power and creates potentialbiases. The PLCs that will be used as research for this study will be created and run by theresearcher as part of her current position as an instructional/curriculum coach in a middle school.While the researcher will play an active role in the research, she does not have evaluative powerover the participants. Instead she works on the same contract and asked for volunteers whowould be interested in improving their writing instruction. The researcher navigates the worldwith a somewhat feminist/educator viewpoint, believing that women are constantly struggling tobe heard rather than just seen and that we can do a better job educating children than wecurrently do.The researcher has the ability to communicate well with people, whether they are middleschool students, concerned parents, workplace peers, or leaders in the field of academics. This isa powerful tool in any setting, but it is particularly helpful in public schools. The researcher canestablish trust in her community because her education background often gets people to trust heropinions, simply because she sounds like she could be an expert. As the HumanitiesInstructional/Curriculum Coach for the middle school, the researcher uses her communicationskills as well as content knowledge to influence others to buy into particular beliefs abouteducation and improve teaching practices in school.Biases and beliefs. As the instruction/curriculum coach for humanities at the middleschool level and a researcher, an area of interest is creating and/or improving writing instructionfor all students. The researcher believes that ELA teachers are more prepared to teach writing,

14but does not believe that any teacher in any content area, including ELA, has received enoughtraining in the teaching of writing and therefore, is not prepared to fully and correctly implementthe new writing standards as outlined in CCSS. This research is approached with the belief thatteachers are not properly prepared to teach writing and therefore, the outcome is that students arenot good writers. The researcher is aware that the preceding statement puts teachers into theposition of “other” (Briscoe, 2005). According to Briscoe, researchers have to be aware of theirability to create “the subordination of the other by characterizing the traits of the other as inferiorand/or degenerate and by projecting negative characteristics to those one wants to subordinate”(p. 29).While strong communication skills and knowledge base have led to the researcher’scurrent job and problem of practice, it does not change the positionality of other teachers. Theresearcher works with those teachers, they are the participants for this r

Districts and schools try to provide professional development workshops that target teachers’ needs in the area of writing instruction but based on national results, it’s clear that is not enough. This research will look beyond workshops and focus on professional development and professional learning communities (PLC’s), based on adult

Related Documents:

David L. Coker, Jr. Austin S. Jennings Elizabeth Farley-Ripple Charles A. MacArthur University of Delaware Published 2018 Journal of Educational Psychology . writing instruction and student writing practice on reading achievement in first grade. Fall reading, vocabulary, and writing data were collected from 391 students, and classroom writing .

practices for teaching writing skills in the classroom. Model the target writing skills: Model the specific writing skill that you want students to learn during writing instruction. Effective modeling involves modeling the thought processes a writer engages in to use the writing skill, in addition to the actual production of the writing.

Writing and Language Many people associate 'language' with writing Writing is not a primary aspect of language -most languages of past had no writing system -first known writing systems arose 5-6,000 years ago -language is learned without explicit instruction; writing is only learned with explicit instruction

Best Practice Book for IELTS Writing. Table of Contents IELTS Writing 1 IELTS Writing 9 IELTS Writing - Overview 9 IELTS Academic Writing 10 IELTS ACADEMIC WRITING 10 IELTS General Writing 11 IELTS Writing Task General (Task 1) 12 Sample 1 12 Sample 2 12 Sample 3 13 Sa

Academic Writing Quiz xvii Part 1 The Writing Process 1 1.1 Background to Writing 3 The purpose of academic writing 3 Common types of academic writing 4 The format of long and short writing tasks 4 The features of academic writing 6 Some other common text features 6 Simple and longer sentences 7 Writing in paragraphs 8 1.2 Reading: Finding .

This guide has seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of effective writing instruction. Subsequent chapters address the five key instructional approaches of an effective writing program: modelled writing, shared writing, interactive writing, guided writing, and independent writing

Traits and Strategies 1. The Six Traits approach to writing instruction makes writing accessible for all learners by breaking a complex cognitive process into six key component processes. 2. Writers use Writing Strategies to solve problems they encounter while writing. 3. By teaching the Six Traits and Writing Strategies for each of the traits .

(CCSS) for Writing, beginning in early elementary, will be able to meet grade-level writing goals, experience success throughout school as proficient writers, demonstrate proficiency in writing to earn an Oregon diploma, and be college and career-ready—without the need for writing remediation. The CCSS describe ―What‖ writing skills students need at each grade level and K-12 Writing .