Action Plan
After wholeheartedly embracing this explicit teaching method as a well-founded stepping stone to enhance students’ short and long term writing success, I was left with quite the daunting and exciting task - how to prompt and begin to measure this change.
Below, I have outlined my Action Plan by walking through SRSD's steps, explained further in my Literature Review, and detailing the action I will take based off of that step, as I have assessed appropriate for these students' needs. Please click here to open a higher resolution window with a PDF of the chart below for better viewing, as the image may appear distorted on some platforms.
Below, I have outlined my Action Plan by walking through SRSD's steps, explained further in my Literature Review, and detailing the action I will take based off of that step, as I have assessed appropriate for these students' needs. Please click here to open a higher resolution window with a PDF of the chart below for better viewing, as the image may appear distorted on some platforms.
Timeline
Phase 2
Data Collection
Teachers in the studies in my
Literature Review typically measured students’ progress through a variety of
rubrics that assessed their compliance with the strategy being taught through Self-Regulated
Strategy Development (SRSD). The strategy that I will be teaching through SRSD centers around the
5 W’s: Who, What, Where, When, and Why; therefore I will be measuring students
by their inclusion of these 5 key points in their story. This checklist
will play a large role in Stage 5: Support It, when students need constructive
feedback to achieve independence in their use of the writing strategy. This
will allow students to monitor their progress and adapt their story throughout
their multiple drafts.
Checklist
The simple checklist pictured to the right will be attached to each student’s first draft that I have corrected for simple spelling and grammar mistakes (capitalization, punctuation, etc.). By handing students back a highly visual guide that allows them to glance at their story and gage their completion, students can easily grasp where they are in the writing process, and can independently self-monitor and self-start as soon as they get their first draft back. The wording used on the checklist matches the terms used on the highly visual guide hung above our writing area, which illustrates what each “W” means, enabling English Language Learners to visually connect the missing areas in their writing to the pictures on the wall and enabling them to have more independence. This checklist will provide powerful constructive, comprehensible feedback, that is needed in Stage 5: Support It to empower them towards independence.
The checklist will be explained to the students as something that only a teacher can check off - while they can monitor their progress by viewing what was absent in their first draft and checking themselves off in pencil, only an adult can check off the missing component in pen, either through one on one meetings during writing time or through daily teacher corrections performed by myself after school. Students will be guided through the use of this checklist through questioning and creating their own meaning and rules around it; for example, I will ask students “How do you think you would know if your story was ready to be typed?” or “Where do you think you could look when you want to know if you’re done? What could it tell you?”. In these ways, students can take ownership of the checklist and editing process and become more invested in their writing.
Classroom Observations
Arguably the biggest tool held close in a teacher’s tool belt is their observations of the class as the day progresses. Unfortunately, these observations can be daunting when teachers are facing a sea of raised hands and students calling out for assistance from every direction. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep teacher observations in a way that is specific, measurable, and easily assessed in the spare moments that teachers are not actively engaged in one on one assistance.
The biggest measure that improved across all of the studies that I am hoping to see reflected in these students is well is improvement upon their ability to write independently. Given their age and their starting point of high teacher dependence, I will be measuring moderate gains, defining “independent” as listed in the guide for observations below as asking for help only twice during a writing segment. This is not to say that I will not be working with students one on one during this time; I actively work the group and believe that, if students were able to self-regulate better and stay on task without frequent guidance, I could allot more one on one time to each individual student. Below you will see a basic outline for my observation log of writing independence. This will allow me to gage the class’ progression throughout the stages of SRSD as well, showing me who is where in Stage 5: Support It and what supports I can provide to move everyone towards Stage 6: Independent Performance. I will also briefly journal freeform each day, writing down notable moments and changes to get a more well rounded picture and discover even the most unexpected of changes. I look forward to examining the results and seeing what this group can accomplish in such a short time. Below you will see the form that I will use for recording results in a concrete and measurable way.
The simple checklist pictured to the right will be attached to each student’s first draft that I have corrected for simple spelling and grammar mistakes (capitalization, punctuation, etc.). By handing students back a highly visual guide that allows them to glance at their story and gage their completion, students can easily grasp where they are in the writing process, and can independently self-monitor and self-start as soon as they get their first draft back. The wording used on the checklist matches the terms used on the highly visual guide hung above our writing area, which illustrates what each “W” means, enabling English Language Learners to visually connect the missing areas in their writing to the pictures on the wall and enabling them to have more independence. This checklist will provide powerful constructive, comprehensible feedback, that is needed in Stage 5: Support It to empower them towards independence.
The checklist will be explained to the students as something that only a teacher can check off - while they can monitor their progress by viewing what was absent in their first draft and checking themselves off in pencil, only an adult can check off the missing component in pen, either through one on one meetings during writing time or through daily teacher corrections performed by myself after school. Students will be guided through the use of this checklist through questioning and creating their own meaning and rules around it; for example, I will ask students “How do you think you would know if your story was ready to be typed?” or “Where do you think you could look when you want to know if you’re done? What could it tell you?”. In these ways, students can take ownership of the checklist and editing process and become more invested in their writing.
Classroom Observations
Arguably the biggest tool held close in a teacher’s tool belt is their observations of the class as the day progresses. Unfortunately, these observations can be daunting when teachers are facing a sea of raised hands and students calling out for assistance from every direction. For this reason, it is a good idea to keep teacher observations in a way that is specific, measurable, and easily assessed in the spare moments that teachers are not actively engaged in one on one assistance.
The biggest measure that improved across all of the studies that I am hoping to see reflected in these students is well is improvement upon their ability to write independently. Given their age and their starting point of high teacher dependence, I will be measuring moderate gains, defining “independent” as listed in the guide for observations below as asking for help only twice during a writing segment. This is not to say that I will not be working with students one on one during this time; I actively work the group and believe that, if students were able to self-regulate better and stay on task without frequent guidance, I could allot more one on one time to each individual student. Below you will see a basic outline for my observation log of writing independence. This will allow me to gage the class’ progression throughout the stages of SRSD as well, showing me who is where in Stage 5: Support It and what supports I can provide to move everyone towards Stage 6: Independent Performance. I will also briefly journal freeform each day, writing down notable moments and changes to get a more well rounded picture and discover even the most unexpected of changes. I look forward to examining the results and seeing what this group can accomplish in such a short time. Below you will see the form that I will use for recording results in a concrete and measurable way.
Samples of Student Work
Finally, to round out my data collection, I will be collecting samples of student work. With writing being such an elusive subject to measure, collecting samples from each stage of work, from pre-writing activities to drafts to digital copies of final drafts, I can document changes, record progress, and go back as my observations begin to highlight different trends and check for them in the student work files. The students’ final drafts will always be digital, so they will still retain the pride and ownership in their writing by getting to take the colorful printed copy that they have shared with their classmates home to share with family and friends, and I can save the digital files for reference. I have no doubt that the student work will be the most rich, and definitely the most complex form of feedback that will greatly inform the process and direction of my instruction and this project. In the future, I look forward to having students collect their own baseline and progress pieces, reflecting on their work in a positive way that invites pride and a constructive way that facilitates goal setting. With this group, I have explained above that for my Stage 2: Discuss It step, when baselines would be collected, that I will be keeping their baselines and we will be creating motivation through engaging subject matter and peer feedback, in an effort to keep this emerging writing skill highly positive and rewarding rather than creating self-doubt.