Rationale
History
My capstone project centered around my sophomore, co-taught English class. My class consisted of students with varying intellectual abilities. With 46% of the class on an Individual Education Plan (IEP), it was imperative that explicit instruction was given to ensure success. An IEP is a detailed plan that meets a specific students needs and outlines the services provided to the student in order to better meet their needs. The school was 70% minority and 72% free/reduced lunch. High minority and poverty numbers can have an impact on student performance based on a number of variables. In looking at my sophomore class, the student population was about 54% minority. The lessons selected were picked to benefit every student within the class regardless of ability and background.
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Need
Importance
The information obtained from this study was important, because it slowed the writing process down to reveal areas of strengths and weaknesses among all students. It improved my instruction in the area of writing and my understanding of how students approach their writing. Breaking down the data increased my chances of providing individualized feedback to specific students. Writing is a crucial part of students’ academic and future professional lives. In the short-term, student improvement in writing benefits them on tests such as the ACT. Eventually, students may use their writing skills to apply to colleges and for scholarships. They might also need these skills to succeed in higher education or within their place of employment. I believe, in conducting this study, I have become a more effective English Language Arts teacher.
Literature Review
Introduction
The data I collected, from a series of written assignments throughout the first quarter, showed a need for structured written instruction. Beginning with observations, it became quickly apparent that students would shut down when tasked with any written assignment. Some would write the bare minimum, while others would just not answer the written prompts at all. I saw this same reaction in bell work, prompts or questions for students to respond to as class began. Students would answer questions with one word responses, or simply write “I don’t know.” On short answer questions included on quizzes, students once again would show the same signs of not understanding. Signs such as one word responses, incomplete sentences or responses, and no response at all were observed on quiz responses. It was my belief that students simply were not taught how to construct a written response regardless of length. Additionally, in attempting to implement a quick version of teaching writing as a process, students did not put much effort into revisions and edits. The most glaring data came when examining a mock ACT write, where 63% of essays would have received a failing grade if strict use of the official ACT rubric criteria was used. Not a single A or B would have been given out as a result of this criteria. There was clearly a need for students to understand and practice writing. Additionally, students at my school have historically performed lower on the ACT than the national, state, and district averages. For the 2015-2016 school year, students posted an average composite score of 17.3 compared to the district average of 19. In focusing on writing with emphasis on the ACT rubric criteria, the instruction was designed to help students prepare for the writing portion of the ACT, which they would take about one year after implementation. The school also had tested other standardized tests such as Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) at only a 47% proficiency rate for English Language Arts skills. This was compared to the state proficiency of 82%. MAP is a benchmark test that indicates student understanding of a subject area. Using testing data led me to believe that students had room for growth.
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Writing can be challenging, regardless of whether you are a fourth grader, a high school sophomore, or an adult. The task of writing can be a daunting one especially in high stakes situations. Students of all ages struggle to grasp concepts of writing principles. The task of teaching writing can also be quite daunting. The art of writing is not an exact science. There is no easy fix to the differing levels of writers that may walk into a classroom day in and out. Over the years, the process of writing has revealed strategies to aid its procedural parts. These peer reviewed strategies have uncovered answers to the purpose of my study, which was to determine if the use of research based writing process strategies would improve the quality of student writing as evaluated with the ACT Writing Test scoring rubric.
In examining the peer reviewed strategies, it was imperative to gain an understanding for the writing process. The qualified strategies were then analyzed in relation to how my study’s population of diverse sophomores was affected. The following steps of the writing process as interpreted by Ronaldo Lima, Jr. in his article, “Practical Writing – An Online Interactive Writing Experience,” were used to organize the strategic ideas: pre-writing, writing, revising/editing, and post-writing (Lima, 2010). These strategies broke down the writing process for my students into digestible concepts that helped them to gain a better understanding of writing. They were also able to write without the pressure of time and being overwhelmed. Ultimately, the strategies helped my students to approach the writing process with a growth mindset.