Details of Assessments of Overall Project/Visual Data

Planned Outcomes

Beliefs Driving Instruction

Appendix

Detail of Specific Interventions

     Beginning with the second week in November this educator/researcher sought to improve tenth grade students’ analytical writing skills in preparation of high stakes testing that happens every spring in the state of Massachusetts. Each week the students had to create at least ten sentences or a story from their vocabulary words and write reflective responses to prompts that related to the story they were reading as a group. As a class, we would review the sentences on the board for context clues, correct punctuation, and syntax. The sentences had to be their own creation. They received direct instruction on word meaning and part of speech. For many of the words, the students also received example sentences so they would understand how to use the words in context. They were also instructed to change the form of the word to match the structure of their created sentence, such as, jealous to jealousy.

     The day after the assignment the students would select a sentence they either particularly liked or struggled with and put that sentence on the board. As a group we decided whether the sentence demonstrated the author/student’s understanding of the word, if the word was used correctly, and/or if there was a context clue for the word embedded in the sentence. If the sentence showed that the student did not understand the word, I or another student explained the word. If the student demonstrated understanding of the word, but used an incorrect form of the word in the sentence, the class would attempt to verbally correct the error while I or another student wrote their suggestions on the board. When sentences lacked context clues for the vocabulary word, we would extend or rewrite the sentence on the board with the appropriate contextual wording. Once students had performed this writing task, they did at least one more creative task with their words. They either had to create a word graph or create two illustrations with accompany contextual sentences that corresponded to the pictures. The word-graph consisted of presenting the word with its various components, including, synonyms, antonyms, word origin, all definitions, its affixes (if any), and another sentence. When the students wrote a story using their words as a basis for the events, they already had to complete all the above activities. The stories are what they enjoyed most, however.

     Before we could begin story writing the students had to be taught story structure. We began by graphically organizing a short story into its various parts. After we did two of those we experimentally created a story as a group. This took three days. When we were finished they had an example of what to do as well as a blank graphic story organizer. The next time they had an opportunity to create a story I was a guide, but not a co-author.

     The students were also presented with at least one reflective writing activity a week. Before beginning each story, the students had to write a reflective response connecting their prior knowledge or experience with one of the themes in the story. After beginning the story they had to write a reflective response answering a prompt that corresponded to the story or chapter. They did this each week for the duration of the treatment and will continue for the rest of this school year. Each one they did helped them make stronger connections to the text and aided in their inferences to the characters, author's purpose, and themes of the story. 

     Included in the appendix is a reference sheet for various vocabulary activities and graphic organizers for writing as well as categorizing components of a story.