Description of Implementation
The focus of the current intervention is to expand the student’s writing topics by providing pictures. In the days leading up to my intervention, I was noticing a lack of interest in writing from my students. They had just returned from spring break and I could tell that the lack of writing for two weeks had affected their mechanics and interest in the subject. On the day before my intervention, I found two photographs that I believed would capture my students' attention. I decided to use photographs based on the research presented by Cole & McLeod (1999). In their study, they compared the use of line drawings and photographs in writing in the elementary classroom. Their findings suggested that photographs provided significant differences in thematic units if the photograph contained two characters, a conflict and an interesting scene. It is for this reason that I decided to incorporate photographs into the writing program instead of line drawings.
Week 1
In the initial days of the intervention, I provided two photographs during writing time. Since the students had never used photographs in their writing, I explicitly modeled how to look at the pictures to assist with our writing. When I initially put the photos on the screen, the students were extremely excited and found them entertaining. They all shouted out about the different aspects of the photographs and each wanted their input to be heard. While modeling, I used chart paper divided into three sections: hear, see and feel. As a class, we chose one photograph and identified things that we think we would hear if we were there, things we could see in the photo and how we thought the people were feeling in the pictures. I wanted them to see how to go about looking at the photographs and how we could make up our own story. After brainstorming on the chart paper, I chose a student to give me the first sentence on the photograph of the married couple jumping into water. We gave them names and created a three-sentence story for that picture. Once I finished modeling the process, the students were dismissed to their desks to begin writing. As the students were writing, I logged the topic choice of each student, noted any observations or conversations I overheard and then read their stories. After each day, I reviewed samples of the students' writing to note any changes in their mechanics, sentence structure or other thematic elements.
Weeks 2-3
As I continued into the second week of phase one implementation, I noticed that my students were engaged during our group discussion of the pictures on the rug and constantly asked if we were going to have new pictures, but that a lot of the students were still writing on their own topics. For this reason, I decided to incorporate pictures of movies and characters that I heard the students discussing at recess and in class. I decided to use characters from mostly animated movies or toys that they repeatedly talked about. Since the students had become accustomed to writing about pictures, the modeling process became less explicit. The chart paper was no longer used, but I still did have student input for my three-sentence story on one of the pictures. The students' excitement and engagement increased greatly when I began to provide the pictures. Similarly to week 1, once we created a story as a class, the students went back to their desks to write independently on their own writing. During this week, I decided to write the names of some of the characters on the board, as well as, some words that went with the pictures. As the students wrote, I documented their topic choice, noted the conversations the students were having or comments they made during writing and reviewed their writing in their journals to document any changes from the baseline. Also during the two weeks, I monitored how many students would chose to write in their journals during daily five time and note any changes in the way the students approached writing when pictures were not provided.
Week 1
In the initial days of the intervention, I provided two photographs during writing time. Since the students had never used photographs in their writing, I explicitly modeled how to look at the pictures to assist with our writing. When I initially put the photos on the screen, the students were extremely excited and found them entertaining. They all shouted out about the different aspects of the photographs and each wanted their input to be heard. While modeling, I used chart paper divided into three sections: hear, see and feel. As a class, we chose one photograph and identified things that we think we would hear if we were there, things we could see in the photo and how we thought the people were feeling in the pictures. I wanted them to see how to go about looking at the photographs and how we could make up our own story. After brainstorming on the chart paper, I chose a student to give me the first sentence on the photograph of the married couple jumping into water. We gave them names and created a three-sentence story for that picture. Once I finished modeling the process, the students were dismissed to their desks to begin writing. As the students were writing, I logged the topic choice of each student, noted any observations or conversations I overheard and then read their stories. After each day, I reviewed samples of the students' writing to note any changes in their mechanics, sentence structure or other thematic elements.
Weeks 2-3
As I continued into the second week of phase one implementation, I noticed that my students were engaged during our group discussion of the pictures on the rug and constantly asked if we were going to have new pictures, but that a lot of the students were still writing on their own topics. For this reason, I decided to incorporate pictures of movies and characters that I heard the students discussing at recess and in class. I decided to use characters from mostly animated movies or toys that they repeatedly talked about. Since the students had become accustomed to writing about pictures, the modeling process became less explicit. The chart paper was no longer used, but I still did have student input for my three-sentence story on one of the pictures. The students' excitement and engagement increased greatly when I began to provide the pictures. Similarly to week 1, once we created a story as a class, the students went back to their desks to write independently on their own writing. During this week, I decided to write the names of some of the characters on the board, as well as, some words that went with the pictures. As the students wrote, I documented their topic choice, noted the conversations the students were having or comments they made during writing and reviewed their writing in their journals to document any changes from the baseline. Also during the two weeks, I monitored how many students would chose to write in their journals during daily five time and note any changes in the way the students approached writing when pictures were not provided.
Examples of the pictures I provided during the writing time.
Results
Structured Checklist on Topic Choice
Based on the structured checklist on topic choice, on the first day of implementation, the students were excited about the change in writing. This led more than half of the students to write about the photographs. Over the course of the first week, the amount of students writing about the photographs presented decreased as seen in the chart below. The students were becoming less interested in writing about the photographs, even though they were more engaged during the whole class discussion than before phase one. Once I decided to implement the pictures of cartoons, characters and other things that interest the students, the amount of students writing about the pictures increased from that day forward. Prior to implementing the cartoons, an average of 13 students per day were choosing to write on their own topics. After the change in pictures being presented, an average of six students per day chose to write on their own topic choice. This helped to demonstrate that the students were more interested in pictures that related to their lives and interests instead of generic photographs.
Structured Checklist on Topic Choice
Based on the structured checklist on topic choice, on the first day of implementation, the students were excited about the change in writing. This led more than half of the students to write about the photographs. Over the course of the first week, the amount of students writing about the photographs presented decreased as seen in the chart below. The students were becoming less interested in writing about the photographs, even though they were more engaged during the whole class discussion than before phase one. Once I decided to implement the pictures of cartoons, characters and other things that interest the students, the amount of students writing about the pictures increased from that day forward. Prior to implementing the cartoons, an average of 13 students per day were choosing to write on their own topics. After the change in pictures being presented, an average of six students per day chose to write on their own topic choice. This helped to demonstrate that the students were more interested in pictures that related to their lives and interests instead of generic photographs.
Student Writing Samples
In analysis of student’s writing during phase one, I noticed an increase in the number of sentences being written by each student each day. One student who refused to write more than three sentences wrote seven on the first day of implementation. Even though the mechanics were still an issue, I noticed students beginning to use new words, especially verbs. They were using more invented spelling for unfamiliar words and most students were avoiding using the word “like” in every sentence as demonstrated in the baseline. The students were creating names for their characters and creating their own stories as to what was happening in the pictures. Students also started using the word “because” to add more details and explanations to why people or characters were feeling a certain emotion or why it was their favorite movie. This was adding complexity to their sentences not previously demonstrated by most students in the class.
I also noticed in analyzing some of the student work that when students chose to work in their journals during daily five time, their sentences tended to go back to how they were prior to implementation of phase one. They were using the words "like" and "favorite" when no picture was provided for them to write on. This demonstrates that the pictures pushed the students to use more complex vocabulary, different sentences structures and more invented spelling.
Here is a sample of student work prior to implementation of phase one:
In analysis of student’s writing during phase one, I noticed an increase in the number of sentences being written by each student each day. One student who refused to write more than three sentences wrote seven on the first day of implementation. Even though the mechanics were still an issue, I noticed students beginning to use new words, especially verbs. They were using more invented spelling for unfamiliar words and most students were avoiding using the word “like” in every sentence as demonstrated in the baseline. The students were creating names for their characters and creating their own stories as to what was happening in the pictures. Students also started using the word “because” to add more details and explanations to why people or characters were feeling a certain emotion or why it was their favorite movie. This was adding complexity to their sentences not previously demonstrated by most students in the class.
I also noticed in analyzing some of the student work that when students chose to work in their journals during daily five time, their sentences tended to go back to how they were prior to implementation of phase one. They were using the words "like" and "favorite" when no picture was provided for them to write on. This demonstrates that the pictures pushed the students to use more complex vocabulary, different sentences structures and more invented spelling.
Here is a sample of student work prior to implementation of phase one:
Here is the same student's writing after implementation of the photographs into writing:
Informal Observations of the Students
In my informal observations of the students, I noticed that students begin asking me when writing was and if we would have new pictures today. “Ms. C, what pictures did you bring in for us today?” The students were extremely engaged on the carpet and were very enthusiastic about sharing their opinions or sentences about the pictures. When the students went back to their seats, I rarely heard a student say, “I don’t know what to write about today.” If they were struggling with a topic, they could use the pictures provided. This helped get students working on their writing faster, which in turn led to more sentences being written. Once I began to provide spelling of some common words associated with the pictures, students seemed less frustrated with spelling and begin to focus more on the sentences they were writing. An additional observation that I found during phase one was that students were starting to understand that they could use their own books to write about pictures in it. They started to realize that the topics did not have to come from their heads, but that they could use their favorite books to help them write. After I started to provide the pictures of cartoon and movie characters and scenes, I noticed that more students were deciding to write in their journals during the daily five-center “work on writing.” Only about 2-3 students per week were choosing to write in their journals during daily five and once I provided the pictures, this increased to about 5-6 students a week.
Student Quotes
- "Ms. C, are we doing the pictures today?"
- During science time, "are we going to use pictures to write for this?"
- "Can you bring in pictures of monster trucks tomorrow?"
- "Ms. C, can I write about pictures in one of my books?"
- "I love this movie!" "He is my favorite character!"
- "Look at how many sentences I wrote today!"
In my informal observations of the students, I noticed that students begin asking me when writing was and if we would have new pictures today. “Ms. C, what pictures did you bring in for us today?” The students were extremely engaged on the carpet and were very enthusiastic about sharing their opinions or sentences about the pictures. When the students went back to their seats, I rarely heard a student say, “I don’t know what to write about today.” If they were struggling with a topic, they could use the pictures provided. This helped get students working on their writing faster, which in turn led to more sentences being written. Once I began to provide spelling of some common words associated with the pictures, students seemed less frustrated with spelling and begin to focus more on the sentences they were writing. An additional observation that I found during phase one was that students were starting to understand that they could use their own books to write about pictures in it. They started to realize that the topics did not have to come from their heads, but that they could use their favorite books to help them write. After I started to provide the pictures of cartoon and movie characters and scenes, I noticed that more students were deciding to write in their journals during the daily five-center “work on writing.” Only about 2-3 students per week were choosing to write in their journals during daily five and once I provided the pictures, this increased to about 5-6 students a week.
Student Quotes
- "Ms. C, are we doing the pictures today?"
- During science time, "are we going to use pictures to write for this?"
- "Can you bring in pictures of monster trucks tomorrow?"
- "Ms. C, can I write about pictures in one of my books?"
- "I love this movie!" "He is my favorite character!"
- "Look at how many sentences I wrote today!"