Next Steps
My goal from phase one was for my students to expand their writing topics. The students were constantly writing about dogs, cats and parks and using the verbs “like” and “play.” With their vocabularies expanding through reading more complex books, I wanted to push my students to choose new topics and begin to write more complex sentences. It was for this reason that I wanted to provide pictures during their writing time. If the students are writing about new topics, they will also be using new vocabulary words. It was for these reasons that I posed the following action research questions:
How does providing pictures expand kindergartener's journal writing topics?
One of the limitations of phase one was that the students were not in control of the writing process. During phase one, I was the one providing the pictures that I thought would interest most of them. This was putting the responsibility of peaking their interests on me and not making them responsible for their choice during writing. This led me to think about the possibilities for phase two of the intervention. I wanted my students to have more control over their topic choice and more individuality in their writing. Since they were all writing about the same pictures, their creativity was decreasing even though their writing was expanding. It is for this reason that I wanted to give the students control on their topic choice, while providing them with sources to generate topic ideas.
A surprising finding of phase one provided insight on how I could give the control of topic choice back to the students, while still providing them with resources to help with their topics. During phase one, a few of the students chose to take books out of their book bags and write on pictures that were in the books. The pictures from phase one helped the students understand that they could find their own pictures to write about; pictures that would interest them more than the ones I provided. These students were taking control of their learning and making the writing time more student-centered. Their creativity in finding different topics was sparked by seeing my pictures during each writing time.
In alignment with this finding, I will stop providing the pictures for the students during writing time, but will show them that they can use books in their book bags or around the classroom to write about pictures. Reese (1996) used wordless picture books in her classroom in order to expand the storytelling capability of her students. She found that “students learned to write stories in complete sentences, to expand their ideas to better describe the pictures and to produce a meaningful story” (p. 173). Although the books that the students will be using will not be wordless, the same concept still applies. The students will be using pictures that interest them in their favorite stories to write about instead of having the pictures provided for them. I am hoping that these pictures with sparking story telling instead of just describing the pictures. Phase two will help to demonstrate how motivated the students are to find their own pictures during writing or if they will revert back to their comfortable topic choices.
During phase two of implementation, I will continue to use the "see, hear, feel chart" in order to help the students describe the pictures in their books and to provide some consistency between the modeling in the two phases. My data collection methods will remain the same. I will still use informal student observations to note changes in attitude and other conversations the students are having. I will also analyze their writing samples to note any changes in their writing from the baseline through phase two. I will still use a structured checklist in order to document topic choice, but instead of recording whether they are writing on the pictures that I provided, I will record which students decided to use pictures in their books to influence their writing topics. This next phase should give insight into how my students’ writing changes when the responsibility of expanding topic choice requires more effort on their part. It is for these reasons that I decided to research the additional question:
How will students' topic choice during writing change when the responsibility of selecting a picture is placed on them?
How does providing pictures expand kindergartener's journal writing topics?
- How does discussing the picture as a class prior to writing and creating word lists help to expand the journal writing?
- How do the pictures influence the student's choice of journal writing during their Daily 5 rotations?
One of the limitations of phase one was that the students were not in control of the writing process. During phase one, I was the one providing the pictures that I thought would interest most of them. This was putting the responsibility of peaking their interests on me and not making them responsible for their choice during writing. This led me to think about the possibilities for phase two of the intervention. I wanted my students to have more control over their topic choice and more individuality in their writing. Since they were all writing about the same pictures, their creativity was decreasing even though their writing was expanding. It is for this reason that I wanted to give the students control on their topic choice, while providing them with sources to generate topic ideas.
A surprising finding of phase one provided insight on how I could give the control of topic choice back to the students, while still providing them with resources to help with their topics. During phase one, a few of the students chose to take books out of their book bags and write on pictures that were in the books. The pictures from phase one helped the students understand that they could find their own pictures to write about; pictures that would interest them more than the ones I provided. These students were taking control of their learning and making the writing time more student-centered. Their creativity in finding different topics was sparked by seeing my pictures during each writing time.
In alignment with this finding, I will stop providing the pictures for the students during writing time, but will show them that they can use books in their book bags or around the classroom to write about pictures. Reese (1996) used wordless picture books in her classroom in order to expand the storytelling capability of her students. She found that “students learned to write stories in complete sentences, to expand their ideas to better describe the pictures and to produce a meaningful story” (p. 173). Although the books that the students will be using will not be wordless, the same concept still applies. The students will be using pictures that interest them in their favorite stories to write about instead of having the pictures provided for them. I am hoping that these pictures with sparking story telling instead of just describing the pictures. Phase two will help to demonstrate how motivated the students are to find their own pictures during writing or if they will revert back to their comfortable topic choices.
During phase two of implementation, I will continue to use the "see, hear, feel chart" in order to help the students describe the pictures in their books and to provide some consistency between the modeling in the two phases. My data collection methods will remain the same. I will still use informal student observations to note changes in attitude and other conversations the students are having. I will also analyze their writing samples to note any changes in their writing from the baseline through phase two. I will still use a structured checklist in order to document topic choice, but instead of recording whether they are writing on the pictures that I provided, I will record which students decided to use pictures in their books to influence their writing topics. This next phase should give insight into how my students’ writing changes when the responsibility of expanding topic choice requires more effort on their part. It is for these reasons that I decided to research the additional question:
How will students' topic choice during writing change when the responsibility of selecting a picture is placed on them?