WORKSHOP
WRITING
DATA COLLECTION
I chose the following four data collection methods for the purpose of this study.
1. Climate Survey
A Climate Survey is a series of questions that students are asked so that the teacher is able to see feelings and attitudes toward different things that go on in the classroom. The reason I chose to use the Climate Survey is so that I could gain a better understanding of my class, how they truly feel about school, each other, and what goes on in our classroom. My associate called my students into another room one by one and asked them a series of questions in which they could answer yes, sometimes, or no. Each student was able to respond fully and honestly since it was not me who was asking the questions. Keeping in mind that some results may not be completely truthful, I was able to look at the end results. Being able to see how some of my students felt about what went on in our classroom allowed me to change some of the things that we did. If there were suggestions to add things or to take things away, I was able to adjust, within reason, based on students' comments and opinions. Although this did not strictly pertain to the writing workshop, I think the Climate Survey was an important data collection method because it truly established how my students felt in our classroom. If they were not feeling comfortable in the classroom, with me or with other students, how could I expect them to feel comfortable writing? I wanted to make sure that my students' needs were being met and that they truly felt safe and comfortable at school and in our classroom. Then I was able to go back and make sure that I was meeting their needs so that they could best perform during writing time as well as any other instruction or learning time. {See "Data Results" section below for more about what I was able to change based on the results I got.} This was a great way to get a better look at how my students felt. I think, with some exceptions, I got a great response of honesty especially since I was not the one who was asking them the questions. If I were asking them the questions, chances are they would just tell me an answer to please me or tell me what they think I wanted to hear. I planned to do this from the beginning and I believe it led to the best results in collecting the data that was intended to be collected. To the right is an example of a question that was asked and the results that were collected.
2. Writing Rubric
A rubric is a tool that teachers use to score and evaluate student work. Students are generally graded using the parameters on the rubric. The reason I chose to use a rubric was simply to evaluate my students’ writing abilities at the end of the study to see how they had improved across several different avenues. The rubric came with the writing curriculum bundle that was used during the study so it was geared toward the lessons we learned as a class and included aspects that the students would be able to do on their own. Another reason this was used was so that I could most efficiently and consistently evaluate my students' writing at the end of the study. Writing is hard to evaluate based on specific things from student to student so I needed to make sure that I was being consistent as I looked over their end writing pieces. The rubric is pictured to the left and has 9 sections on which the writing was evaluated - each being worth 3 points for a total of 27 possible points. It was possible for students to score 1 (beginning), 2 (developing), or 3 (proficient) points for each section, depending on what they wrote, etc. The sections were all based on different lessons taught throughout the study and things that were worked on extensively - in all subjects and during the writing workshop. Students were notified of the key components they needed to have in their last writing piece. Although this was more of an ending data collection piece, I was also able to observe student writing through conferences and conversations had throughout the writing workshop study about specific things we were working on that day or that lesson. This allowed me to determine further teaching on certain topics and whether or not I needed to spend more time with students on a specific component of writing.
3. Rating Scale
I decided to ask the students how they truly felt about writing. I chose to ask how they felt about writing because I could sense some feelings of dislike whenever I would bring up the topic of writing. I wanted to get to the bottom of why I was sensing this feeling. Was it because they weren't confident or was it because they did not want to write? Through a series of 5 questions, students were to choose a smiley face, a kind-of face, or a frowny face to answer. {See picture to the right}. I felt like this was the most simple way to gather opinions that my students had of writing. It was easy for them to complete and we were able to do it as a whole group and then pull students aside to ask them about their responses later. As kindergarteners, I knew it needed to be simple for them and nothing overwhelming that would make them shut down. As you can see to the right, the questions were to the point and all they had to do was fill in a face for how they felt. I did this two times, once before and once at the end to determine if the writing workshop helped boost confidence in writing as well as feelings they had toward writing now that it was more intentional. After receiving the results from the post-questionnaire, I was also able to sit down with a few students to see why they chose the faces they did. It was very eye-opening to hear their opinions about writing and why they did or did not like it. There were some mixed feelings from day to day throughout the writing workshop study on whether or not they wanted to write and follow the process. In the beginning, the new binders really sparked their interest and then as time went on, students would not follow the process as well. I was also able to have conversations with students about their feelings about writing as the study was going on. I could tell by the way they were acting whether or not they were enjoying the time we had set aside for writing. Some of it even depended on topics we wrote about that day. When they got to choose their own topics, it seemed like they were more into it. After discovering that they enjoyed writing about topics they got to choose, I was able to tweak some lessons so that they could still implement the skills we were talking about but so that they could continue writing about what they were actually interested in.
4. Unit Benchmark
The t-test of my study was done by using the district writing benchmark test. This was a way for me to see improvement and achievement in my students' writing from before the study and after the study. The first Benchmark test was taken in December and the second one was taken in March at the conclusion of the writing workshop study. These were tests that we had our students do at the end of each six-week unit in our reading curriculum. Each one was set up in the same way, with a box for a picture at the top and then lines underneath for the sentence(s). I decided to use this method for my t-test because it was the easiest way to see growth in my students' writing. There were a few things that needed to be looked at in order to grade and evaluate their writing based on our district's rubric. The main things were that the picture matched the words, the sentence started with an uppercase letter, they were on topic and there was punctuation. My expectation for my students was to be independent during this time of writing. While most of the time during writing, I was hosting conferences or mingling with students at their seats, this was one time I wanted them to be able to do it without much assistance at all. For the most part, this was achieved. To the left is an example of the page they had to write on which was provided by the district.