Date of Award
2003
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Education
Department
Fischler Graduate School of Education and Human Services
Advisor
Natalie Fulwider
Committee Member
Barbara Packer
Keywords
age appropriate writing skills, assessment, author's nights, author sharing, concepts of print, conventions trait, early childhood education, emergent literacy, independent writing, kindergarten, kindergarten writing, literacy props, literature read aloud, mini-lessons, modeled writing, peer sharing, publishing centers, storytelling, student achievement, thematic writing, voice trait, writer's workshop, writing assessment, writing conferences, writing connection, writing development, writing instruction, writing program, writing skills, writing success, writing workshops, writing centers
Abstract
The problem investigated in this applied dissertation was that kindergarten children were not acquiring age appropriate writing skills. Without these skills, the children exiting kindergarten children did not have the proper foundation needed for writing success in first grade and the years beyond. This created a pattern of academic failure that followed the students throughout their education.
The goal for this applied dissertation was for kindergarten students to acquire age appropriate writing skills at the end of the implementation. The writer developed a comprehensive writing program to meet the needs of these students. The program was incorporated into the framework of writer’s workshop (Calkins, 1994; Bouas, Thompson, & Farlow, 1997; Teale, 1987). Writing was scheduled for an hour daily, following the predictable schedule of literature read aloud, modeled writing, skill focus mini-lesson, independent writing, conferences, publishing/writing centers, and author sharing. Literature correlated with classroom themes was used to inspire students to write stories and assist in making the reading and writing connection (McElveen & Dierking, 2000; Yoo, 1997). In addition, students were encouraged to regularly share their work with the teacher and peers. Additional strategies in the program included key cards, thematic writing, author’s nights, literacy props, and storytelling opportunities.
One hundred and five kindergarten students participated in the program. At the end of the implementation, 49 wrote at a stage 5 or higher, 36 scored at the developing level in the conventions trait, and 47 scored at the developing level in the voice trait. For the concepts of print assessment, 102 of 105 students correctly identified 15 out of 21 concepts of print. Significance of difference was found between the pretest and posttest scores for each of the measures. In addition, significance was found between the results of the class that implemented the program to the fullest extent and the class that implemented the program the least.