Date of Award
1990
Document Type
Practicum
Degree Name
Master of Science
Department
Center for the Advancement of Education
Keywords
administrative training, author's chair, classroom publishing, collaborative learning, daily writing, elementary authors, elementary literacy, emotionally disturbed behavior, first grade writing, fundraising, grant writing, holistic learning, inventive spelling, literacy activities, oral reading, pretend reading, real-life writing, residential treatment, role-playing, staff development, student writing, whole language, writing folders, writing output, writing process, writing motivation, writing skills, writing workshops, dysfunction
Abstract
This practicum sought to increase the opportunities first-grade students have to write for real, human reasons and in natural circumstances. They were to use writing as a natural and acceptable outlet for expression and to conceive their writing as an extension of themselves.
This practicum sought to increase the opportunities first-grade students have to write for real, human reasons and in natural circumstances. They were to use writing as a natural and acceptable outlet for expression and to conceive their writing as an extension of themselves.Each day, a name was drawn to take home a stuffed bear which served as a motivation companion for writing the next day. The bear was brought back and the student wrote a story of his/her adventures with the bear. The student then sat in the author's chair, put on the author's cap, and read his/her story. This prompt voluntary involvement in literacy activities in students' free time and increased writing output. Students were also in a collaborative learning venture putting together a whole class book every month. There was increased oral reading to the students and different registers of language. A record of each student was kept via a checklist and each student's personal writing folder. The actual writing period was expanded to allow for all components of writing to take place.
Results of the practicum far exceeded those hoped for by the author. At the end of implementation, fourteen of the seventeen students in the class were writing at least one page a day, and many more than that. The quality of students' writing had not noticeably risen. Students were collaboratively putting together one book a week, and the use of book language was common.