Collaborative Instructional Strategies Inquiry By: Katie DeFazio Spring 2014

Whose was Involved? Team Members: Myself and KL. Ms. L’s Kinders All Day kindergarten at RP Elementary Ms. D’s Kinders Ms. L’s Kinders

Collaborative Inquiry Question How can we implement advance organizers to support students in their narrative writing? Checklist for their writing folder. Back page is the peer review portion for what they could add…

Rationale and Purpose Statement Putting it All Together Problem Framed: The current lessons for transition words and closing sentences are not sufficient and/or effective for our group of students. Purpose Statement: The purpose of this inquiry is to implement instructional strategies to strengthen students’ use of transition words and closing sentences. Inquiry Question: What is the impact of teaching students how to use advance organizers and graphic organizers, for teaching the structure of narrative writing, on students’ ability to use transition words and closing sentences? Theory of Action: If we engage in collaborative inquiry focusing on strategies for teaching the use of transition words and closing sentences, then we will be able to improve students’ narrative writing. If we focus on teaching students the structure of narrative writing then students will write using transition words and closing sentences that helps complete their stories. If we meet regularly to share our learning, then we will be more likely to be open and transparent about the challenges we are facing.

Theory of Action Theory of Action IF…..(Action) THEN….(Outcome) If we use the 5 finger storytelling… Then students will have a sequenced story for their narrative writing. If we brainstorm possible transition words and their meaning… Then students will understand the purpose and importance of using transition words If we give students a check off list of transition words that they can keep in their writing folder… Then students will use transition words more in their writing. If we model the use of transition words with advanced organizers… Then it will build students understanding of how to properly use them in their own writing If we use student writing examples in the beginning of lessons… Then students will be able to identify transition words in their own writing samples

Descriptions of Actions Taken Component 1: Setting a purpose- The Teacher will…. Engage students in higher order thinking skills that connect to their knowledge of Narrative Writing and a deeper understanding of the importance of the pieces of writing. Component 4: Compare work and self-reflect- The Teacher will…. Provide students with their narrative writing pieces throughout the weeks help compare and critique their work. Help students become masters of the required criteria. Engage students in a discussion about what questions could be beneficial to ask themselves to reflect on their work and make notes on: What worked well, what didn’t? What do I still need to work on? Component 2: Model the strategy of using the writing checklist- The Teacher will…. Demonstrate the correct use of the Narrative Writing Checklist with an example completed together as a class and model how it helps benefit and strengthen their writing. Component 5: Reteach and Assess- The Teacher will…. Component 3: Model the strategy of using a writing partner for peer editing using a check off list- The Teacher will…. Teacher will assess the student’s use of advanced organizers to strengthen their use of transition words in their narrative writing. The teacher will also differentiate knowledge and break down task of the advance organizers for those students who still need re-teaching and those who need enrichment. Create an interactive scenario with the whole group and how difficult editing and revising writing can be. Demonstrate the steps writing partners take to be an effective and helpful partner to help strengthen writing. Assigns students to their leveled partner.

Beginning of my data collection: Findings Beginning of my data collection: 19 students completed all of the data collection lessons consistently. 4 students: on extended vacation or pulled out for IEP times. 6 of the 19 students included all of the components in narrative writing independently before the checklist was given 7 of the 13 students that did not include all of the components of narrative writing, thought they included all components and when asked to show evidence, went back and circled no.

Final Data Collection: Findings Cont. Final Data Collection: 14 of the 19 students included all of the components in narrative writing from the checklist. Only 5 students did not include all of the required pieces. Of those 5, 3 of them felt they did include all pieces but were unable to find evidence in their text of one piece on the checklist. They all attempted to properly use the checklist but were only missing a simple piece. The other 2 of the 5 students who did not include all the components on the checklist, knew they left a part out and did not use the checklist to guide them, or go back and add missing parts.

Conclusions The Narrative Writing Checklist as an advance organizer was an effective strategy for teaching students to writing using transition words as well as including opening and closing sentences. In 2 weeks, I went from 30% of my students including the required components of narrative writing to 74% of my students including all of the required components correctly. 89% of my students by the end were correctly using the checklist and attempting to include each portion of the narrative checklist independently. Peer & self-assessment impacted student learning Students were more knowledgeable about what they left out of their writing Able to reflect on what they felt they still needed to work on.

Recommendations & Next Steps I would like to create and implement this same checklist with each genre of writing for my students. I also would like to try incorporating a time for my students to be the teacher and teach their peers from other classes about the requirements of Narrative Writing. They could then explain the use of the checklist to other students. It would be fun to have a time to peer review other classes writing pieces and then once they are published have a large celebration with the classes together. I would like more one-on-one time to work with the students who do not have the self motivation to complete the checklist on their own.