Writing Fluency Action Plan Independent Project Betty Jackson, NBCT Kennedy High School

PDSA Cycle Plan – Do – Study – Act (PDSA) Cycle guides the continuous improvement process for the Action Research Project

Goal #1 for This Project To show advancement by ninth grade language arts students in complexity of sentence structure and vocabulary To encourage active reading strategies so students value exemplary published language examples.

Plan – Define the System Students in ninth grade come to us with a wide range of writing achievement as shown in writing in these genres: journal, formal expository essay, research writing, original creative pieces, poetry, and memoir.

Plan – Define the System Student lack of sophistication and complexity in writing can be improved by specifically designed lessons directed at fluency and advanced vocabulary.

Plan – Define the System Complexity of sentence structure and level of vocabulary can be measured to show improvement in these two areas by using the Gunning-Fog Index on one-hundred word writing samples.

Plan – Define the System Student writing often exhibits status markers which suggest students use of colloquial language rather than standard formal language acceptable at all levels of society.

Plan – Assess Current Situation Using monthly writing assessments, students writing samples show a majority of ninth grade students are performing below class level expectations as shown by application of the Gunning-Fog Index.

Plan – Assess Current Situation Students often write basic subject/verb sentences and do not demonstrate use of compound/complex sentence structure. Students use colloquial language rather than more advanced standard English. Students use a majority of monosyllabic and two- syllable words as preference.

Plan – Analyze Causes Students do little writing in classes and are unfamiliar with using essay format to explain their points of view or describe processes. Students are not called upon to analyze and revise writing to improve syntax and vocabulary.

Plan – Analyze Causes Students are not called upon to analyze and revise writing to improve syntax and vocabulary.

Plan – Analyze Causes Students have not actively read or analyzed authors samples which provide models for their own writing.

Plan – Analyze Causes Students have not actively read or analyzed authors samples which provide models for their own writing. Students are not called upon to analyze and revise writing to improve syntax and vocabulary.

Do – Improvement Theory Teach students to use the Gunning-Fog Index to assess their writing compared to grade level. Assign students writing in all formats: journal, formal expository essay, research writing, original creative pieces, poetry, memoir, literary essay, news articles.

Do – Improvement Theory Grade and correct/edit each assignment, including comments, content grade (how well the material or topic is explored) and technique grade (technical grammatical expression). Show students status marking errors

Do – Improvement Theory Record Gunning-Fog Index rating to one writing piece each month and record results on individual student sheets, visually showing assessment compared to grade level on graduated scale.

Study – Study the Results By looking at individual writing charts, note whether improvement is occurring, and whether results are consistent. Since results seem to be mixed, and results improve when students learn to revise their work, students will be asked to revise work to improve scores.

Study – Study the Results Students and teacher are still at this point in the process. We have assessed the problem and are seeking improvement which will allow more students to attain end-of- year grade levels in writing.

Act – Standardize Improvement Not to this point in the cycle yet.

Act – Plan Continuous Improvement Not to this point in the cycle yet.