Karen Bazan

September

 Learning the four square method today has been very exciting!  I am really looking forward to next week so that I can teach my students.  I have learned that with this method, students can actually see how writing paragraphs can be fun if they know the steps in writing and they can also see how it all ties in together into one paper.

 I’m hoping that after teaching the four square method, my students will be more acceptable of writing and will actually look forward to each day when we begin a new topic.   I am also looking forward to showing and teaching my peers in 5th grade how they can implement this method into the other subjects (since I only teach English, Spelling, and Reading).
Hopefully, the other students will be able to connect the vocabulary and concepts in Science and Social Studies using this method and actually enjoy the subject instead of dreading it.  I think it will help them see the connections of the topics they are studying.

 I can’t wait until next month to learn more!  Thank you for this class.  You all have done an OUTSTANDING job in putting this together!!!  Very organized!!

October

1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.

 I have three English classes and all three responded very well with the new writing method.  Each class was completely engaged in the whole class instruction while I used the overhead projector.  I think it really helped them to understand how a paragraph is created by using this organized method of writing.

2. How often did your students attempt to write each week?

 I started off slow with the process, but once I got all three classes on the same level, we wrote at least 4 times a week.

3. Did your students attempt a Four Square + 1 paragraph (topic sentence, three detail sentences, one additional sentence for each detail).  If so, what success did they have with it?  If not, why?

 Yes, my classes attempted the Four Square + 1 paragraph.  It took longer for them to understand the concept of adding a detail, but it has clicked for most of the students.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?

 The only problems I have encountered have been the time dilemma.  I have only 50 minutes for each class and I have to fit the subject of Spelling in this time, in addition to English.  Some days I have had to skip Spelling and only work on English.  The editing process has taken a lot longer than I had anticipated.  It seems like forever before I get a finished paragraph.  I have found out that having three sets of transparencies of the Four Square and lined paper works the best in order to keep up with all three classes.
 I have learned that for future writing projects, I will keep notes on each class as to what stopping point I am at since each class progresses differently.

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?

 I think the best solution for my students’ success is to have an adequate amount of time to complete each step.  I felt like I was rushing them along just to get to the next step.  I do see the need for a review on ‘how to use a dictionary’, ‘how to use editing marks’, and ‘how to edit a paper’.  I think I need to start off small before working on the bigger project of a Four Square + 1.
 I have really enjoyed this project so far and do understand how important our students’ writing skills need to improve.  Hopefully, with the introduction to fourth grade students, they will be able to write even more efficiently by next year.

November

          My class enjoyed the Easter Island activity. They were very attentive throughout the entire presentation.  I was amazed of how quickly they wanted to start writing on their yellow rough draft paper.

My students attempted to write at least once a week.  I did, however, stop to teach grammar to the students after I had discovered their mistakes in their writing.

        My students have already mastered the Four Square + 1 paragraph method.  Out of my three English classes, one class (my homebase) has already experienced the Four Square + 3.  I think my other classes will be ready to move on to the Four Square + 3 method and I’m looking forward to getting them started.

  Yes!  I have experienced many problems with the students’ abilities in knowing how to edit their own papers and others.  Many of my students don’t even know if a word is spelled correctly when editing someone else’s paper.

          I find it very hard to continue to teach only writing without taking a day out of each week to teach some sort of grammar.  In fact, that is what I am doing.  Then, it is taking extra time just to get a finished paper out of the class.

          This process is taking more time than I had anticipated. Sometimes I am thinking that I expect too much out of my students.  Are my standards too high if I expect them to know how to edit a paper and write it perfectly without any mistakes?  Probably.
 
 

          My goal for the future writing prompts will be to expect a long time for the writing method to complete and to do a refresher course on the overhead maybe once a week to help those students who are still struggling with the process.

   I really think that the students will be more successful if they are given the tools to use when writing this way.  They need to tools in how to edit, dictionary skills, thesaurus skills, and a review on grammar.  They need to know the difference between a complete sentence and an incomplete sentence.  They need to understand sentence structure.

          I would say that about 3 – 5 students per class actually know the structure of a sentence.  The rest are clueless.  Therefore, when we are writing in class and spending so much time, it is taking “forever” to get to the finished paper.

          I’m hoping that next year the students will have a better understanding on how all this works and we won’t spend so much time on back tracking on the sentence structure and grammar.

          I have found that by printing an example of the four square template ahead of time, the students have a better understanding on where they are to write the sentences.  It has helped a lot in my classes.

January

1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.
I feel that after several practices of writing various topics, my class seems to be better prepared whenever we begin a new topic. I have discovered that if I provide them with a Four Square Preprinted form, it helps them organize their thoughts better and they can get started quicker.

2. Share your experiences with the “Christmas Surprise” activity.
My students were very excited when they were involved in this activity. I had had my classroom set up into groups of four already so it was easier for the class to compete with each other. I was pleased to see how well they paid attention and participated in this activity. Everyone seemed to be involved and seemed to enjoy themselves. It really made learning fun.
 

3. Did your students attempt a Four Square + 1 paragraph (topic sentence, three detail sentences, one additional sentence for each detail). If so, what success did they have with it? If not, why?
We have actually moved on to the Four Square + 3 and are writing five paragraphs. The students are still having difficulty with stretching their detail sentences and turning them into complete sentences, but do understand the concept of it.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?

The only problem I have had is having enough time to work with these students so that we can spend valuable time concentrating on specific mechanics of the writing. I have found that it takes a lot longer to complete a writing activity before the final product. So, I feel that I have to rush the activity in order to begin another one.  I am still having a problem leaving out grammar introduction. I understand we can discuss it while the students are writing, but I strongly feel that these students need the extra practice of parts of a sentence (separately) from the writing activity.
 

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?

If my school had a lab, then I could utilize more technology into the students’ skills of writing. There is so much I could do with the students, but I only have one computer in my classroom. If each student had a chance to work on the computer at the same time I am teaching a skill, then he/ she would be able to have that hands-on experience and be able to apply the knowledge he/ she has acquired to future writing activities.
 

February
1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.
  I felt that after spending a lot of time on the writing activities my students were better prepared for the writing assessment than what I had first anticipated.  I found that by breaking down each step and focusing on one segment at a time, enhances the students’ writing and they don’t feel as rushed.

2. Share your experiences with the writing assessment practice.
  After the initial practice of timing the students for the entire 35 minutes, I discovered how stressful this was for them and decided to breakdown the process into separate days.  On one day I timed them for 15 minutes to concentrate only on the Four Square.  Then we took time and discussed what makes a good topic sentence and how we can stretch the sentences.  It really helped the students to see examples of other topic sentences and compare it to theirs to make it better.  Then the next day, we concentrated only on the paragraph part.  I felt that the practice days went well and they didn’t have the stress of getting a grade on the practice prompts.  We only used those days to practice.

3. What suggestions would you offer for 5th grade teachers next year to prepare for writing assessment?
  I would suggest to begin practicing prompts once a month once school began,  so that the students will have an understanding of how the process flows and not be so stressed when the actual writing assessment arrives.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?
  The only problems I have encountered are the time limits.  I wish I had more time to spend with my students on writing, because I have Spelling to teach in addition to English.  I still have problems on teaching the grammar and believe that students need a couple days a week reviewing parts of speech and then tying it into our writing.

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?
  I think that if my students had access to a computer lab, then they would have hands-on experience in writing and be able to apply their writing skills to technology to enhance their learning.  It is very difficult to teach my students with only one computer because of the space needed to actually see the TV screen.  I feel that if I had access to a computer lab, then each student will be actively engaged in the writing activity instead of trying to figure out what the lesson is all about.
 

March
1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.

I tried a new approach this month.  We worked on a comparison and contrast paper on the subject of the history of education in the 1900’s compared to today’s education.  We watched a video on this topic that was taped from an earlier PBS program.  Then, after creating our Four Square Form, we stretched our topic sentences on dry erase boards.  It was a hit with the students.

2. How often did your students attempt to write each week?

We wrote at least 4-5 times a week.

3. Did your students participate in a social studies cross curriculum writing activity?  If so, describe its successes/weaknesses.

No.  Due to the current writing activity I was doing in my class, I was not able to introduce a new topic.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?

The problem I had during this month was the same problem I encounter each month – having enough computers to go around for each student to actively engage in the subject I am introducing.  One example is when I introduced the various types of transition words to the students, on my one computer, to help them stretch their sentences in their paper.  My upper students were worried about knowing all the words and were frantically writing them down from one Power Point slide to the next.  The others didn’t bother to write them down, because it was difficult for them to see the television screen.  Then, they wanted me to make a copy of the words so that they could have them in print.  Of course, if I made copies of the entire Power Point presentation for the students, then I would have to make 70 copies of a packet that consisted of 15 pages each.
 I really do feel that Jefferson Elementary students would benefit from having a computer lab so that they could actively engage in the activity and have hands on experience to help them be more successful in their writing.

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?

I think this project is an EXCELLENT one!  I suggest that more time should be scheduled to these writing activities than what I have.  I have often asked the students how they feel about this form of writing and the majority have enjoyed it.  It’s nice to see the students begin on the Four Square Form immediately and they are finished more quickly than they did four months ago.  I’ve enjoyed this project.

April

1.    Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.  I felt that my students were more relaxed when we wrote this past month.  They seemed to have a better idea of how to begin a topic sentence and have transferred their Four Square form to the yellow editing paper with more confidence than previous activities. 

2.    Share your students’ experiences with the Civil War or Iraq writing activity.  The students were very exciting about learning the differences between Iraq and the United States.  They were motivated in writing their paragraph and some even wanted to write more than one paragraph.  They talked about it for two more days.  We all learned a lot. 

3.    How have you utilized the resources from the Write On site in your classroom?  Due to the time frame limitation, we were not able to utilize the Write On site this past month.  We spent the time practicing skills to prepare for the TCAPS. 

4.    Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?  The problem I have had this month is the same problem I have had all year – not having enough computers in my classroom.  It is very difficult to teach and model information on the web with only one computer.  It is hard to keep all 23 students actively engaged in the activity when not every student is able to see the screen as well. 

5.    What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?  The most beneficial suggestion is to have a computer lab either set up in my classroom or separately in the school so that the students can utilize the resources that are available and be more proficient in using the computer and learning the skills to become better writers. 

May

The Tennessee Master Plan Goals the project addressed was:

State of the art technology will be used to improve curriculum. Tennessee Report Card Performance Indicators Competency (Composition Skills)

1.      How do you feel this project moved toward the goal of improving student composition skills? I definitely saw an improvement in the students’ composition skills after introducing the Four Square Method.  Many of them were able to create the form in less than 10 minutes and it has helped them be more organized with their writing.  The students seem to be more excited as time went on whenever we worked on a topic.  I also have learned a lot with the method and look forward to using more of it next year. 

2.        How did your participation in this project positively affecting the writing skills of the students in your classroom?  I discovered that the writing skills had improved a lot since the beginning of the year.  In fact, many of the students praised the new method and agreed that it was a better way to write since they had a better understanding of the process. 

3.        How did your participation in this project positively affect your instructional strategies? I was very excited about this project and it helped me find other creative ways to integrate topics into the classroom.  We spent many weeks on the animals of the rainforest and then we created a mural outside the classroom from the topics they wrote about.  I’ve enjoyed accessing the Internet and finding various ways to make writing fun! 

4.        Describe any problems you encountered through your participation in this project? The main problem I have had is the lack of technology in my class.  I was very disappointed to find out that our school did not get a grant for a computer lab.  I feel that with a computer lab, students have a better chance to get involved in the activity and can have hands-on experience.  It also allows them to be more creative with the use of the various software programs that are available.  It was difficult to access the technology I learned in my meetings, since I only have one computer and it is very difficult for 23 students to see one small screen. 

5.        What could be done to improve the Write On project? There isn’t too much I can think of to improve the project.  I felt it was very successful from the assessments that I gave.  There might be a balanced emphasis on various ways of writing without the use of technology, since not all schools in Jefferson County have the ability to use computer labs.  Another way to improve the project would be to allow other teachers to participate in the project so that everyone can benefit from the writing process instead of only one teacher from each grade. 

6.      Other concerns: I have no other concerns except for the lack of technology use in the classrooms.  Hopefully, within the next 5 years, all schools will have a computer lab to help students gain the skills they will need as they succeed in school and their future.