Susan Price

September
 Today’s session was an overview of the writing program we are embarking on and a crash course in the Four Square Method of writing. I’m excited to go back to school and begin the program with my classes. My thoughts are on scheduling and creating an environment conducive to writing with my classes. I hope the students will respond to this new way of writing as we have been using the Power Writing program so far this year. I do think the Four Square Method may give them more guidance and accountability than the Power Writing.  As my school’s 5th grade is departmentalized, it will be challenging to schedule enough time to adequately cover the program along with the other Language Arts requirements. I think organization and enthusiasm will be the key to success in my classroom.

October

1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month. My classes have used the Four Square for several assignments this month. Not only are they using it in Language Arts, but they have also had writing assignments using Four Square in Social Studies. It is such a great way of organizing their thoughts so it is easier for them to write a thoughtful paragraph.

2. How often did your students attempt to write each week? Currently, we are working on one part of the Four Square process every day. One day we will work on the topic sentence and brainstorm ideas for the “why” squares. The next day we write in the squares. Then we write a detail sentence in the “why” squares and start our rough draft. The following day, we finish our rough draft and read to a partner, making any corrections needed. The final copy is written on one day and turned in stapled together with the four square and rough draft.

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? They have started Four Square + 1 and seem to be challenged by it. I feel that the majority of them are doing well and understand the concept of adding an additional detail to each square.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?  I would like a little more information on how to grade the final copy. I have questions on how strictly or loosely the final copies need to be graded. Also, is there some point where the teacher needs to correct the rough draft instead of a partner?

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? As usual, time is the most needed benefit. It would help to have time to set up 4 Square Power Point presentations to show the students.

November
 

1.My class was enthusiastic and motivated by the Easter Island presentation. It seemed to make the writing process easier for them. They wrote excellent stories based on the presentation and even created Easter Island statues from soap and modeling clay. Many of them expressed to me how much they enjoyed the assignments related to the presentation.

2.How often did your students attempt to write each week? We write at least three to four days per week. We generally have a Four Square story in process and work on the rough draft, editing, or the final copy.

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 started the Four Square with five paragraphs this week. We watched a Power Point presentation on Fierce Creatures and the students created a Four Square on three of the eight creatures. We added a sentence to the topic sentence (Topic Sentence: There are many dangerous creatures in the world.) Then the students put three details in each square and a wrap-up sentence in the last square. In the three classes, all the students except a couple (who wanted to write about more than three creatures!) finished their rough drafts and put them in their writing file to edit on Thursday. I was glad to see how interested the students were in writing the longer stories and they were surprised at how quickly they were able to write a five paragraph paper.

4.Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?  The only problem I have is managing my time so that I can create a few more Power Point presentations for the class. They enjoy the virtual field trips through the presentations so much that I would love to create more. I would also like to be able to create presentations at home that would transfer to my school computer.

5.What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? More virtual field trip presentations to foster a relaxed writing environment for the students. As they grow more comfortable writing longer stories, then we could transfer the learning over to the narrative style of writing to prepare for the assessment.

January

1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month. We have worked very hard on consistently writing using the Four Square method this past month. So far, my three classes have written Four Square Plus Three with Details on every assignment. The students are more at ease with the process and never complain about the assignments. We have also started timing our Four Square and rough drafts to be completed within 35 minutes. The classes appear to improve with every assignment and enjoy writing the narratives and using their imaginations. They are using transition words and doing a much better job writing longer sentences. After one assignment, a student came to me and said, “I never knew I could be a good writer!”
 

2. Share your experiences with the “Christmas Surprise” activity. Connie shared the Christmas Surprise story with my first period class and they enjoyed the activity so much. I continued the lesson throughout the day and each class had a wonderful time writing the story to go along with the Power Point presentation. I enjoyed learning a way to teach cooperatively with small groups of students.
 
 

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 completed several Four Square Plus Three assignments with many of the students able to write the three details per paragraph. We need to continue working on adding three good details per paragraph as some students struggle with this concept.
 

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month? We are having problems with the topic paragraph on our narratives. The students are struggling with setting the stage for their stories and rewriting the prompt as a topic sentence.
 

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? It would be so helpful if the lower grades were also trained in the process, which would make it easier to work on crafting better sentences. It would also help to have individual word processors (such as Alpha Smart Boards) available for the students to write their stories on while also practicing keyboarding skills.
 

February
1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.  We have worked very hard on our writing during the past month. The students have enjoyed the variety of prompts we’ve used, as they allowed the students to think and write creatively. I can see quite a bit of progress in the students’ writing as we continue using the Four Square method.

2. Share your experiences with the writing assessment practice.  It was interesting to see the students respond to someone else as the instructor during the practice assessment. They understood what was expected from them and tried to write a well-organized story. It was great practice for them to actually use the lined paper and see a prompt that was similar to one they might receive during the actual test.

3. What suggestions would you offer for 5th grade teachers next year to prepare for writing assessment? I would suggest using the Four Square method at the beginning of the year and slowly building up to the “plus details” level. If the students get the basic concept of the organizer, they can become much better writers. If the younger grades would utilize it also, it would only help the upper grades by laying the groundwork that we could build upon.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?  No problems at all.

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

March
1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month. This month, we have used the Four Square writing method for writing a speech and an essay. Our speech was entitled “What it means to be an American hero.” The students wrote a persuasive speech on this topic and, overall, the speeches were better organized. We also used a Power Point presentation on the Civil War to research an essay on the causes of the Civil War. Afterwards, we completed a Four Square together on this topic and wrote the essay together. The class was amazed at how quickly they could write an essay using the Four Square.

2. How often did your students attempt to write each week? We tried to write at least every other day on average.

3. Did your students participate in a social studies cross curriculum writing activity?  If so, describe its successes/weaknesses. The students enjoyed the social studies writing activity, in particular several students who are interested in the Civil War. It was a good lesson to teach the basics of essay writing. Although I felt it was a little too much material presented at one time, the students enjoyed the information.

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month? No problems this month.

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? I think incorporating the power point presentations is very beneficial for the students. They are attentive during the presentations and enjoy writing about what they view. I would love to have access to more power point presentations that focus on specific curriculum objectives.

April
  1.    Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month. This month, we continued using Four Square writing with cross curricular topics. We focused on Science and worked on the topic of Heredity. The students really enjoyed this topic and writing assignment. They were to compare their physical characteristics with those of their parents and determine what traits they shared. Afterwards, each student wrote about three traits they shared or did not share with their family.

2.    Share your students’ experiences with the Civil War or Iraq writing activity. My students were very interested in the Civil War. We wrote our Four Square together as a whole class project. Many of them were excited about the topic and learned many new facts about the war.

3.    How have you utilized the resources from the Write On site in your classroom?  I utilize the resources from the site constantly! I have also shown several of our teachers how to access the site.

4.    Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month? No problems.

5.    What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? Continue adding power point presentations based on curriculum objectives per subject. These are great resources for teachers and students.

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? The Four Square project was immensely beneficial to our students this year. The use of technology added to their interest and allowed us to imaginatively write on subjects that piqued the students’ interest. The format of the Four Square graphic organizer appealed to the students and helped them to see the “how to” of writing. They were able to easily understand the mechanics of the organizer and use it to plan out their writing assignment. It was amazing to see the difference in their writing after using the organizer for just a few weeks. My students also couldn’t get enough of the Power Point presentations and talked of what they had learned for days afterward. Overall, I feel this was one of the more successful projects we’ve completed.  

2.      How did your participation in this project positively affect the writing skills of the students in your classroom?  My students were not only more organized, but they also became more confident in their ability to write. They felt comfortable with the tools they were given (the Four Square and the prompts) to organize their thoughts and were able to transfer that knowledge onto the paper. I have been very happy with the results.

3.      How did your participation in this project positively affect your instructional strategies? My participation in the project allowed me to use my technology skills to create Power Point presentations that were of interest to my students and helped me to keep them engaged in learning from the beginning of the writing process to the end result. They did not complain about the assignments and enjoyed learning. I would love to continue using the skills I’ve learned to create other presentations and to continue the Four Square technique with future classes.  

4.      Describe any problems you encountered through your participation in this project? The only problem I would mention would be the lack of time to create more presentations for the students to use. I really cannot describe any problems I’ve encountered as my experience has been nothing but positive. I would love to be able to utilize the technology we have this summer by creating more presentations, but I don’t have the technology at home that I have at school.

5.      What could be done to improve the Write On project? Train the lower grade teachers in the basics of the program so that the students would be familiar with the technique by the time they enter 5^th grade.