Terry Sams

September

 The Write On Project will take place for the 2002-2003 school year.  I am looking forward to this because I really need help in teaching writing.  Writing is not one of my strong points, so I know I am weak in this area.   I think the way technology is being introduced with the writing concept will be very helpful.  Students already groan when told they have to write.  Using the TV screen with the folded paper method should be usual in keeping their attention and interest.  All of the work that has already been done with the writing prompts and links on the Internet will save us lots of time in the classroom especially in the planning process.

October

1. I tried to use the Four Square writing for our first Reading unit test.  We started out on Monday with just listing our ideas that we might want to write about the next day.  With day two, we started with the blank paper and the square.  We progressed each day with the steps as they were in the Reading text. By Friday, they were ready to publish the writing.  I was disappointed with the writing, as the students just don’t seem to want to put much effort into what they do.  It’s as if they want only to do the bare minimum and call it quits.

2. We write every Friday and some days during the week.  I still am struggling with getting in the writing.  Even when I have it scheduled to do, I just barely get started when it is time to do other things.

3. No, we are just not ready for more detailed writing.

4. Not really. I just wonder if the other teachers will be expecting my class’s writing to be such much better than before.  I know it will be better, but the group I have this year does not seem to want to put much effort in their work. Getting them to write more than the minimum is a real effort.

5. I can’t think of thing that you are not already doing.  I am anxious to have them see other student’s work on the Net and have them correct it.  Maybe then they will be more conscientious of their own writing.

November
 

My class really enjoyed the Easter Island assignment. They have begun to ask me each week if Mrs. Campbell is coming for a lesson.  The Easter Island writing did not turn out as well as I would have liked it to have.  Most of the paragraphs were exactly the same.   The students just don’t seem to want to be creative writers as a whole.

My students write at least once a week in an actual writing assignment with a prompt.  We do also try to reflect in our journal during the week about something going on or something they have learned in class.

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?  No, we have not tried this.  I do not feel like my students are ready for this yet.  Also, we just have not had the extra time it takes to “squeeze” in another writing assignment.

Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?  No, it has been great.  I have found it very encouraging for myself to get into teaching more writing.  This is a simple way to organize their writing.  The only thing that has been discouraging for me is that I have been disappointed when I had them write an assignment that was part of their regular reading unit test.

I let them be totally independent as to how they would organize the writing.  They were to follow the prompt given in the reading test.  The writing was poorly organized and the punctuation and spelling was awful.  Very little of what they had been taught showed up in the assignment.  I was very disappointed.

I can’t think of anything to improve this.  I have loaded the writing CD on the other teacher’s computers in my grade level.  I even gave a writing lesson that included one of the other teacher’s classes so they could see how to get started.  The time limit is the main problem I have besides the difficulty I have grading the writing assignments.

January

1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.
December was a difficult month to get any serious writing done. So many different things were going on because of programs, etc., when I did have a writing assignment planned, it would get interrupted. The other problem was getting the students to “focus”. Writing or any other school work was the furtherest thing from their mind.

2. Share your experiences with the “Christmas Surprise” activity.
My class enjoyed this assignment. Like always they enjoy Mrs. Campbell coming to class. They all wanted to share their stories.

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, we have attempted this. I did not feel it was very successful. When I have modeled the writing by giving the topic sentence and details, they seem to do alright. The problem is they all write just about the same thing. When I try to have them write more independently, their writing is awful. It is as if they have been taught nothing and still write like 2nd and 3rd graders. Even though they have a writing folder that a made up with all kinds of writing helps, they practically have to be forced to use it. It seems they just want to write and be done with the assignment.
 

4. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month?
The only problem for me is expecting great improvement in the students writing because of all I have learned and what I share with them – and then getting very little results. May be my expectations are just too high.

5. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?
Not teaching anything but language arts for about 6 weeks! Seriously, I am still struggling with all there is to teach and do in 4th grade and doing it with quality and not just quantity. The program is terrific, but the days are not long enough.
 

February
1. It has been difficult to get in much writing this past month due to the snow days and other days off.

2. I had them do a writing based on 4-square after the Columbia accident, but I have not had time to even read it yet.  We typed a rough draft on the computer and plan to go back and edit with the computer and learn to add pictures, fonts, etc.

3. Just time as usual.

4. None, you’re doing a great job.  We just need the time to do more.  Having days like today where we can acutely spend time working on the computer is one of the best advantages of these workshops.

March
1. This has been a difficult month to get in quality writing practice.  Many of my students have been absent due to illness. Some have been absent for over a week at a time.
2. My students write in their journals at least two times a week, but I do not always collect it to read.  We have been working on a published paragraph about their feelings and thoughts of the Columbia accident.  The original writing was put into their journal.  From that we have transferred it to the computer and worked on editing, proofread and publishing.

3. The Civil War writing exercise has been too difficult for them to grasp as four paragraph writing.  I would like to go back and just have them write a one paragraph paper on this instead of developing four paragraphs.

4. I still feel the frustration about not getting to do the amount of writing that is needed to produce better writers.  Everything we do in the workshop just makes you want to go back and practice writing, but there is just not enough time with everything else there is to do.

5. Let’s have more of the same!

April
 

1.    We had extra time to spend on writing this month due to the T/N testing.  I used the afternoons after testing every day for the entire week to focus on writing skills.  This gave me time to show more PowerPoint’s on writing that I had taken off the internet on writing skills prior to writing.  We also had time to look at other student’s writing that was on the Internet.  This was a real learning experience for the class.   

2.    The Civil War writing proved to be very difficult for my class.  I finally just gave up on it and went to something else.  This was the writing reflections on the crash of the Columbia.  My students as a whole just do not seem to be able to develop more than a one paragraph writing. Even one good paragraph is often not very well written. 

When we did the Columbia writing, I had them write the reflection in their journals writer after the accident happened.  From this we used the computer lab to work on typing skills and editing skills using the computer.  When we reviewed our finished writing, I was at first disappointed that their paragraphs were not better organized.  I realized this was because they worked straight from the journal entry and not from a 4-square graphic organizer.   

The science writing we did using the 4-square method proved to be much better writing than they had done all year.  I let the students as a class view the PowerPoint’s and then decide which one they wanted to write about.  Then they got into small groups and reviewed the PowerPoint of their choice again.  They were allowed to take notes and then use the notes to develop their paragraphs with the 4-square organizer. 

3.    No problems except time limitations. 

4.    Make the training available for all teachers and keep those computers running so they can see all the wonderful PowerPoints that are available.

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? This project was excellent in helping us improve curriculum in our Composition Skills.  We were provided with many helpful writing activities. We were given the opportunity to practice these with other grade level participants.  We were provided with the technological and other materials necessary to carry out the project as well as take it further into our individual classrooms.  

2.        How did your participation in this project positively affecting the writing skills of the students in your classroom?  I believe this project positively affected my students writing skills, because it gave me the necessary encouragement and tools I needed to move more bolding into writing and composition areas of language arts.  The time provided to practice these skills myself helped me more confident of my teaching ability in this area as well. 

3.        How did your participation in this project positively affect your instructional strategies? I was able to use technology more effectively as a result of my participation in this project.  Also having the “hands on” activities made time preparation for the writing activities much more organized and useful.  They also helped keep student interest at a higher level. 

4.        Describe any problems you encountered through your participation in this project? As with most projects, the main problem encountered was the time constraints with working this into the regular curriculum.  Even though writing is a part of our everyday curriculum, trying to use this method and not following along with the writing curriculum that was in our new reading series proofed to be a strain at times.  Another problem for me personally is the time it takes to read and grade compositions.  I still have a “hang up” about wanting to correct every punctuation and grammar mistake. 

5.        What could be done to improve the Write On project? Continue the training so that all language arts teachers can attend. 

6.      Other concerns: I would sure hate to loose Connie Campbell as our Technology teacher.