Theoretical Information

Though I have cited Culham (2003) previously, a little background information on the Traits has never hurt. 

Below is an overview of the Traits.  Based on my pre-assessment data (and time constraint), I focused on sentence fluency, word choice and conventions.  These posed as the highest needs for this particular group of students.

6 + 1 Traits Overview
Ideas	Ideas make up the content of the piece of writing, otherwise known as the heart of the message.
Organization	Organization is the internal structure of the piece, the thread of meaning, the logical pattern of the ideas.
Voice	Voice is the soul of the piece.  It’s what makes the writer’s style singular, as his or her feelings and convictions come out through the words.
Word Choice	Word choice is at its best when it includes the use of rich, colorful, precise language that moves and enlightens the reader.
Sentence Fluency	Sentence fluency is the flow of the language, the sound of word patterns- the way the writing plays to the ear, not just the eye.
Conventions	Conventions represent the piece’s level of correctness- the extent to which the writer uses grammar and mechanics with precision.
+1 Presentation	Presentation zeros in on the form and layout- how please the piece is to the eye.
(Culham, 2003, p. 11-12).

Because my students are flexibly grouped, and the fact that I could find little research on strategies to utilize with higher-ability and gifted students.  Additionally, all the research done on the Six Traits showed improvements amongst lower achieving students and not so much with the higher-achieving students.

Below are the resources that I've collected to help mold my action research model into what it is today:

Albertson, L. R., & Billingsley, F. F. (2001).  Using Strategy Instruction and Self-Regulation to Improve Gifted Students’ Creative Writing.  Journal of Secondary Gifted Education, 12(2), 90.

Coe, M., Hanita, M., Nishioka, V. & Smiley, R.  (2011).  An Investigation of the Impact of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing Model on Grade 5 Student Writing Achievement.  United States Department of Education.

Culham, R.  (2003).  6 + 1 Traits of writing: The complete guide grades 3 and up.  Portland, OR: Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory.

DeJarnette, N. K. (2008).  Effects of the 6 + 1 Trait Writing Model on Student Writing Achievement.  Liberty University: College of Education.

Diederich, P. B.  (1974).  Measuring growth in english.  Urbana, IL: National Council Teachers of English.

Flyte-Rettler, J. L. (2004).  Improving Fourth Grade Students’ Writing Skills with 6 + 1 Traits of Writing, Graphic Organizers, and Writer’s Workshop.  Oshkosh, WI: University of Wisconsin.

Higgins, B., Miller, M., & Wegmann, S.  (2006).  Teaching to the test…not!  Balancing best practice and testing requirements in writing.  Reading Teacher, 60(4), 310-319.  doi: 10.1598/RT.60.4.1.

Mertler, C. A.  (2012).  Action research: Improving schools and empowering educators. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Wearmouth, J., Berryman, M., & Whittle, L. (2011). 'Shoot for the moon!' Students' identities as writers in the context of the classroom. British Journal of Special Education, 38(2), 92-99. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8578.2011.00502.x

Conventions Update

My one conventions participant did not finish his lesson, so below is a description of the lesson itself.  It was an application of the APLUS editing technique that he previously learned.  (This particular participant moves at a snails pace in any type of activity we are completing, especially writing).

Word Choice Update

This week, students worked on improving their dialogue.  More specifically, students focused on not overusing the word "said."  After the lesson introduction, I read aloud Stellaluna and students focused on the different words the author used in place of said.  Oftentimes, I feel like I take read-alouds for granted, but my kids really enjoyed this lesson and I think it had a lot to do with the book we read aloud.

 

Students then applied the skill after we finished instruction, modeling and a read aloud.

 

 

Most students did well, however, I had a few students that did not write the amount of required sentences.  It was not that they didn't understand the lesson.

Sentence Fluency Update

This week, my sentence fluency group worked on creating "high-five" sentences, in which they were instructed on creating sentences with nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and prepositional phrases.  Each part of speech was represented by a finger on their hands.

Many of my students are visual learners, so they were successful with this because this was a graphic organizer that would always be with them!

 

You can see from the chart that many were successful.  (The blank numbers are students not participating in the sentence fluency group).

Above is a student sample.  This student worked really hard on her sentences when applying the skills on her own. 

 

The next (and final) lesson I will be doing is from the sixth grade book, as I want to see how they respond with something higher level.

Weekly Reflection

I don't know if I will ever feel like I'm fully on track or "finished."  I often feel like these terms are overused!  I guess I would feel better about my progress with collecting data, had we not been off for a grand total of 22 days and a few hour delays thrown in there. 

My participants have been more than helpful with my research process and I'm happy to say that many of them have demonstrated gains.  However, I cannot speak too soon, as I've not given the post assessment yet, nor have my kids taken their state testing assessment yet.  I want so badly for my writers to succeed, but I understand now that was not the case.  I am finishing a research project that I implemented within my classroom that will hopefully aid others in making decisions within their classrooms.  I think that's a pretty big feat.

This week I'm grateful.  I'm terrified as to how things will turn out (for both myself and my students), but I'm grateful for the simple fact that I was able to do this with my particular group of kids.

Happy blogging,

Emily

Sentence Fluency Updates

My largest group is my Sentence Fluency birds.  Below is the pre-assessment and you can really see that the majority of my higher-functioning students struggle with sentence fluency (I expected this early on).

 

Now, here is the mid-research assessment that I had the students complete.  Some of their stories turned out pretty great they're going to use them for their portfolios.

 

 

Most of the students made gains, however, I did have a couple that haven't.  These students didn't surprise me in their non-gain, so I need to focus more closely on them and be more deliberate.

Below is a student sample about Brandon Phillips- the Reds baseball player and I just had to post this because I love him as much as my student here does! :)

 

Word Choice Updates

 The Word Choice group has also made some gains. 

 

Above is the pre-assessment for the Word Choice group.  Please pay close attention to the last number of students, as above is the entire group.

Below are the students during their mid-research application practice.

 

Conventions Update

 Here is the pre-assessment for Conventions.  Again, I apologize for the graininess of the photo, but I have really struggled with uploading photos and documents to this blog (I'm sure it's me). 

Please focus on Student 11.  This is my lone conventions bird.

As you can see, he's improving.

 

 

Data Updates

So, because I decided to do a mid-assessment to determine my lessons from there, I have added some data.  My kids seem to be growing, however, there are a few that aren't.  Moreover, I am curious to see how they do on the post-assessment.  Also, I am wondering whether their trait awareness will improve all of the Traits rather than just the one I'm instructing them upon.

You can see below the scoring rubric.  Again, I only scored them on the Trait I was instructing them upon for this mid-review.

 
 
 
 
 
This is a sample of a very odd story one of my sentence fluency kiddos wrote, however, she's really improved with her sentence fluency.  She has even improved with her conventions, as this is typically an issue for this student.

I am curious to see how the remainder of my research goes.  I am hoping this is a good sign (as well as the weather of course).

This Week's Reflection

So far, it looks like we are going to go a full week!  This is the first full week I've had since November and I cannot contain my excitement!!
However, I'm still terrified about spring (more like summer) state testing.  It's absolutely mind blowing that my kids will be expected to demonstrate everything they know in a couple months.

I decided to do something a little different.  I wanted to give them a "mid-unit" assessment, so I allowed them to review the lessons we have already done (for sentence fluency: pumping up sentences, complex sentences, and prepositional phrases; for Word Choice: figurative language, onomatopoeia, and transitional words/phrases; and conventions: commas, capitalization, and APLUS editing) and then I asked them to apply those skills into a piece of writing.  Some chose to write nonsense stories (my kids really enjoy that) and some just simply chose to reflect on the week.

I am wanting to see some gains, but, again, that's being a little bias and hoping for the best.

Do you all think that's an odd thing to do?  I will score them with the same rubric that I scored the pre-assessments with, but only the Trait area that they're being instructed within will be reported...however, it will still be interesting to see if any areas have made gains.

What are your thoughts?

Emily

Weekly Reflection

Not only am I struggling because we missed out on two days this week (I'm not even sure how many that is, but it's definitely up in the 20's somewhere now!), but because I feel like I'm not doing my lessons correctly. 

Dr. C. keeps saying that this is my study and that I am really the determining element here, which is true.  However, that still doesn't ease the uneasy feeling I have about some of my lessons.  For instance, I feel like some of these lessons, though touching on topics my kids may not have ever heard (or maybe they just haven't heard them or applied them in a while), I feel line some of them are too easy.  What do you think about me using the same type of lesson set up, but a sixth grade level book?  It's from the same company, still aligned with both the Traits and the Common Core standards, but I just wanted everyone's thoughts before I began this journey. 

For instance, I really want to pull in lessons from a multiple array of sources, like the Six Traits text by Culham (2003) and also these Getting to the Core books.  But, again, I'm afraid that's not right.  It's not that I'm changing their groups and the students are still receiving lessons based upon their level of need, as determined within their pre-assessment, but I just wanted to gather thoughts regarding how much is too much?

Conventions Update

Again, I feel as if I'm the only one that has trouble with uploading pictures onto this blog and it really irritates me.

Conventions
My one sole member of the conventions group ironically scored quite high in both word choice and sentence fluency (however, his conventions would give any teacher an anxiety attack!).  This specific participant is very disorganized (organization is also a Trait that he fell week within).  Each of the lessons varied in amounts, which determined his overall score for that specific lesson.  Like the other groups, he will be applying these skills into a piece of writing this week!

Data Updates

Sentence Fluency
My Sentence Fluency group is by far my largest group.  These are the first three lessons that I've completed with these students.  I am beginning to pull lessons from Culham's (2003) Six Traits book, which is basically the text to refer to, as Culham (2003) began this research way back when.  I'm curious to determine if there is more significant gains (or not) by using multiple sources of lessons, versus just sticking with one book. 

 I realize these are somewhat difficult to see, and I apologize.  The numbers on the x axis represent each participant involved with the sentence fluency lessons.  (If you see a blank, it is because that particular student is not in the sentence fluency group).  I also want to point out that the first and second lessons were out of 3, whereas the third lesson was scored on a 0-4 scale.  Furthermore, the students have not yet applied these skills, but I am going to have them do that prior to beginning another round of three lessons.

Word Choice
My word choice group, though smaller, has been enjoyable because I feel like I've gotten closer with them (simply because the group is smaller in size).  I apologize for the lack of data here.  Due to the snow days, I am missing some of my students' work and I didn't want to create a half analyzed table.  So, below is the first lesson that involved figurative language.

Again, if the students aren't seen with a bar, it is due to the fact that they are not involved within this group!

What I am struggling with at this time is still my amount of snow days and the lacking amount of data that I have.  I am curious to determine if or how my kiddos apply these lessons within to a piece of writing, rather than just within these lessons.