Friendly Letters: Teaching the Writing Process
Context:
The following artifact is a five day writing project that I taught in a first grade classroom. It includes the lesson plans, daily descriptions of and reflections on the lessons, and a final reflection and analysis of the project. During this project, the students were introduced to writing a ''friendly letter'' and completed all five steps of the writing process - pre-writing, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing. The students wrote letters to their buddies in another first grade classroom, and the project culminated with a ''secret delivery'' to their buddies' mailbox at the end of the week. Also included are several examples of student work at the different stages of the writing process.
UW TEP Goals and Targets:
Goal 1: Effective Teaching, Assessment and Evaluation
Learning Target 1B: Instructional Strategies
The TEP student will understand and use a variety of instructional strategies, and meaningful routines, activities, materials, and resources that support learners' development of the central concepts, thinking and inquiry strategies, dispositions, and strategies of communicating in the disciplines.
In developing these lessons, I put careful thought into instructional strategies and how best to teach and support my students throughout each daily activity. For example, I considered the purpose and audience of the writing project, how to prepare the students, motivate them, and build background knowledge, how to organize and structure each lesson, and what scaffolding to provide. I also considered how best to engage, teach and support the students throughout the writing process in particular, and how I would teach the mini-lessons each day. Most of all, I attempted to make this an authentic writing experience for the students, so that they would be invested in the assignment and be able to take something away from it.
Goal 2: Meeting the Needs of Diverse Learners
Learning Target 2B: Adapting for Differences
The TEP student will understand how individual differences can influence learning and how to create/adapt curriculum, instruction, and assessment to meet the needs of diverse learners.
In creating these lessons, I considered every student in our class and how best to meet everyone's needs. Although the lessons were given to the whole class, during the individual work time I had the chance to directly help many students. Several children needed one-on-one support throughout the entire writing process and each day I worked with them individually to ensure that they kept up with the class and were benefiting equally from the project. There were also extra challenges available for those students who welcomed them. Adaptations were made so that every child was encouraged and supported and every one was able to succeed.
Reflection:
Developing a writing project that spanned several days was the assignment for the literacy class during my third quarter in the Teacher Education Program. We were instructed to turn in a rough draft of what we planned to teach before we actually began the project in the field. I was excited about the topic I had chosen - writing friendly letters - and had decided to take the students through all five steps in the writing process throughout the course of the project. While the feedback I received from the class Teaching Assistant was positive, he suggested that I might want to focus on only two or three steps in the writing process, as all five might be too much to cover during a single project in first grade. This response was disappointing and somewhat frustrating for me, not only because I had already put a great deal of thought into my plans, but also because I felt sure that the students in this class were capable of taking on all five steps. After all, we had learned that ''the foundations of any subject may be taught to anybody at any age in some form'' (Bruner, 1960, p. 12). By simplifying, yet keeping the five steps intact, the students would be gaining a more real experience. I consulted with my cooperating teacher, and we decided that I should continue with my first plan and teach the entire writing process. This way, the students would receive the authentic experience of going through all the steps, I would gain practice in teaching them, and if it did not work, we would all learn from the experience. Full speed ahead!
From this point, I began to really prepare for the project. I wanted to find the perfect ''hook'' for introducing the project and for making it real for my students. Additionally, I needed to provide explicit instruction and guidance in order for the students to succeed. It was clear that the only way to make lessons on how to write a friendly letter engaging and applicable was to have the students actually write real letters. For extra excitement, I decided to have the students write ''surprise'' letters to their buddies in the other first grade, and the outcome would be very rewarding because their buddies would then write a surprise letter back. We embarked on this letter writing journey in an organized manner which provided the students with clear instructions and examples, as well as a great deal of support. Each day I reviewed what we had done and learned so far, and then we went through the steps of a mini-lesson. In mini-lessons, as described by Gail Tompkins in her book Teaching Writing (2000), ''students and teacher focus on a single goal; students are aware of why it is important to learn the strategy or skill, and they are explicitly taught how to use a particular strategy or skill through modeling, explanation, and practice. Then independent application takes place using authentic literacy materials'' (p. 92). I found this instructional strategy to be very effective. After a review, I gave an introduction to the topic, a demonstration with guided practice, a review of the skill, and finally there was the application - individual work time for the students to practice with their own letters. The format worked well because there was scaffolding and a transfer of responsibility from teacher to students as they then applied what they learned to the authentic writing activity - a letter to their buddy next door. Even the students who needed extra help and support were excited by the mini lessons and put exceptional effort into the activities.
This project was a huge success! The students were so excited about writing real letters that they actually wanted to go through the writing process, and each day built upon the last. I tried to be very explicit and use fun and interesting examples that would resonate with the students, which seemed to draw them into the project even more. In addition, the lessons were so structured that the students were able to understand and move through each step easily. Back at the University, my T.A. was complimentary and reassuring: ''Excellent work, Shannon. This project clearly motivated the students to write - and to write thoughtfully and well. You provided enough instruction to scaffold their learning while encouraging individual creativity. The letters are awesome! It's so exciting to see first graders revise and add detail to their writing!'' From this experience, I learned how essential it is to believe in my students and to provide careful and purposeful instruction that is meaningful to them. The implications behind this are important to consider. If teachers keep in mind the ''foundations'' of what they want to teach, provide sufficient scaffolding and support, and make the learning significant for the students, the possibilities for instruction and learning are endless. It is here that teachers realize that young children not only can understand the foundations of concepts in the writing process or in geometry, but they can also be taught the foundations of more abstract ideas of democracy and community. Although, as a teacher, it is essential to be aware of where students are developmentally, it is equally important to challenge their minds and provide them with experiences in which they can grow.
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