children’s struggles with the writing process · students who demonstrated difficulties with...

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Michael W. Dunn is an assistant professorof special education and literacy

and Susan Finley is an associate professorand chair of the Master in Teaching Program,

both with the School of Educationat Washington State University Vancouver,

Vancouver, Washington.

Children’s Struggles with the Writing Process

Exploring Storytelling, Visual Arts, and Keyboardingto Promote Narrative Story Writing

Michael W. Dunn & Susan Finley

Introduction

Thewritingprocesscanposerealchal-lengesforsomechildren.Asaspecialedu-cationconsultantteacheratanelementaryschool,intheToronto(Ontario)areafrom1994-2002,I(Michael)workedwithmanystudents who demonstrated difficulties withwriting.Sally,afourth-gradestudentreceivingspecialeducationservices,wasoneexample.Shedemonstratedrealdif-ficulty with generating a story idea; even afterdialoguingwithmeaboutherfavoriteinterestsandactivities,shecouldnoteas-ilymakeadecision. Atonesession,Isuggestedthatshewrite about her favorite television pro-gram.Intryingtocomposethetext,Sallyspentsomuchofhermentalenergytryingtospellthewordsthatshehadlittleen-ergylefttodevotetoideaprogressionandstorystructure.WithmyroleasaspecialeducationconsultantteacherforstudentslikeSally,Iwasmotivatedtogenerateanalternativenarrativestory-writingstrat-egythatwouldhelpstudentswhostrugglewithwriting.Thispromptedmetobecomeaprofessorandresearcherofliteracyskillsandstrategies.Itheorizedthat,ifstudentswhostrugglewithwritingcouldnotetheirinitialstoryideasinaformatotherthanwords,theywouldhavethemetacognitiveskillstoknowhowtomanagetheprocessof describing story characters, setting,themainevent,anddrawinga cohesiveconclusion. At Home At School (AHAS) is anarts-based/integrated-curriculumliteracyprogramthatprovidedanopportunitytoemploymyalternative-strategyideawith

elementary-aged students who foundwritingtobeachallenge.In2002,SusanFinleyintroducedAHASwith25studentsand 12 student teachers; in 2009, AHAS enrolled over 500 K-12 students and 30university students, most of whom arepreservice teachers. The purpose of theAHASumbrellaofprogramsistoprovideequityandopportunitytoallchildrenwhoface systemic roadblocks to education.Programdocumentsstate:

OurchargeistoprovideopportunitiesforchildrenchallengedbysuchroadblockstofeelAtHomeAtSchool:thatis,weseektoprovidecomfortableandsecurelearningenvironmentsthatpromoteactivelearn-ingforallchildren.(Finley,2009)

The Challenges Faced by StudentsWho Struggle with Writing

Composing text is an essential skillfor students. Assignments, tests, andemailingareafewexamplesofthemanytaskswhichrequirestudentstogeneratethoughts and put them into prose. Formanystudents,choosingatopic,creatingan outline, generating an initial draft,and making edits to produce a final copy is a fluid process which poses minimal difficulty. For students who struggle with composingtext,thewritingprocesscanbeanarduouschallengewhichoftenresultsin frustration and a final copy which is lowerinqualitythanstandardsdictate. To produce a publishable story thatfits the expectations of logical sequence of events that move forward throughthe conventionsof risingaction to crisisand climax and final resolution, students needtodemonstratecommandofwritingpracticessuchasideageneration,gram-mar, paragraphing, and story structure(Dockrell, Lindsay, Connelly, & Mackie,2007; Polloway, Patton, & Serna, 2005). Students who struggle with writingoften experience difficulty with how to plan astory(McCutchen,2006).Althoughtheteachermayhaveprovidedoneorevena

few examples, this is probably insufficient forstudentswhohavehadlittleornopastsuccessinthewritingprocess(Foorman,2007).Notknowinghowtocreateastoryplanimpedesthewritingprocessbecausetherequiredcharacters,locations,descrip-tions,andsequenceofeventsneedtobepresentedcohesivelysoastodemonstratetheideaofstorystructureandtoholdthereader’sinterest. Beginningwritersmayhaveideastoincludeinastoryplanyetstrugglewiththe demanding task of the visual-motorintegrationprocessofmanuscriptprintingorhandwritingand,therefore,havelittlementalenergytoretainordeveloptheirstory ideas (Berninger, Richards, Stock,Abbott, Trivedi, Altemeier, et al., 2008; McCuthchen,2006).Thebrain’smemoryandmotorfunctionsmustworkintandemto help the student define the words to bewritteninalogicalorder,withcorrectspelling,andtoconveytheintendedmean-ingandideas. Even with a good idea and plan, astudent’slackofknowledgeaboutpropersentencestructureandsyntaxcanhinderthe creation of fluid and elaborate text. The resultisastrenuouseditingtaskwherethestudent’sinterestcanwaneandleavethepotentiallystrongcompositioninastageofillegibility.Thestudentmaybeabletonoteideasbutnotinawaythatconveysthestorytothereader. Children’s demographic characteris-tics can also impact their abilities withwriting: family income and socio-eco-nomicstatus(whichgoesbeyondincometo include parental education and otherindicators of social status) are probablefactors. Researchers have demonstratedthat children from low-income familiesmay experience unique difficulties with theirperformanceinschool(Grundmann,1997; O’Connor & Spreen, 1988) and socio-economic demographics have beencorrelated with vocabulary development(HartandRisley,1995).

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Students living in poverty often ex-perience fewer literacy activities withinthehome(e.g.,accesstobooksandgames)andfeweropportunitiesforout-of-schooleducationalexperiences(e.g.,highquality,center-basedchildcare,aswellasenrich-ments such as visiting local museums,family vacations, etc.); lack of access to highqualitysummereducationalexperi-ences can be especially detrimental tothesestudents(Borman,Goetz,&Dowl-ing, 2007; Schacter & Booil, 2005; Terzian, Moore,&Hamilton,2009). Thus, socioeconomic contexts anddepressedincomestatuscanresultinstu-dents’havingaless-developedvocabularyand experience with other pre-requisiteliteracyskillswhichschoolsdemandasaprecursorforacademiclearning.Whileallstudents could benefit from writing-skills strategypractice,participationinasum-mer program may be especially beneficial tostudentsfromlowersocio-economicandlowincomepopulations(Chin&Phillips,2004; Kim, 2004).

Strategies for Struggling Writers

A variety of strategies and activi-tiesexisttoaddressareasofconcernforstrugglingwriters.IntheirbookWriting Better,GrahamandHarris(2005)offeredanumberofstrategiestohelpstudentswithavarietyoftasksfromcomposingalettertotheeditortonarrativestorywriting.Tohelpstudentsincludethekeycomponentstoanarrativestory,GrahamandHarriscreated the WWW, W=2, H=2 strategywhichlistsaseriesofsevenquestionstopromptstudentstothinkaboutwhattheycouldincludeinastory:

(1) Who is the main character; who else is inthestory?(2)Whendoesthestorytakeplace?(3)Wheredoesthestorytakeplace?(4) What does the main character do; what do the other characterswant todo? (5)Whathappenswhenthemaincharactertriestodoit?(6)Howdoesthestoryend?(7) How does the main character feel; how dotheothersfeel?(28)

Saddler, Moran, Graham, and Harris(2004) incorporated this strategy alongwith Plan, Organize, and Write (POW)and found that students produced moreelaboratestorieswhengivenexplicit in-structioninhowtoplanastoryandwhenfocusingonwhatkeyelementstoinclude.Focusedpracticeoncreatingsentencesandmergingsimpleintocombinedsentencescan also be beneficial for students learning towrite(Graham,Harris,&MacArthur,2006; Saddler, Behforooz, & Asaro, 2008).

Offering students a step-by-step formatand the opportunity to practice manag-ing their own writing process can helpstrugglingwritersimproveincomposingelaboratetext. Intheprogramdescribedhere,artma-terialssuchasmodelingclay,paints,mark-ers,andcrayonsweremadeavailableasanoptioninthepre-writingphaseasameansforstudentstonotetheirstoryideasvisu-allybeforefacingthepossiblylaborioustaskofstorywriting.Hobson(2002)advocatedthattheuseofimagescouldhelppromotechildren’swritinggiventhatpicturesaremore compact and efficient storage units ofideasinthepre-writingphase. In our multimedia age, images areoftencombinedwithtext(i.e.,webpages,newspaperstories,television,andvideos)(Fleckenstein, 2002; Flood & Lapp, 1997). Researchers (e.g., Harvey & Goudvis, 2000; Keene & Zimmerman, 1997; Short, Harste, & Burke, 1996; Olshansky, 2006) suggest thatartoffersstudentsameanstoillus-tratestoryideasasawaytocomplementthe actual text. Fu and Shelton (2007)concludedthatprovidingstrugglingwrit-erswithameanstoillustrateinitialstoryideas helped to promote their confidence, stamina,andwritingskills. Withinthisstudy,asasupplementtoarts-basednotationintheplanningphaseofwriting,studentswereprovidedwriting-assistance software (e.g., CoWriter:SOLO; DonJohnstonDevelopmentalEquipment,1992)toassiststudentstotransposetheirillustratedstoryideasintotext(VanLeeu-wen&Gabriel, 2007).Thus, students intheThirstyThinkersWorkshopweregivenmultiplesupportsforstrategizingandwrit-ingtheirstoriesforclassroompublication.Thesesupportivestrategiesincludedcare-fulattentiontomodelingbyreadingstoriesbefore planning, followed by arts-basedplanningactivities,andculminatingwithtechnology-basedsupporttoeliminatesomeofthestrugglesofwritingmechanics. Forthisstudy,theresearchquestionandanalysisfocuswas:afterreviewingapublishedstoryexample,howdoelemen-tary-agestudentsemploytheuseofartandwriting-assistance software in planningandcomposingtheirownnarrativetext?

Context of the Study

Key Players and Designof the At Home At School Program

SusanandMichaelarebotheducationfaculty at Washington State University.We share a common interest in helpingstudentsimproveinliteracyskills.In2002,

Susan initiatedAtHomeAtSchoolasano-fee arts-based/integrated-curriculumsummer literacy program for studentsfrom low-income families, shelters, andtransitionalhousingtoimproveacademicskillsandschoolconnectednessbyprovid-ing access to empowerment curriculum,as well as high-quality instruction andeducationalopportunities. The At Home At School curriculumdesign introduced by Susan is based intheconceptsofempowermentanddemo-craticeducationandutilizeshands-onandarts-integrated learning approaches inall of its programs (Finley, 2003; Finley, 2007,WashingtonStateUniversity,2009).Teachers inAHASprogramsareguidedby the educational theories conceptual-izedintheworksofPauloFreire,authorofthewidelyreferencedPedagogy of the Oppressed(1970/2007). During the first two years, the pro-gramexistedonlyinshelterandhomelesscommunity housing where overcrowdingbecame a problem. Susan established acollegialpartnershipwithlocalschooldis-trictstocontinuethesummerprogramandAtHomeAtSchoolmovedintoemptyel-ementaryschoolsduringsummer.SHARE,a non-profit organization providing shelter, food and emergency services, providesUnitedStatesDepartmentofAgriculturefundedfree/reducedlunchestotheschoolsiteandtransportshomelesschildrentotheschoolsitesduringsummer. Students from the host school andchildren of volunteers also attended theprogram in order to create a balancedor representative learning community.Homelesschildrenareguaranteedenroll-ment in any of the programs under theAt Home At School umbrella, includingbothsummerandschoolyearprograms.(Seehttp://www.AtHomeAtSchool.orgformorecompletedescriptionsofAtHomeAtSchoolSummer,OutdoorEducationandEnvironmentalScience,FosterTransitionstoHigherEducation,andotherAtHomeAtSchoolprojects.AtHomeAtSchoolisalsoarecognizedpartneroftheInterna-tionalInstituteofQualitativeInquiry.) The summer program representedherewasofferedtostudents(N=212)atanelementaryschoolinthesouthwestregionofWashingtonState.Master’s-in-TeachingstudentsatWashingtonStateUniversityVancouverservedasthe“teachers”intheprogram. Each teacher was assigned agroupofeighttotenstudentsforpre-andpost-session activities. At the beginningof each weekday morning during thefour-weekprogram,studentswouldarrive

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and participate in community-buildingactivities (e.g. games, discussions andart projects that compose one aspect oftheempowermentcurriculumofAHAS).They would eat breakfast provided inpartnershipbythefreeandreducedmealsprovider,andtheneachchildwouldchoosetwo75-minuteactivitysessionsinwhichto participate until lunch time. Duringsessions,teachersledactivitiesand/oras-sistedchildrenintheprogram. Classesandworkshopsavailable tothe students were constructivist in na-ture.Teacher-ledactivitycentersincludedtheatre (writing, editing, production),video storytelling, visual arts studio,newsroom,andwriters’workshop,forex-ample.Studentscouldalsodeveloptheirown activity center theme, which oftenproved tobeverypopular.Onestudentdeveloped a mini-series of lessons thatused magic and then taught the scientific principles behind the “tricks”; another studentdeviseda“chalkwalk”communityactivityasaone-timeeventthatinvolvedallstudentsincreatingachalklandscapeduringthemorningcommunity-buildingactivitytime.Thenumberofdaysacenterwouldbeofferedvaried.SomeactivitieslastedonedaybutotherswereofferedallfourweeksofAtHomeAtSchool.

Thirsty Thinkers Writers’ Workshop

Based on the writers’ workshop(Calkins, 1986; Graves, 1983) and Ernst’s (1993) artists’ workshop, I (Michael) of-feredtheThirstyThinkerswriters’work-shopforchildrentohavetheopportunitytolearnanarrativestory-writingstrategywhichincorporatedusingart inthepre-writingstageofcreatingtheirownstory.Students(N=43)enteredThirstyThinkerseachmorningofthefour-weeksessionandlistenedtooneoftheteachersormereadapublishedstorybookto thegroupanddiscussedthestoryelements(characters,events)andconceptofstorystructure. The Ask, Reflect, Text strategy was presented each day visually on the dry-erase board and with an oral exampleofhow towork through the three steps:students were to ask the WWW, W=2,H=2 questions; students could then reflect onthequestionsbyillustratingtheirre-sponsesandstoryideaswithartsoastoevadethechallengesofcomposingtextinthis pre-writing phase; with their visual outline,studentscouldthengeneratetheirstorytextusingnotepaperoralaptopwithword-processing (e.g.,WORD,2007)andword-predictionsoftware(e.g.,CoWriter:

SOLO).Thechildrencouldthenreadan-otherstorybook(orlistentoabookonCD)or immediatelybegincreatingtheirownstory using the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy. TeacherswereavailabletoreadtheWWW,W=2,H=2questionsandconferencetextwhenneeded. In the context of this study’s arts-based/integrated-curriculum summerliteracyprogram,“ThirstyThinkers,”hadthreemainobjectives:(1)tohelpchildrenfrom low-income families improve theirwritingskills,(2)toofferanopportunityforpre-serviceteacherstoapplystrategyinstruction to school-age children, and(3) to replicate a Thirsty Thinkers writ-ingskillsstrategy(Dunn&Finley,2008)whichincludedtheuseofarttoillustrateinitialstoryideasinthepre-writingphaseandtheoptionofwriting-assistancesoft-wareonlaptopstocomposetext. InthepreviousThirstyThinkersstudy(Dunn&Finley,2008),participantsusedarts-basedapproachesalthoughmanypre-ferredtousetheirownself-madenarrativestorywriting strategies (e.g., a recursivecycleofwriting,rereading,andthenwritingmore text; Pokémon cards). In continuing our research we wanted the focus witha second group of children to be how orwhether theywould choose touseart inthepre-writingphase,andhowtheywouldincorporatetheuseofartwithtechnology(writingassistance software) inplanningandcomposingtheirownnarrativetexts.

Data Analysis

This study incorporated an actionresearchapproachthatinvolvedplanninga strategy for improvingnarrative storywriting skills, observing and participat-ing in the process of teaching as wellas analyzing the results of the change,reviewingtheprocessesandresults,andthenreinitiatingtheplanning,acting,andreflection cycle (Erickson, 1986; Kemmis & McTaggart,2000).HowstudentsusedtheAsk, Reflect, Text strategy prompted the actionoftheresearch.Followingtheinitialreadingofapublishedstory,explanationofthestrategy,andtheoptionofreviewingother story examples, students demon-strated their own interpretation of Ask,Reflect, Text, which provided for a daily cycle of planning, acting, and reflecting. The constructivist format (Dewey,1938)ofThirstyThinkersofferedstudents theopportunitytoexploreandillustratetheirownunderstandinganduseofastrategysuch as Ask, Reflect, Text. The teachers and I (Michael) dia-

loguedonadailybasiswithstudentsaboutthestoriesstudentscreated.Theaimwastoencourageasmuchelaboratestorycon-tent as possible through using Ask, Reflect, Text.Teachersofferedstudentsasmuchassistanceastheywerewillingtoaccept.GiventheconstructivistformatofAtHomeAtSchool,teachersdidnotdemandthatchildren createor revisea storyagainsttheirwishes. Children who participated in ThirstThinkerschosetobethere,andwithintheconstruct of the class, they chose whichcenters theywouldutilize—for instance,wouldtheyreadstories,drawstoryideas,shapestoriesfromclay,writeonthecom-putersusingwritingassistancesoftware,orevendictatetheirstoriesforateachertorecord.Howorwhetherastudentadoptedthe Ask, Reflect, Text stragegy was itself amatterofchoice(seealsoKim&White,2008).Theobjectiveofthisactivitycenterwastoseehowstudentswouldinterpretthe Ask, Reflect, Text strategy; we could alsolaterevaluatethestructureandcon-tentoftheirwrittentexts. The curriculum-based measurementformat for analyzing stories made theanalysis authentic to the students’ taskand content in their final product (Hosp, Hosp, & Howell, 2007). An “elaborate”story was defined as a text which included contentaddressingalloftheWWW,W=2,H=2questionsandgooduseofgrammarandconventions.TheteachersandIorga-nized students’ texts in a cumulative file andonamasterthumbdriveforstudents’storiessavedonlaptops.TheteachersandI also tracked students’ attendance andchosenactivities(e.g.,listentoabookonCD,initiatedanewstory,continuedastoryfrom the previous day, etc.) on ThirstyThinkers’studentinformationsheets.

Representative Student-ParticipantCases Discussed in This Study

Of the studentswhoparticipated inthe Thirsty Thinkers writers workshop(N=43), I choseBrenda,Liam,andKyleas representative cases for this analysisbecauseeachstudenthadcompleted:suf-ficient interview data, a story plan (i.e., WWW,W=2,H=2answers),anartprod-uct,andastorytext.Brendaisafemalestudent who was about to enter secondgrade in the fall of 2007. She attendedThirstyThinkersforthree75-minuteses-sions.Liamismaleandwasabouttoenterthirdgradeinthefallof2007.ThiswashissecondsummeratAtHomeAtSchool.HeattendedThirstyThinkersduringten75-minutesessions.Liamdidnotself-report


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nor demonstrate any apparent difficulties withacademicsbuthisparentsindicatedthathewasastrugglingreader.Kylewasmaleandabouttoenterfourthgradeinthefallof2007.Kyle’sparentsreportedandhe confirmed his having characteristics ofastrugglingreaderandwriteraswellasreceivingspecialeducationservicesforattention deficit hyperactivity disorder. It was reported that his previous schoolyear had been difficult as his teacher often feltfrustratedwithhisinattention,whichwas no doubt compounded by his difficul-tieswithreadingandwriting.Eachofthethree students demonstrated use of theAsk, Reflect, Text strategy.

Students’ Interpretationof the Ask, Reflect, Text Strategy

The intent of Thirsty Thinkers wastoofferstudentsaninitialmodelofwhatanelaborate story looksand sounds likethroughoral readingof storiesby teach-ers, to discuss the features of the storyasagroup,andtoencouragestudentstodevelop their own individual text as a reflec-tionoftheinitialstoryusingthestrategy.Alternatively, they coulduse other storybooks/booksonCDtogenerateadifferentstorytopicortheycouldintroducetheirownstorytopic,unrelatedtoastoriedprompt. Students who attended ThirstyThinkers over the 20-day program dem-onstratedan interest in the initialstorytime activity and discussion about thetext’s components. It was observed that

students readily engaged in discussionand by their questions, interpretationsand inferences demonstrated interest intheparticularstoryanditsstructureandmeaning,althoughtheyfrequentlychosenot to use the subject of the story as aprompt for their own writing. Followingthe description of the Thirsty Thinkersactivitycentercomponents(e.g.,booksonCD, laptops, writing-assistance software[e.g.,CoWriter:SOLO])and theAsk,Re-flect, Text strategy, the three students in thisreportdemonstratedvariedinterpre-tationsofhowtogoaboutwritingastoryorevenwhatcomprisedanelaboratestory.Brenda

Brenda visited Thirsty Thinkers forthree sessions. After the initial groupactivityofreadingastorybookaboutfoodandhealthyeating,shedemonstratedtheformat of the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy with a story about a pickle person (seeTable1).AsshereviewedtheWWW,W=2,H=2questionswithateacher,shecreatedapicklepersoncharacteroutofplaydough.ShestatedresponsestoalloftheWWW,W=2,H=2questionsandcreatedavisualrepresentationthatrelatedtoherchosenstory topic. Brenda did not feel proficient at keyboardingtogeneratehertext,butsheindicatedan interest inoral storytelling.Asshedictatedherstory,I(Michael)tapeditonadigitalvoicerecorderforlatertran-scription.InBrenda’sstorynarrative,sheidentified the main event and how the story

concluded.Ifshehaddoneafollow-updraft,shecouldhavedescribedthecharactersandscenetomakeherstorymoreelaborate. Whenaskedtospecifythestepstocre-ateanelaboratestory,BrendaindicatedanunderstandingofastrategysuchasAsk,Reflect, Text:

Michael: What steps do you follow increatingastory?

Brenda:Youstartbythinkingofthemaincharacter,whathappensinastory,wherethestorytakesplace,andwhendoesthestory take place? You think what youwantyourstorytobeabout?Youmakethemaincharacter.Youwriteortypethewordsofthestory.Youdrawillustrations.Thatisit.

In reflecting on Brenda’s story and her use ofwriting strategies,ThirstyThink-ers teachersobservedthatboththearts-based pre-writing activity and the Ask,Reflect,Text strategies found practicalapplicationsinBrenda’swritingefforts.Inthepre-writingphase,“theuseofarthelpedstudentscreatemoreideas”saidFrancesca,aThirstyThinkers teacher.AndNancy,another teacher observed: “The WWW,W=2,H=2outlinewasreallyusefulbecauseit helped students to get them thinkingabouttheirstory.”IncontrasttoBrenda,otherstudentswereopentokeyboardinganduseofwriting-assistancesoftwareasdemonstratedbybothLiamandKyle inthecasereportsthatfollow.

Table 1Ask, Reflect, Text (ART) Strategy Example

Ask

Students ponder their answers to WWW questions:

(1) Pickle person,a hand that grabs the person.

(2) moving into the afternoon.

(3) a jar of pickles all by itself.

(4) hand that wanted the pickle ran away.

(5) Pickle goes to the side and dives to avoid the hand. The man reaches in to get the pickle. The pickle sucks up the juice and then releases the juice on the man.

(6) The man then puts the jar back into the fridge and gives up. He then tells his wife to not go into the fridge.

(7) Happy and cold. Happy he is not eaten. The man is just waiting for his wife to get a non-pickle jar.

Reflect

Student sketches/paints the answers to the WWW questions so as to plan the story’s content.

Text

Amber chose to dictate the story, which was recorded on digital-voice software:

Once upon a time, there was a pickle person sitting in a jar. Then the hand tried to grab the pickle person. He went to the side of the jar and dived under all of the pickle juice. He laid at the bottom. The hand got pretty tired looking for the pickle person. He sat on a couch and was depressed for a long time. He waited for his wife to get a new pickle jar from the store. The end.

“Pickle Person” by Brenda

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bookthatthatwecouldreadtogetherandthenwriteanarrativefollow-upstoryusingthe Ask, Reflect, Text strategy. He agreed andchosethebookentitledVery Unusual Pets(Gutner,2001).Liamwascooperativein following the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy steps,buthedemonstrateduncertaintyindoingit—asthoughhewasunsureaboutitspurpose.AswereviewedtheWWW,W=2,H=2questions,Inotedhisresponseswhilehecreatedhisartillustration.Afterward,Liam converted his story-content ideasintotextwiththeuseofwriting-assistancesoftware(seeTable2). Like Brenda, Liam did not provideadescriptionofthesetting(acity)orthecharacters.Hisstorybeganwiththemaineventandconcludedwithanendingandattentiontohowthecharactersfelt.Liamvariedhistypesofsentences(e.g.,simple,compound).Hedemonstratedknowledgeofparagraphing.Varioustypesofpunctua-tionalsohelpedmakethetextmoreelabo-rate.Liam’suseofexclamationmarkswasunconventionalbutcouldbeinterpretedasenthusiasticorasademonstrationofhispersonal style (e.g., “Hesaidyes!!!”).Heused spelling-assistance software (CoW-riter:SOLO), when needed, to verify thespellingofunknownwords. Inafollow-updraft,Liamcouldhaveemployedmoreofthestrategieshehadbeengiventobemoredescriptiveabouthimself

Liam

In each of the ten days Liam cametoThirstyThinkers,hepreferredtokey-boardanexpository-typetextabouttrains,UFOs, or Lewis and Clark, all topics ofhis own choosing. He began his writingprocessatthekeyboardwithoutengaginginpre-writingarts-basedactivities.Nancy(ateacher)observedthatthiswastrueofotherstudentsaswell:

Many students wanted to first type their textbeforeillustratingtheirstoryideas.Whentheyareexcitedtowrite,itcouldbebesttojustletthemwrite.Thecomputerswerearealdrawforthestudents.

To assist Liam it was determinedthroughtheresearchreviewthatprovid-ingindividualmodelingandpracticecouldhelp Liam see the potential benefit of fol-lowing the Ask, Reflect Text sequence by usingartinafollow-updraftasameansto consider ideas in developing a moreelaborate text. Thus, the first draft would beapre-writingexercise,theart-makingwouldbeasecondpre-writingexperience,andinwritingthefollow-updraftLiam’swouldfurtherdevelophisskillswiththeprocesses of describing story characters,setting, the main event, and drawing acohesiveconclusion. Attheendofthethirdweek,IaskedLiamifhewouldbewillingtochooseastory

andother charactersactuallymentionedlaterinthepassage(e.g.,TedwasnotedintheAskpre-writingplanbutnevermen-tionedintheTextofthestory)aswellasthesetting:Whatwasthecitylike?Fromwherewasthetrainleaving—CoosBayLumberCompany?WhenCuriousGeorgeandtheManwiththeYellowHatarrivedatLiam’shouse,washisdadnotawarethattheyhadcomeintothehouse?DidhisdadarriveatthehouseafterLiamandhisfriends?Thetextoffersatimelineanddetailsbutlackssomecohesionbetweenstoryelements. OverthetendaysthatLiamvisitedThirsty Thinkers, he wrote 11 stories.Allwereonepage in lengthandfocusedoneitherthemaineventofastorywithlittleintroductionandconclusionorwereexpository in nature describing a specific train.Anexample:

TheHistoryofthe Union Pacific Big Boy!

ThereoncewasagiantwhoroamedtherailsoftheAmericanwestinthe1940sand 1950s. It was the Union Pacific Big Boy with four Pilot wheels, two sets ofeight driving wheels and four trailingwheels(4-8-8-4)!TheBigBoyisreallytwoenginesunderoneboiler! TheBigBoy isTheLARGESTSteamLocomotive in the world!!!!!!!!!!!!!!A BigBoy could pull a five mile freight train on flat terrain! A Big Boy could attach anyone,especiallyatrainengineeronhis

Ask


(1) Curious George, Ted, Tom and Jerry,Pink Panther.

(2) Josie, a man with a yellow hat.

(3) October 13, 2002.

(4) a city.

(5) Ted and Curious George come to Liam’s house for a birthday party and play games. Curious George, Liam and Jerry win. They are happy that they won and do the splits.

(6) They leave in Curious George’s car.

(7) Happy that they had a sleepover and a party.

Reflect



Text

Student types the text with word-processing software:

It is October 13th, 2002. I, Liam, am riding the Coos Bay Lumber Company #105 a 2-8-2 mikado. When the train was starting to depart, Curious George rode with the Man with the Yellow Hat to my house. They Knocked on my door. They opened it. It was empty, of course, because I was not there. They walked in. Josie was so happy that she did the splits!!! Curious George and the Man with the Yellow hat looked for me. They didn’t find me. Soon someone knocked at the door. It was Tom and Jerry! Soon someone else knocked at the door. It was the Pink Panther! They got bored. So they played a game. At 6:00 I came home through downstairs. I heard some sounds up stairs. They were playing with my train set. Soon Tom, Jerry, Pink Panther, Curious George & I were bored playing with my train and waiting for dinner so we played a game. Soon it was dinner time!!! We had Spaghetti & Meatballs and costly!!!. Then I asked my Dad if they could stay for a sleep over. He said yes!!! They were so happy that they did the splits!!! We had a sleep over. It was fun!!!. Soon it was the next day. They had to leave at 11:00 a.m. They left. It was the best Birthday in my whole, whole, whole, whole life!!!

“The Best Birthday” by Liam


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program during two summers and hadattendedmonthlyArtSaturdayandOut-doors! Environmental Education eventsduringtheschoolyear,KylewasnewtotheAtHomeAtSchoolenvironment.ForKyle,thedeschoolingprocessandempowermentofchoicewasanewexperience.StudentschooseclassesforavarietyofreasonsandhischoiceofThristyThinkersmayhavebeenbasedinfriendship. Kyle did not demonstrate proficiency with writing and was identified as a “strug-gling writer.” As mentioned previously,Kyle and his parents had self-reportedattention deficit and hyperactivity and a learningdisabilityinreadingandwriting.Composing his own text would be difficult giventhatstudentswhodonotpracticereadingregularlystemtheirdevelopmentasreadersandwriters(Shaywitz,2003).For this type of student, the Ask, Reflect, Textstrategyisthoughttobeparticularlyhelpfulasitprovidesastep-by-steppro-cess to accomplish the narrative story-writingtask. On Kyle’s first day at Thirsty Think-

first Railroad job! When Big Boys came theyhadtostraightenoutsharpcurves.First Big Boy I saw. The first Big Boy I SawwasattheMuseumofTransportationonWBarotStationRoadinSt.Louis,Mis-souri.YoucangointhecaboftheUnionPacific 4-8-8-4 Big Boy #4006!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liam demonstrated proficiency with sen-tencestructureandsyntax.Hisapparentconfusion or lack of confidence while work-ing with me (Michael) through the Ask,Reflect, Text strategy steps indicated to me thatLiam’sunderstandingofelaboratesto-rieswasstilldeveloping.Withmorefocusedpractice using the steps of the strategy,Liamcouldimprovewithcreatingelaboratestory content. Liam’s Thirsty Thinkersseatmate, Kyle, would also benefit from Ask, Reflect, Text (see Table 3).

Kyle

Kyle was Liam’s best friend in theAt Home At School summer program.Whatever Liam did, Kyle wanted to dotoo.WhereLiamhadparticipatedinthe

ers,hedidnotwanttostartwithartbutrathertextwiththelaptop—asLiamdid.Kylestated thathehadastory topic inmindbasedonpreviousresearchhehaddoneatschool.HewantedtowriteaboutancientRomanwarriorscomingtoAmer-ica. Kyle initially commented that theWWW,W=2,H=2questionsweresimilarinformattowhathedidatschoolandhetoldhisteachershedidn’tneedtospendmuch time thinking about the strategicquestionsforthatreason.Evenwithpriorinstructionwithwhatrepresentselaboratestorycontent, itwasobservedthatKylecould benefit from additional examples and ongoingpractice.Whenaskedifhewouldworkone-on-onewithaThirstyThinkersteacher in using the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy, Kyle agreed and participatedenthusiastically,whileshowingopenap-preciation for the opportunity to havefeedbackabouthiswriting. KylewasabletoidentifyideasforeachoftheWWW,W=2,H=2questionsatalatersession.Hisartillustrationincludedasign,“WelcometoAmerica,”andarailroadtrack


Reflect


Ask


(1) The commander emperor of the Romans.

(2) 39 AD.

(3) America, Africa, Germany, Rome, Italy.

(4) The emperor wants to team up with American Indians and cowboys.

(5) The Roman and American Emper-ors join their troops and go to China.

(6) The good Samurais went to America. The bad Samurais went to Germany and Africa.

(7) The Emperors were happy and wanted to celebrate.

Text

Student types the text with word-processing software:

The Biggest War

Once there was a war in 39ad. The U.S.A’s partners were the French and the Romans. The Romans sent night armies to the U.S.A. and The Germans went to America with the Roman’s biggest enemy the Africans. So the commander and Emperor of the Romans went to America and asked if they can team up with the USA. The Roman and American Emperor joined their troops and went to China. They got the Samurais to join them and the Romans shipped them to Germany. On the ship two Romans were guarding the boxes, two guarding the door, and two watching sides for sharks. The Germans are happy that Samurais came, so they gave them 2 million dollars and a note that says “Thank you for bringing the Samurais!” The Cowboys from America and the Samurais from China battle the evil Samurais and Germans in Germany. The American Indians and the African Indians battled each other in America. The African Indians lost and joined the good side with the cowboys and the American Indians. Then the Japanese soldiers joined the evil knights in England, who were battling the good knights. The American Cowboys, Indians and African Indians went to England to help the Good knights in the battle against the Japanese soldiers and the evil knights. The Australians began to wonder what is going on because the Japanese and the Germans kept asking for more armor. They were getting their armor from China, but it had been eight months. They usually got their armor in two months! So then the Japanese and Germans went to China, and the Chinese said, “Get out of our country, we’ll give you your armor in two days. Leave or we will kill you!” The Japa-nese and Germans say, “okaaaayy.....” The Chinese gave their armor to the evil nights. The Antarcticans gave their armor to the evil and good nights. The Australians were giving armor to the Romans. The Romans said that they would pay 1 million dollars to the Australians for all that armor. And they did. Then the Australians paid them $3,000. The good Samurais went to America and the bad Samurais went to Germany. The End

“The Biggest War” by Kyle

FALL 201039

Research

Reflections about the Studentsand their Stories

Brenda,Liam,andKyle eachhadaunique interpretation of the Ask, Reflect, Textstrategy.Allthreeenjoyedtheinitialgroup-readingactivity.BrendalikedoralstorytellingwhileLiamandKylepreferredkeyboarding. Personal characteristics,practicewiththeskillofwriting,andthenatureofthelearningenvironmentcouldhave all played a role in how studentsgenerally demonstrated their writingskillsandhowtheycouldhaveimproved.Allthreereturnedmorethanonce.Withengaging activities and materials, theydemonstratedtheirinterestinwritingandadesiretoimprovetheirskills.

The Ask, Reflect, Text Strategyand Teacher Practice

Potential Benefits of This Study

There were four potential benefits from this study for teachersofwriting to con-sider.First,theThirstyThinkerswriters’workshopofferedstudentstheopportunitytolearnastory-writingstrategytoproducemoreelaboratetext.Withintheconstruc-tivist format of the At Home At SchoolProgram,43studentschosetoattendtheThirstyThinkerswriters’workshopactivitycenter; many students came away with a positiveperspectiveaboutwriting. Second,theactivitycenterprovidedavarietyofmaterialsforstudentstoreviewpublished stories as well as create theirownwithartandwriting-assistancesoft-ware. Teachers could use this model fortheirownclassrooms. Third, students’ use of the Ask, Re-flect, Text sequence provided representa-tivecaseexamplesforteacherstoanalyzeinpreparingtousethestrategywiththeirownstudents. Fourth,reviewingstrategiesdiscussedin this article (e.g., Ask, Reflect, Text; WWW,W=2,H=2,Plan,Organize,Write)may prompt teachers to reflect on their ownwriting-skillspedagogyandhowtheycouldhelppromotestudents’improvementwiththeoftenchallengingtaskofbecomingbetterwriters.

Reflecting on Students’ Useof the Ask, Reflect, Text Strategy

Reviewingstudents’useofastrategysuch as Ask, Reflect, Text offers the op-portunity to ponder how teachers couldpromote students’ writing skills. In thisstudy,Brenda,Liam,andKylewerewill-ing to try the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy.

impliedthetraveloftheRomans,French,American,andGermansoldiers—it isanactivestory.InKyle’stext,theconceptofdescribing the sceneand characterswasprovidedbyincludingthetimeperiod(39A.D.) and who the characters were. HenotedItaliansinthestoryplanbutdidnotincludethemintheactualtext. Following this initial section of thetext, Kyle then described what a readercould interpret as a repetitive list oftravel locations by the soldiers; there was no traditional or linear underlying plotbutasenseofmovementandactionwasconveyed.Thethemeofnationsengagedin perpetual fighting was coherent. ItwasimpressiveinKyle’swritingthathewasabletolistdatesandlocations,whilestrikingatoneconsistentwithreportinghistory,evenwhilerewritingthefactsofhistorywithregardtoalliancesandhistori-caltimeframe. IfKylehaddescribedthecharacters’perspectivesorfeelings,thiswouldhaveprovided his readers with some furtherinsightastothemeaningoftheaction.Useofdescriptivewordswouldhavehelpedil-lustratethescene.Atnopointinthestorywasthepurposeofthebattlesstated.Theaction may have been appealing to theauthor,butareaderneedstobeprovidedwithaclearlystatedpurposeforthetext. Kyle’s text indicated that he wouldbenefit from hearing and reading more examples of published stories and dis-cussing the concepts of story structure,use of descriptive words, and strategiestoencouragereaders’interestthroughoutthestory.ThewritingsoftwarecouldalsohavebeenusedbyKylesothathewouldneedtopaylessattentiontothemechanicsand focus on story-writing; however, when askedifhewouldbeinterestedintryingthe word-prediction software (CoWriter:SOLO)tohelphimwithhisspelling,Kylesaidthathe,“woulduseitonlyforwordshedidnotknowhowtospell.” InworkingwithKyleduring the10dayshevisitedThirstyThinkers, itwasapparent how sporadic his thought pro-cesseswereasteacherstriedtohelphimwithhiswriting.Hewouldconstantlystatenames or places and then change his mind; helpinghimtofocusonastorylinewasachallenge.Hischaracteristicsofhavingat-tention deficit hyperactivity disorder were evident in teacher reports. The writingstrategieshewasgivenwereparticularlyhelpfultoKyleandprovidedastep-by-stepprocesstoaccomplishthenarrativestory-writingtask.

TheywereeachabletoarticulateideasfortheWWW,W=2,H=2questionsastheyil-lustratedtheirideaswithpencilcrayons,markers,orplaydough. In contrast to our first Thirsty Think-ersstudy(Dunn&Finley,2008)inwhichparticipantscreatedavarietyofself-madestrategies, students in this study weregenerally inclinedto followtheAsk,Re-flect, Text strategy but not necessarily in sequence.ConsideringBrenda,Liam,andKyle’s uses of Ask, Reflect, Text, only Bren-dafollowedthestrategyasintended. Anotherissuewasthat“somestudentsfound it difficult to put their ideas into narrative form” (Francesca, August 1,2007).Therearetwopossiblereasonsforthis.First,thestudent-choicenatureofasummerliteracyprojectmadeitimpracti-cal to demand that students follow theAsk, Reflect, Text sequence as presented; studentshad theoption todo their owninterpretation.Inmanytraditionalclass-roomsstudentswouldalsohavethefree-domtochoosetheirowninterpretationofaprofferedstrategy,soitcanbeexpectedthatmanychildrenwillnotprefertousetheintendedsequence. Second, students need to have ex-tendedpracticeastowhatgoodelaboratestoriesshouldcontainbeyondwhatThirstyThinkers provided at the beginning ofeachdailysession.Individuallearningap-proachesanddevelopmentplayintothisaswell,butwebelieveourwritinginstructionwas benefited by enthusiastic participa-tionbystudentsinthedailydiscussionsofthestructureofstoriesthatwerereadtothem.Learningtowriteisnotaninnatetask; initiative, practice, and pre-requisite literacyskillsneedtobepresenttogetherforchildrentocreateelaboratetext(San-tangelo,Harris,&Graham,2008). To promote students’ initiative towrite elaborate stories in the context ofa summer literacy program, the ThirstyThinkers writers’ workshop offered chil-drenanumberof incentives tohelp im-provetheirwriting.Participantslistenedtobooks,participatedingroupdiscussionsaboutstorycontentandwhatcomprisedagood narrative story; Harvey and Goudvis (2000)encouragethispracticeofexplain-ingandmodelingstrategiestochildrensoastohelpfacilitatetheirindependenceinaskillsuchaswriting. Soastoevadespellingwordsinthepre-writingphasewhich is oftena chal-lengeforstrugglingwriters,childrenwereprovided the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy whichencouraged theuse of art tonote


Research

families experiencing poverty or home-lessness may also experience difficulties withreadingandwritingduetolittleorno literate practices at home. Childrenmay not be read to by their parents orguardianseitherdue to their longworkhours, lack of financial resources to pur-chase story books, or lack of knowledgeandexperienceinvisitingthelocalpubliclibrary,orbecausetheparentshavenotbeen educated on the benefits, no oneread to them, or they have no frame ofreferenceforthispractice.Inanycase,allchildren benefit from multiple examples of astrategy,extendedpractice,andongoingfeedback (Harvey & Goudvis, 2000; Keene &Zimmerman,1997). ThirstyThinkersoffered studentsamodelofhowtohelpthosewhostrugglewithwritingnarrativestoriesby:provid-ingmultipleexamplesofwhatgoodwrit-inglookslike,workingthroughmultipleexamples of a strategy with children sothat they can see how a proficient writer completes the task, providing studentswithastrategythatcanhelpthemshouldtheycommittolearningandusingit,fad-ingadultinvolvementovertimesoastohelp the student develop self-sufficiency intheskill,andaskingstudentstocon-siderhowtheycangeneralizeastrategytootherwritingtasks(Deschler,Warner,Schumaker,&Alley,1984). A strategy such as Ask, Reflect, Text canaugmentateacher’swritingprogrambutcannotreplaceit.Ageneraleducationclassroom’s writing program includes avariety of writing-skills practices whichprovideafoundationforstrategyinstruc-tion:handwriting,spelling,capitalization,punctuation, sentence construction, us-age,developmentofarichvocabulary,afamiliaritywiththefunctionsofwriting,an appreciation for their audience, andacquisitionofawritingvoice(Santangelo,Harris,&Graham,2008). ThirstyThinkersteachersreadapub-lishedstoryeachdayanddiscussedwhyitrepresentedagoodnarrativestory(e.g.,answeredtheWWW,W=2,H=2questions,illustrationstoprovidevisualrepresenta-tions).Classroomteacherscanblendthisintothesharedreadingtimetheywouldalreadydowiththeirstudents(Tomlinson,2001); emphasizing the WWW, W=2, H=2 questions would help make instructionmoreexplicitforstudentswholackknowl-edge of this aspect of writing. Offeringmultipleexamplesovertimepromotesthisgoal.Thelengthofastrategy-instructiontimeline for a child who struggles withwritingcanvarydependingonthesever-

initialstoryideas.Studentscouldalsolateruse writing-assistance software to helpgenerate their text. Although At HomeAt School participants had a number ofinvitingactivitycenterchoicestoattend,ThirstyThinkersattractedalargenumber(N=43)ofstudentswhowereinterestedinlearning how to write elaborate stories.laptops, art, and books on CD may beinviting ideas that engage students andpromote interest but sustained practiceis needed as well for students to attainelaboratestorycontent.

Translating Thirsty Thinkers’ Findingsinto the Writing Classroom

Students who struggle with writingusually do not need anything differentfrom other typically-achieving children; theyjustneedmoreexamplesandpractice(Foorman, 2007). In the case of ThirstyThinkers,aclassroomformatwhichofferssmallgroupsorindividualstudentswithstructured practice with writing skillscouldprovideameansforstrugglingwrit-ers to learn the Ask, Reflect, Text strategy inamoresystematicfashion(Tomlinson,2001).Santangelo,Harris,andGraham’s(2008)self-regulatedstrategydevelopmentmodel would be one example. Studentswerepresentedwithastrategyandhadtodemonstratecommitmenttolearningandusing it; there was no real component of studentfreedomtogodoanotheractivityoncecommitted.Studentswereprovidedwith about fifty minutes of daily instruc-tion and practice with the strategy andwereencouragedtogeneralizethestrategytootherapplicablewritingtasks. Saddleretal.(2004)foundthisprocessto be effective. Ask, Reflect, Text could prove more beneficial for Brenda, Liam, andKyle inthis typeof learning formatwhichincludedmultipleexamplesofhowto use the strategy, prolonged studentpractice and feedback from the teacher,andprogressiontoindependentuseofthestrategy. Or, they could have benefitted from the choice and freedom, instead ofshuttingdownandgivingupbecausetherewas only one sustained option. Brenda,Liam,andKylealldemonstratedsustainedinterestinandcommitmenttoawriter’sworkshop.Wecanask:Wouldthatinteresthavesustainediftheyhadnotexperiencedflexibility in their use of writing strate-gies? Teachersofwritingalsoneedtoad-dresspre-requisiteliteracyskillsiftheirstudents’backgroundexperiencesinwrit-ingarelimited.Forexample,studentsin

ity of need; best practice is not to devote onelonginstructionalsessionbutratherofferongoingpracticeandfeedbacktothestudentsuchas20to30minutesessionsover10to20weeks,forexample(Vaughn&Roberts,2007). Inoffering studentsa strategy suchas Ask, Reflect, Text, working through the processwithchildrenhelpsthemdevelopa thinking process to master the taskthemselves.Strugglingreadersandwrit-ersoftendonotknowhowtodosomethingsimplybecausetheyhaveneverdonethattaskbefore,ortheyfeelincapablebecausetheyhavenothadsuccesswiththetaskinthepast (Pajares&GioValiante,2006).Afterinitialcooperativepracticeandthenfadingteacherinvolvement,studentswillbegintoseethattheycanmanagethestepsof a strategy like Ask, Reflect, Text, and im-provetheirwritingskills.Achangeinskilllevelfrombelowgradeleveltobenchmarkwouldtypicallybetoomuchofanincreaseto expect for many struggling writersgiventhemultifacetednatureofskillsthatpromotegoodwriting(Berninger&Winn,2006).Theshort-termgoalistoseesomedegreeofimprovementovertime. Theultimategoalofanystrategy isthatstudentswouldindependentlyuseagivenstrategyforanyapplicabletask.Inthis study, the intent of Ask, Reflect, Text wastoofferstudentsameanstonotepre-writingideaswithouthavingtospellandwritewords—themostprevalentchallengeforstrugglingwriters.Illustratinginitialideas was encouraged so that studentscouldfocusonwhattheywantedtoincludein their text and leave the text-creationphaseforlater.Atthatpoint,theycouldreferbacktotheirvisualideastoreinvigo-ratetheirmindsastowhattheyintendedtoincludeintheirtext. ThisprocesscouldbeeasilyadaptedtotasksotherthanjustnarrativestoriesbyreplacingtheWWW,W=2,H=2questionswith questions representing the desiredcontent.Usingscienceasanexample,thequestionscouldrelatetowhatshouldbeincluded in a science experiment (Whatis the hypothesis? What materials wereused? What were the procedures? Whatweretheconclusions?Etc.).Forsocialstud-ies,questionsrelatingtothehistoryofabattlecouldrepresenttheAskcomponent(Wheredidthebattletakeplace?Whichgroups/countriesrepresentedtheopposingforces?Whowon?Whatwastheresultingagreement?) Ask, Reflect, Text has poten-tial foravarietyofwritingpurposes formanystrugglingwriters.

FALL 201041

Research

Final Thought

In reflecting on the 20-day 2007 pro-gram,Nancy,awriters’workshopteacher,commented that, “Thirsty Thinkers par-ticipantswerereallyexcitedtowrite.Evenfirst graders made a real effort to apply thestrategy” (August1,2007).Studentsofallagescanuseillustrations.Applyingthemtowritingmayormaynotbeanewpracticetothem.Forstrugglingwriters,theuseofartcanhelpmaketheirstoryproductsmoreelaborate.

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