Inquiry Project

Developing Student Writing Through Dialogue and the Writing Conference

Kilgore TroutTE 804

Hypothesis Utilizing individual writing conferences/dialogue

(verbally and in writing) with students to provide feedback throughout the writing process will improve students’ writing skills.

“As we talk with students about the work they are doing, our job is to make an assessment of what they are doing as writers at that moment in time. By listening carefully to their words and by reading their writing, we gather information about who students are at that moment as spellers or revisors or editors of their writing. With this information in mind, we decide what to teach them” (Carl Anderson, How’s It Going?)

Classroom Context

Sophomore English class – Intermediate Composition and Literature

Seventeen students; student population is entirely Caucasian and predominately male

Just finished reading Hamlet and were beginning the (five paragraph) essay writing period (duration: 2 weeks) – this is the only essay the students write during the trimester

The essay is composed in class in stages: graphic organizers (level sentence breakdown), rough draft, peer review, final draft

Level Sentence Approach to Writing

A paragraph consists of two level one sentences, at least three level two sentences, and at least three level three sentences. Twos and threes are repeated until information is exhausted.

Level One: topic sentence/clincher sentence (controls)

Level Two: support examples of topic (clarifies) Level Three: quote that demonstrates support + an

explanation that clarifies the connection between the support and the topic sentence (completes/connects)

Course Writing The students are responsible for

quizzes after each act of Hamlet The quiz has a paragraph essay

that is worth 10 points (out of a 25 point quiz)

Every essay question is the same, the students are to choose a character and write about the character’s state of mind and how it influenced their actions in the particular scene

Students are not given feedback on their quiz essays, nor can they keep their essays to use toward their final essay

These quizzes were designed to prepare the students for the final essay in which they are required to select a character and take a position – does the character act according to free will or fate?

The class writings are supposed to push the students to take a position and argue its validity with textual support from the play; the quizzes mimic the body paragraphs of the essay

Despite this design, the writing felt disconnected, and I desired to explore a means of helping students grow as writers – to see the writing process as something they had a say in

Research Questions

How does setting goals and receiving individualized feedback (in writing and verbally) on those goals shape students’ writing practices?

Does increasing students’ knowledge of what comprises good writing inform their own writing?

How can I effectively utilize writing conferences to foster writing skill development?

Data Collection Methods

Writing Survey (writing practice) Writing Conferences/Conversations with

students Writing Survey (writing experience) Samples of student writing: five (act) quizzes,

Hamlet essay Conference notes/observations

Hamlet Quizzes The existing format was to enter the quiz grade into the computer

without showing the students feedback on their writing The essay was rather in depth; typically took students 45

minutes to compose The essay had to first be written on a level sentence organizer

and then rewritten on a sheet of paper in paragraph form Through observation, I deduced most students were making the

same errors in their compositions – they were not fully addressing the prompt, their responses lacked clarity, and their essay lacked cohesiveness

After the Act I quiz I revised the format and created a means to provide feedback (based on student performance)

Quiz I Observations 90% of the students lacked transitions as they moved from one

idea to another (from one level two to the next) 100% of students neglected to set up their quotes 70% of students addressed the prompt only partially (Explained

the character’s state of mind but not how it influenced their actions)

20% of students used ineffective quotes as support The majority of the class struggled with providing detailed

explanations of how the quote demonstrated the character’s state of mind influencing their actions (relate it back to their topic sentence)

Hamlet Quiz Revision I changed the point value of the essay from 10 to 20 I created a rubric to score the quiz and wrote

commentary for each student on the remaining four quizzes

I passed back each of the quizzes, had the students look over them, and had them create a goal (in writing) to work on for the upcoming quiz based on areas they needed to improve in

As a class, we composed model essays (in response to the prompt) together and discussed features of a strong essay in preparation for each quiz

Quiz Rubric

Has detailed topic sentence, clincher sentence, 3 level two sentences, and 3 level three excerpts with explanations (5 points)

Puts quotes into context, sets up quotes, uses transitions between ideas, makes specific link to how support reveals the effects of the character’s state of mind on their actions (10 points)

All ideas are clear and are supported with evidence – all relate to main idea (5 points)

Student Sample: Act I Quiz Hamlet’s depression leads to him being mad at several people

including himself. First, Hamlet gets mad at his mom when she tells him to get over his father’s death. “Seems, madam! Nay, it is; I know not seems”. Hamlet is saying that his father’s death is very important to him and should be to her too. Secondly, Hamlet gets mad at himself for being in this situation and contemplates suicide. “Fie on’t! Ah fie! ‘tis an unweeded garden.” Hamlet is very mad and saying his life is out of place like an unweeded garden and needs to be attended to. Hamlet gets very angry when the ghost of his father tells him that Claudius murdered him. Hamlet is immediately planning on getting revenge. “May sweep to my revenge.” Hamlet is saying he will get revenge for his father as quickly as possible. Hamlet’s anger leads him into many different situations with lots of people.

Student Sample: Act IV Quiz Claudius has an unstable mind. The first thing Claudius’s

mindset makes him do is sending Hamlet to England out of anger that he killed Polonius. Claudius says “But we will ship him hence”. Claudius means that he is shipping Hamlet to England to be executed. Claudius then gets mad at Hamlet for messing with his head and not telling him where Polonius’s body was. Claudius angrily thinks “The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England”. Claudius wants England to execute him so he doesn’t have to. After learning that Hamlet is returning Claudius tells Laertes that Hamlet killed his father. They come up with a crazy plan to kill Hamlet. Laretes proposes “So mortal that, but dip a knife in it”. Laertes proposes to put poison on his sword and Claudius agrees but also says he will put poison in his drink. This all shows that Claudius’s unstable mindset is making him really want to kill Hamlet.

Sample Representative of Student Population Act I: The majority of students were composing essays in the

same disconnected way At this time, I considered the possibility of the required level

sentence organizer impacting students’ ability to construct a cohesive (flowing) piece; most student essays were choppy and somewhat disconnected/out of context

Later Acts: Because I could not abolish the significance of the organizers, I instead discussed the additional steps that were necessary (and weren’t on the outline) to create a detailed essay whose ideas were linked

Modeling strong essays/composing essays (paragraph) as a class on the board became the avenue to discuss what the class generally needed to improve upon; this information was overwhelmingly reflected in the individual commentary students received on their rubrics

Student Improvements The majority of my students improved in one of the following

areas over the course of the quizzes: Set up their quotes – “He shouts” before/after quote Put their quote into context – “Claudius’ uneasiness caused him

to order Hamlet to England; he ordered “…”” Used transitions between their ideas – some used simple

transitions (“Furthermore”, “In addition”), while some used transitional phrases (“Hamlet’s madness, continuing to build”)

Addressed both of the prompt’s components – “Ophelia’s sudden loss of her father has left her upset and causes her to act distraught”

However, explanations of quotes were still somewhat simplistic and disjointed – “This shows Hamlet is unstable emotionally”

Despite setting their own goals, some students continued to demonstrate the same weaknesses in their responses

Average Quiz Scores Act I: 18, 72% Introduced rubric and

feedback system; now out of 35

Act II: 29, 83% Act III: 30, 85% Act IV: 31, 88% Act V: 31, 88% Students’ scores improved

significantly from the first to the last quiz, suggesting growth in their writing abilities

0

10

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90

ActI

ActII

ActIII

ActIV

ActV

Act I

Act II

Act III

Act IV

Act V

Writing Surveys: Transitioning from Quizzes to the Essay

Distributed before final essay writing process began (after the last quiz)

Asked questions to uncover students’ writing practices, experiences, and self assessed weaknesses and strengths (prior to beginning the writing conferences)

My intent was to gather data that could inform the type of writing students produced (possible attributing factors) and what I could help them focus on during the writing conferences

Fifteen students were surveyed on both occasions

How Students View Their Writing

Rate your proficiency in these areas on a scale from 1 (needs serious improvement) to 10 (needs little attention) Vocabulary/word choice Creativity Clarity (your meaning is clear to the reader) Structure (uses various sentence

types/beginnings) Grammar

Results Vocabulary: 7 Creativity: 7 Clarity: 6 Structure: 7 Grammar: 7 All of my students supplied responses that

suggested that they view their writing as needing improvement, but that it wasn’t in dire need (on the lesser end of the spectrum).

In student interviews, the majority (70%) were concerned with their grammar over creativity, clarity, and detailed explanations

Writing Experience

Tell me about a piece of writing you did for school that you were unhappy about (in terms of your performance). Why were you unsatisfied?

Tell me about a piece of writing that you did well on. Why were you satisfied with the results?

Results

Grade

Topic

Message

Never

Grade

Understand

Effort

Satisfied Grade: 10, Good Topic: 3,

Clear Message: 1, Never Happy: 1

Unsatisfied Grade: 10, Didn’t

Understand Assignment: 4, Lack of Effort: 1

According to my students’ replies, the grade they received on a paper overwhelmingly determined how they felt about what they had written

Applying Surveys to Conferences

What do you need to work on to successfully write this paper? A majority (67%) responded that they needed

help finding strong examples/quotes and that they had trouble connecting their ideas (an area of weakness for most on the quizzes)

The survey data suggested that the majority of the conference time would be dedicated to clarity of meaning and constructing a cohesive and well supported argument

Writing Conferences Held three conferences

during the writing period: one prior to writing, one during, and one after if a revision was being completed

Students had to come prepared with focus areas of their papers to discuss, along with a brainstorm sheet

Students were not allowed to ask me to read their piece (“does it sound okay?”)

Getting Your Brain in the Conference Mood – Brainstorm Sheet

• How’s it going?• What are you working on?• What do you need help

with?• Tell me one thing you like

about your piece.• Tell me one thing you want

to improve on in your piece.

Conferences are Conversations (Anderson)

Structure of the conference: Conversation about the work the student is doing

as a writer Conversation about how the student can become

a better writer To help students become better writers, we:

Teach them strategies and techniques more experienced writers use to write well

Teach them to teach themselves Teach them to be reflective about their writing

Conference Roles (Anderson) First, the student is in the lead:

The student sets the agenda for conference by describing her writing work

The teacher listens carefully to what the student says about her writing; asks questions to clarify and deepen understanding

Then the teacher is in the lead: The teacher pursues a line of

thinking about the piece by asking questions and reading the student’s work

The student responds to the questions

The teacher shares an assessment of the work

The student listens carefully; asks questions to deepen understanding of the assessment

The teacher helps the student learn to do their writing work better

Conference Mechanics Five minute conference period before student was

released to “have a go” (encountered problems/additional questions were to be worked through independently or with me outside of class time)

Took notes on the issues the writer was having, what they were going to try as a solution, and a goal for their next session

Focus for the conversation was on: content, organization, clarity, and development of ideas with examples

Let students lead the conference conversation

Conference Results Students came with too broad of topics for improvement Tell me one thing you need help with. Students replied with: “the

whole thing in general”, “can you tell me if this [whole paper] sounds good?”, “flow of my paper”, etc.

Students were typically very reserved and were hesitant to lead the conference with their own writer’s agenda

Conferences frequently went over the time limit Students not in conference were vocal of their need for my

assistance When students were released to “have a go”, many wanted to

come back for affirmation that they were “doing it right” Students continued to view me as gatekeeper of the progress in

their essay

Conference Results Students treated conference time as an opportunity to discuss

their entire essay, questions about the text, and finding strong quotes

50% of the students came to the conference unprepared and depended on me to lead them to areas in need of improvement in their writing via a series of questions

Few students pursued the goals they set to work toward in their writing (improving their skills, not just the piece); they were fixated on correcting all of their “mistakes”

What can Miss Trout help you with to become a better writer? 50% of students responded that they needed me to tell them

what they were doing wrong and that they needed guidance on selecting strong examples/points

Essay Outcomes

No clear link could be established between the writing conference sessions and student performance on the essay

The average grade was a 76% with a substantial number of students following below that mean

On average, students continued to struggle with the same issues they grappled with on the quiz essays

In order to complete a revision, students had to conference with me for a period of time outside of class. Of 17 students, 4 completed a revision, or 23%

Findings: Question One How does setting goals and receiving individualized feedback (in writing and

verbally) on those goals shape students’ writing practices? Data is somewhat inconclusive. While students’ quiz scores improved, many

continued to struggle with the same structural/clarity/detail issues when applied to the larger scale of their essay

Telling students areas to improve upon helped them master the basic skills for responding in the level sentence paragraph format

Allowing students to examine their approach to writing over several pieces aided in their ability to notice trends in their writing, but addressing those areas amounted to no quantifiable outcome

On average, students asked me less questions during classroom composition time (because they had written commentary); however, 85% asked for verbal affirmation that they had adequately addressed the issue in question

Findings: Question Two Does increasing students’ knowledge of what comprises good writing inform

their own writing? Although students could discuss what a strong essay

contained/accomplished, this rarely translated into students’ own writing to such a degree of sophistication – a disconnect between words in discussion and words in writing

Students frequently voiced that they knew what they wanted to say, but that they couldn’t figure out how to execute it given the restraints of the level sentence structure

As a class, the students fed off of each others’ ideas, but many struggled with coming up with original ideas on their own (many reverted back to the ones discussed in class)

100% of students expressed how problematic the level sentence organizers were to their thinking; they felt limited by the structure’s constraints

When examples of good writing were modeled on the board, students mimicked the format we brainstormed together. Many of the essays mirrored what we discussed (even down to the level of word choice)

Findings: Question Three How can I effectively utilize writing conferences to foster writing

skill development? Introducing the conference during this high stakes assignment

wasn’t a wise choice; students were combative for session time The focus of growing as a writer was largely overlooked by

students in favor of how to earn a high grade on the assignment The general dependency of the students as they compose

negated their desire to experiment with their writing How the writing is evaluated/the nature of the assignment (not

my decisions) did not fit with my aims to get students to take ownership of their piece and to experiment with the composition process – the means did not fit the ends

Conclusions Individualized feedback and writing conference dialogues have the capacity to be

beneficial to developing student writers with much scaffolding, practice, and modeling (more writing practice over a longer period of time)

Students seemed to respond well to written feedback on their work due to its specificity; it’s more like the evaluations they are familiar with in the context of the English classroom

While some students responded well to discussing their writing (more concrete understanding of what needs to be done - verbal), many students struggled with the time constraints of the session, focusing their attention to isolated parts of the essay in need of work and then returning to the whole, and the independence that the writing conference format requires

It was difficult to assess whether or not the individualized feedback influenced the students’ writing for the final essay due to the lack of comparable writing samples – the quizzes weren’t robust enough to be considered equivalent

A fixation on the culminating assignment’s grade distracted the majority of students from much experimentation with their writing. This could also be attributed to the time constraints of the assignment, as well as the very nature of the essay

Limitations of Inquiry Due to the limited number of writing assignments examined, it is difficult to

form robust and well informed conclusions. This is related to time as well; although the quizzes took place over several weeks, the essay was done after two weeks, as was the trimester. No further research could be conducted on post essay writing.

Although I witnessed improvement after the implementation of my quiz rubric, it is difficult to conclude that the rubric was the sole cause for the changes in average score.

To truly gauge the effectiveness of open dialogue/individualized feedback during the writing process, writing conference method should be applied to a larger group of writers and over a longer period of time.

Much of my data was based on student response, with little grounded in writing samples due to their limited number. My assessments of my efforts were heavily based upon verbal student feedback regarding the process.

Given the structure of the class, it is difficult to assess student growth in writing due to the nature of the writing assignments – few opportunities for feedback, all high stakes, graded rigorously according to level sentence format, all writing/writing instruction takes place at the end of the course

This project was ambitious, but due to circumstantial limitations, it is difficult to establish a firm conclusion based on the data I collected.

Further Research Explore establishing a writing conference centered classroom in

greater depth. How can a large class be conducted in the conference format? Especially one with few writing assignments.

Investigate techniques for responding to student writing – what are methods I can utilize to help create more independent and experimental student writers?

Does student dependence in writing correlate to the nature of the writing assignment? Are conferences affected in any way by the topic of the writing?

How can the obsession with grades be combated in order to make room for experimentation within the composition process? How can growth be implemented in favor of performance attached to a letter grade?