Writing Workshop with ELLs in mainstream first grade classes An Effective pedagogical practice for Few Good teachers? A Qualitative Study Jayne Sherman

My Purpose To understand why teachers are not implementing writing workshop in their classrooms. What are teachers concerns? What is lacking? Pedagogical knowledge, research on writing workshop, support from administration and/or colleagues, lack of Professional development.

Why Writing Workshop? Writing and reading are reciprocal processes. We write to inform, persuade, entertain, to communicate. Writing is thinking. Writing is developmental and must be taught through modeling and demonstrations. Writing is the best way to teach skills in context and NOT in isolation. Writing and reading are social activities that promote oral language; a must for ELLS.

Writing Workshop and ELLs Benefits: Provide opportunities for oral language. Provide demonstrations and modeling of 5 key elements of literacy as recommended by the National Early Literacy Panel: phonemic awareness, phonics, vocabulary, fluency, and comprehension. Teachers models concepts of print, directionality, alphabetic principle, sentence structure, and syntax.

Qualitative Study Teacher interviews based on survey Teachers answer 20 question survey given by administrator to determine areas of concern. Survey asks questions about: Teacher knowledge of writing workshop Attitudes about teaching writing Professional development opportunities Experience with writing and with ELL Knowledge of developmental stages of writing Comfort level Administrator used 4 pt. Likert scale for rating. 1 being poor to 4 being very good.

Five First grade teachers, 4 women and 1 man participated in the study. None have ELL endorsements. All are trained in SIOP. Teachers are both experienced and novice teachers. Ages vary from 25 to 55. Participants

Ethical Considerations Participants agreed to using false identities for publication purposes, although colleagues knew of the research study and the participants and were supportive. No student consent necessary since writing workshop would occur during language Arts instruction.

Researcher Bias I will need to reflect upon my own bias when conducting my research. I need to allow the participants to implement writing workshop based upon their own experiences and professional development. I will rely on peer review when discussing findings and forming conclusions.

Data Collection Researcher will meet with teachers weekly for interviews ( 1 hr.) Interviews will address survey questions and areas of concern: support of administrators and colleagues, confidence level, strategies used, research based methods being implemented, etc. Interviews transcribed and coded by themes.

Themes Lack of knowledge about writing workshop Not enough Professional development. Lack of experience in teaching writing. Not enough time. Concerns with ELLs and writing. Concerns with structure of writing workshop. Lack of writing coaches.

Teacher Concerns How do I model lessons? What strategies do I use? How do I know what to teach? I feel uncomfortable writing in front of my students. How do I help ELLs write if they don’t speak English? How to I manage the workshop?

What the Data Demonstrates Teachers need: more professional development in teaching writing. writing coaches to assist with demonstrations. support from ELL teachers during writing workshop. More time to teach writing. Lots of strategies and support.

So…how do we teach writing to our ELL’s? The same way we teach all language learners! Lots of demonstrations, scaffolding and time for reading and writing daily. Have high expectations! Teach specific strategies through modeling and demonstrations. Conference with individual students to differentiate. Read to students daily. Provide a risk free environment.

The NCTE Supports Writing NCTE believes writing is developmental and requires time and teacher support. (NCTE, 2014). Writing Workshop environment is supportive and risk free. This lowers the affective filter of ELLs. Researchers: Calkins, Graves, Routman, Allington, Avery, Fountas & Pinnell, Atwell, Helman, Hebert…all agree writing is necessary yet not always implemented in classrooms.

to learn to write by writing. a consistent approach – the writing process. a direct and explicit instruction in writing. models of good writing, from teachers and literature. daily practice – time and opportunity. formative feedback. the opportunity to share their writing with others. Writers need lots of demonstrations: “I do, I do, we do, we do, you do”, Model of Gradual Release. Regie Routman: Writing Essentials (2009) What Writers Need