Writers Workshop

Integrating Writers Workshop in Kindergarten: Supporting the New Alaska ELA Standards Michelle St. Clair University of Alaska Southeast

Writers Workshop Abstract This qualitative research study examines the addition of the Writers Workshop instructional model in the kindergarten classroom to support the new Alaska State writing standards. I collected my research through surveys and discussions with my grade-level colleagues throughout the Kodiak Island Borough School District. Most teachers are still in the launching phase in the program however; my preliminary results show positive opinions.

Introduction The purpose of this study is to determine the effectiveness of writers workshop in the kindergarten classroom as a program to support teaching the new ELA Alaska Standards. Due to the changes in the language arts standards our district has adopted many new programs. One of the programs is Writers Workshop, a program developed by Lucy Calkins and supported by, Educational Consultant, Yolanda Westerberg. I would like to explore all facets of this program to see if this is the best way to support my 18 kindergarten students as well as kindergarten students throughout our Kodiak Island Borough School District. Is Writers Workshop, as presented through trainings with Yolanda Westerberg, an effective program to teach the New Alaska ELA Standards?

Writers Workshop Literature review

There are many articles about Writers Workshop and its use across the grade levels. The articles I focused on related to its use in a kindergarten classroom. The new standards are described to be more rigorous and have a narrower focus. While we may be responsible for fewer standards in number, the depth of knowledge is deeper. The new standards are geared toward higher-level thinking skills and higher expectations. There are a total of seven writing standards for kindergartners, four specify with guidance and support. The first three include using a combination of drawing, dictating and writing opinion, informative and narrative pieces. Writers Workshop heavily uses drawing as a way to tell a story. The question, posed by Hertz & Heydenberk, (1997) Can kindergarten students effectively engage in a writing workshop on a sustained basis, and related questions in other articles gives me the information I need to understand its usefulness in my classroom. If students are not able to engage appropriately, it cannot be a useful tool. The problem I would like to further explore is at what point are kindergarten students able to effectively engage? Teale and Martinezs (1986) research looks at the connection between reading and writing readiness in kindergartners. It was long thought that the main focus should be reading now that shift has changed to give equal importance to reading and writing. Results are positive as writers were given the freedom and responsibility of their learning. Lamme and Johnson, (2002). Students should be given the opportunity to set goals for themselves and make mistakes as they learn. They also explain the process of these young learners as they move from pictures, to pictures and labels, to words, phrases and complete sentences. Emphasizing differentiated mini-lessons specifically developed for these students who are typically at different levels of this process is an important part of helping them to

Writers Workshop become successful writers. The Writers Workshop program adopted by our district is highly scripted especially in the beginning, what they call the launching phase. It consists of minilessons that focus on the process of becoming writers. What writers look like, how their paper and pencils are used appropriately, how they gather their materials, and how to organize their thoughts. The article written by Gallant (2009) Too Much, Too Soon, does not contradict the research of the success of formal writing instruction in the kindergarten classroom. But, it does

question the concerns of many early-childhood teachers about the loss of play-based learning and its effects on students. The change in the study of literacy from the 1980s to the 1990s was a topic of study for Hertz and Heydenberk (1997). I would like to see a more recent look at this phenomenon as we have moved to a more formal way of instruction in the last 15 years from the time of their article. The literature I reviewed focuses on three topics regarding using Writers Workshop in a kindergarten classroom. The first focuses on the developmental appropriateness of sustained writing in the classroom. The second topic looks at implementation of the program through goal setting and mini-lessons. Third, shows concerns for the loss of play-based learning. Method I am researching the effects of the New Alaska State Standards as it pertains to our district's addition to writer's workshop to our literacy instruction. Through my research, I found many questions regarding to the developmental appropriateness of a writing program. The best way to measure teachers experiences is by asking them questions about the program. I believe the best method of collecting this data would be through an online survey to my grade-level colleagues.

Writers Workshop Participants The participants for this action research study were 10 kindergarten teachers at 4

different elementary schools located in the Kodiak Island Borough School District. The focus on this study is the effect of a new program on teaching the New Alaska Standards in the kindergarten classroom. Surveys I created a survey for my grade-level colleagues through SurveyMonkey.com. I started with a question regarding their experience. I think this is important because experienced

teachers have already created and used lessons to teach writing, and may be resistant to a new program. I continued with questions about the professional development opportunities with Educational Consultant, Yolanda Westerberg. Analysis Internal validity was accomplished through triangulation. Triangulation of data and methods, collected from different people with different perspectives at different times through different methods of data collection; surveys, interviews and my own observations in the classroom. (Merriam, 2009). I chose this type of analysis because the focus of my study is to measure my and the districts grade-level teams experiences with this new program as we proceed through the year. Gathering data from the beginning of the year and through today gives me the opportunity to check my observations with others in different classrooms and related studies of this topic. Results The results of this study were fairly consistent. I identified three themes supported by teachers answers to my survey and follow-up interviews.

Writers Workshop Survey There are ten kindergarten teachers in our district with varying degrees of experience. 25% have between nine and twenty years of experience, 25% between two and three years and 50% being their first year teaching kindergarten. Kindergarten teachers in this district feel that they have been properly trained in the writing instructional method Writers Workshop developed by Lucy Calkins though numerous professional development opportunities with educational consultant, Yolanda Westerburg.

My survey results were limited to the process and implementation of the program. With the survey results I identified two of the three themes: Teachers are concerned with alignment to writing standards and the importance of providing a supportive learning environment especially with this new program. Alignment to standards: It has become apparent that we need to align any materials that we decide to use for writing to meet the standards. Building a supportive environment: I think that we need to add much more explicit, scaffolded [sic] instruction as a framework. Interviews I followed up with the respondents of my survey through informal discussions. In doing so a new theme emerged. A theme I originally researched but did not include questions about in my survey. Developmental Appropriateness: Are we asking too much of a 5-year old?

Writers Workshop Are these new standards developmentally appropriate?

I would like to see this program being implemented in a real classroom with five-year olds.

Is this going to turn our students away from the excitement of school.

Alignment to Standards Teachers talked about the monumental task of aligning our curriculum to the new standards. There is concern that the program was chosen without foresight relating it to the new standards. How many programs is this district going to jump on the bandwagon for without input from teachers as to its correlation to teaching to the standards? As presented, is it the best program for our needs?

Building a Supportive Environment: As with anything new, the teachers admit their trepidation to change what they have been doing; especially those who have been teaching for more than five years. During a group discussion the topic of the lack of collaboration time with our grade-level team can have an effect on the implementation of the program. Teachers are concerned with the many changes happening in our school district. The implementation of a new writing program to support the new writing standards is only one of the many changes. I have found through looking at the survey and informal interviews and

discussions with my grade-level team that we are all feeling the same way. Is this the best program to support our young students? How can we best align the lessons to support the standards? When will we have the time to collaborate and design lessons to scaffold this learning?

Writers Workshop Discussion

Change is necessary to grow. Changes in our state ELA standards prompted me to focus my study on the implementation of a new program, Writers Workshop. As a teacher I, and as I learned though this study, my grade-level team, are most concerned with the developmental appropriateness of this program. Our new standards are much more rigorous and kindergarten students are asked to do much more than they have ever done in the past; standards that were once first grade standards are being expected of kindergarten students. In my literature review I looked at student engagement, students ability to be responsible for their learning and the loss of play-based learning in the kindergarten classroom. Through this process, I have opened collegial conversations with my grade-level team to make sure we are scaffolding these lessons appropriately to best support them at their level. Conclusion This action research project has given me the ability to discern the viability of an instructional method. My approach to teaching is very thoughtful and methodical. I prefer to design my lessons to be focused, authentic and dynamic in nature. Starting a discussion of the new writing program with my grade-level colleagues has proven to be encouraging. It has allowed me to hear the thoughts of teachers with much more experience than I. We have begun the important task of aligning the lessons and scaffolding them as necessary to meet the needs of our students. We have also created a reading and writing yearlong plan for kindergarten through eighth grade. It is expected that skills be taught explicitly in the trimester indicated but continue to be incorporated throughout the year for mastery.

Writers Workshop

I will continue to have collegial conversations as we move from the launching phase of the program into personal narratives. We continue to have professional development opportunities with educational consultant, Yolanda Westerberg. She is scheduled each trimester as we move through each skill. Our October focus was to use our rubrics to evaluate our personal narrative pre-assessments. We then discussed a common post-assessment prompt and decided on an additional dipstick assessment for assessment halfway between the two. To me, the most important part of our training was the discussion of alignment to the new standards and developmental appropriateness of the program. We wanted to hear what Yolanda had to say. She talked about anchor standards, standards we are shooting for at the end of twelfth grade. She talked about the rigor of the new standards but the smaller focus, less and deeper. Most importantly, through our discussion, she admitted that we are the experts in our

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classroom; the process that she has been instructing needs to be adjusted to fit our kindergarten students. We were given the last hour and a half of the afternoon to work together as a gradelevel team to talk about the process and how we can make it work with our youngest students. We looked at the entire structure of the writing workshop: 1. Signal to begin 2. Explicit mini-lesson 3. Writing time 4. Conferring 5. Sharing of student work We decided we needed to scaffold the mini-lessons to meet the needs of our students. We are focusing on building vocabulary and posing questions to be answered using text-based evidence. Instead of creating a vocabulary booklet for our students to write their words in, define and give synonyms for. We decided since many of our students do not know their letters, that this activity would have no meaning for them. We instead decided to build a class word wall and do much of the same activity only verbally. Using the word frequently throughout the week in conversation with students will give them the exposure to the context and meaning of the word. Encouraging them to use it in their writing will give the same results, as would a booklet more appropriate for upper grades.

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Writers Workshop References

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Gallant, P. A. (2009). Kindergarten teachers speak out: Too Much, Too Soon, Too Fast!. Reading Horizons, 49(3), 201-220. Retrieved from EBSCO Host. Hertz, M. S., & Heydenberk, W. (1997). A kindergarten writing workshop: how kindergarten students grow as writers. Reading Horizons, V37 203-214 Retrieved from EBSCO Host. Lamme, L., Fu, D., & Johnson, J. (2002). Helping kindergarten writers move toward independence. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(2), 73-79. Retrieved from EBSCO Host.

Writers Workshop Appendix Survey Questions via SurveyMonkey.com 1. How long have you been teaching kindergarten? 2. Have you attended Yolanda training for Writers Workshop? 3. Have they received the materials binder with the launching and personal narrative units? 4. If you use the scripted Launching Lesson Plans, how closely is it followed? 5. How well does it fit the New Alaska Standards? 6. If you feel the program fits perfectly with our New Alaska Standards, please give specific examples of how. Please list the lessons and the standard it covers. 7. If you believe there is not relationship at all to our New Alaska Standards, how will you supplement your writing lessons to cover the needed standards? 8. What changes do you see as possible or important?

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