What is the impact of blogging used with self-monitoring strategies for adolescents who struggle with writing?

Plan B Paper. 2012. Master of Science in Education- Reading--University of Wisconsin-River Falls. Teacher Education Department. 28 leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 25-26).Writing is an onerous task for those who struggle with the skill. The basic prerequisites of organizing thoughts, transcribing thoughts into words, and writing down those words is fundamental to the more advanced skills of developing a sense of audience, writing with voice and applying conventions. Without proficient skills, students who cannot write, do not write. Positive attitude toward the process of writing suffers. Time spent on actual writing is limited. As a consequence, writing skill does not develop. Students who struggle with writing can be supported in their skill development through self-monitoring strategies. Self-monitoring strategies for writing give students a systematic process to know how to approach a writing task. The clear step-by-step process breaks down difficult skills and allows students to build proficiency through guided practice and eventually, independence. This action research project explored the impact of using self-monitoring strategies with the 21st century skill of blogging within a Writer's Workshop instructional model. Sixteen students (eleven males, five females) in grades 6-8th participated in a twelve week study. Target writing skills of fluency, stamina, motivation, awareness of audience and participation in peer review were measured for changes over the course of the study. Students were instructed in the use of self-monitoring strategies focusing on increasing word counts in correct word sequence timings, on-command prompt passages, and formal writing process pieces. Blogging was introduced and used to apply target skills to a digital writing setting. Each student learned self monitoring strategies to compose posts in personal blogs and to read and comment on other students' blogs. Pre-and post-writing attitude survey, correct word sequence timings and writing samples were taken throughout the study to assess each students' skill level and attitude toward writing. The group showed average gains of 34% in correct word sequence and 66% in word counts of process writing pieces. Qualitative data and quantitative data demonstrate that writing skills and attitudes toward writing also showed positive development when self-monitoring strategies were used to support the writing tasks of blogging in a Writer's Workshop model

Struggling adolescent readers: A case study of teacher beliefs and practices using the How People Learn framework

In this qualitative study, I explored teacher beliefs and practices about struggling adolescent readers. I chose to study 3 middle school 7th- and 8th-grade English teachers based on purposeful and convenience sampling through principal recommendation. My data consisted of interviews, observations, and documents to understand what teachers believe about struggling adolescent readers and what teachers of struggling middle school students do during instruction. I created the interviews and observation protocols and analyzed the data using the How People Learn Framework (Darling-Hammond & Bransford, 2005; National Research Council, 2000). Findings suggest (1) negative extrinsic motivation was used to boost student assessment performance, (2) the lack of foundational reading skills can cause problems through adolescence, (3) discussion strategies were used to assist struggling adolescent readers, (4) teachers had strong opinions about data walls, and (5) positive relationships with and between students were beneficial. These findings suggest implications for teachers and school leaders

Professional Development In Disciplinary Literacy Strategies For Middle School Content Area Teachers

The purpose of this professional development plan is to provide disciplinary literacy instruction support for content area teachers at the middle level. The inspiration for the research was the author’s desire to discover and share how content area literacy is critical to student learning. In-depth research in physical, emotional, and social adolescent development, literacy strategies, disciplinary literacy strategies, and professional development practices drove the findings to create a professional development plan that is built-in and sustainable. Teachers can use the online professional development resource collaboratively in order to determine literacy goals, write lesson plans, and incorporate literacy strategy instruction into the content area classroom. This professional development plan includes meeting agendas for a full year of professional development, fast feedback forms, lesson plan templates, strategy descriptions, and strategy resources to provide support for teachers to implement disciplinary literacy strategies

Student\u27 Perceptions of Read 180 at the Middle School Level

Read 180 is an intensive intervention program designed for middle level elementary up through high school. This is a program that teaches students through a combination of instructional, modeled, and independent reading components. The Read 180 class period is 90 minutes long and begins with 20 minutes of whole-group literacy instruction in which the teacher and students engage in shared reading, read aloud, or do direct instruction skills lessons. Next, students are split into three groups and each group participates in three 20-minute rotations. During each rotation the teacher works with one small group of students in the Small group rotation. The remaining two groups work independently at either the Software/Computer based literacy or the Independent Reading station. After all rotations are completed the instruction is completed with a 10-minute wrap-up for student reflection time. The Read 180 website (Scholastic, 2011) touts this statistic: Read 180 is the most thoroughly researched and documented reading intervention program, proven to raise reading achievement for grades 4-12+. This research examines the question, Can gaining an understanding of struggling middle school readers\u27 perceptions of an intervention class (Read 180) help educators develop successful strategies to teach students? I conducted in-depth interviews with four of the students who participated in my eighth grade Read 180 class. Themes that emerged from these interviews were: (1) Reading books that are relatable is the best, (2) IV Read-alouds are a helpful learning tool, (3) Technology is a great motivator, (4) pop culture is a powerful hook, (5) autonomy and decision making is very important to teens in their own learning, and (6) general lack of self-understanding among teens. The project showed that students perceive Read 180 as an effective program with positive benefits