Strategies for Successful Child-Centered Writing
Mary Ellen McCloy
July 20, 2002
Successful Child Centered Writing
(Kid Writing)
Introduction
The word kindergarten was created from two German words that mean children’sgarden. As a gardener tends to his garden with patience and care, kindergarten intends to treat young children gently, like flowers ready to unfold, so they can develop to their fullest when they are ready. If you hear the word kindergarten, your mind may conjure wonderful images of children frolicking and playing. There is often an element of surprise to hear that these five year olds follow an intensive curriculum.
Increased curriculum has been a concern throughout my past 19 years while teaching various grades and classes in kindergarten through seventh grade. I began my career teaching first and second grade for seven years. When returning to work after having my children, I taught basic skills and enrichment classes in grades kindergarten through seven for three years and then have spent the last eight years teaching kindergarten in Tabernacle, New Jersey. Tabernacle, located between Philadelphia and Atlantic City, is located in the Pine Barrens, an environmentally sensitive area with rare plants and species, which limits new development. However, this rural farming town is evolving into an upper middle class town with the addition of a few new upscale developments. Tabernacle has an elementary and middle school with a total population of 1,014 students in grades K-8, with an average class size of 20. Approximately 95% of the students are Caucasian, and less than 5% are Asian, African American, Hispanic, and Native American.
In the past two years, the kindergarten classes in Tabernacle have extended the day from two and a half-hours to a four-hour day with hopes of accomplishing more. Within the last year a new writing program has been added to our curriculum. This program is well designed and is based upon the book Kid Writing: a Systematic Approach to Phonics, journals, and Writing workshop (1999, Wright Group Publishing, Inc.)
This program requires approximately forty-five minutes to one hour daily and teacher made resources to facilitate the program.
According to my literature review, the addition of journal writing in kindergarten would indeed be effective if presented in developmentally appropriate ways. I decided to investigate the success of this new child-centered journal writing program in relation to strategies that can be implemented to keep the program developmentally appropriate so that the child’s garden philosophy would prevail in my kindergarten class.
Literature Review
Strategies for Successful Child-Centered Writing
“All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten, or so the saying goes. But kindergartens today, with their focus on academic skills instead of social skills, are very different from the kindergarten of a couple of generations ago” (Plevyak & Morris, 2002, p.23). There is general agreement among early childhood educators that kindergarten has changed its focus from a place of social development to a place where curriculum is constantly expanding its focus on academics. These increased expectations make “kindergarten sound less like a child’s garden and more like boot camp” (Bracey, 2000, p.71). With the tremendous changes in the past few decades, educators are now faced with the dilemma of how to handle the increased curriculum. This curriculum now includes reading and writing programs for these young learners. Literacy experts determining The Primary Literacy Standards link reading and writing together and feel that kindergarten students need to write every day (Garcia & Maurer, 1999). “The solution is for us to teach children how to read and write, but to do it in a developmentally appropriate way” (Hall & Williams, 2000, p.7).
Since journal writing has been added to our kindergarten curriculum this year, the desire to teach it in developmentally appropriate ways to encourage success prompted this research. The integration of developmentally appropriate strategies that can be used to assist and involve children in successful child-centered writing will be the focus of this research.
Proponents of developmentally appropriate practices for young children embrace the growth of the whole child. When setting up early childhood curriculum, research indicates that educators need to consider more than the intellectual growth of the child. Educators must also regard aspects of the physical and social growth areas when teaching developmentally appropriate practices (Hall & Cunningham, 1997).
Consideration of the whole child is one aspect of the intricacy of setting up a successful writing program. The National Association for the Education of Young Children and The International Reading Association state that, “Learning to read and write is a complex multifaceted process that requires a wide variety of instructional approaches” (1998, p.38). For instructional approaches to be meaningful for a young writer there is great value in integrating talking, reading, writing, and drawing. To facilitate students becoming active members in a classroom of writers, teachers must also integrate the learning of social roles, knowledge, and skills (Dyson, 1993).
Early childhood experts agree that educators must also reflect on how young children learn when choosing developmentally appropriate teaching strategies. “Children learn best while talking and doing in a social context, in a non-competitive environment where learning is self-selected, meaningful, and interesting” (Fisher, 1998, p.3). Authentic learning will occur when the curriculum includes the social world of children. Young children learn best when they are given the opportunity to make connections to their present knowledge or when they can use the stories of their peers (Vasquez, 2001). The use of shared journal writing motivates students’ interest, effort, and confidence while increasing comprehension because it is meaningful to the students (Montgomery, 2001). In addition to the benefits of peer modeling of journals, students also need an audience for sharing their writing if it is to develop and improve (Sigmon, 2002).
Piaget, Vygotsky, Erickson, and other childhood development experts agree with the theories of Fisher and Vasquez reporting that children learn best in a comfortable and social atmosphere where their interests are given deliberate consideration. They also stress the importance of individual variation when developing successful teaching strategies as cited in Bredekamp, Knuth, & Shulman, 1992. The teacher’s role in a developmentally appropriate kindergarten is to set up a literacy program that will accommodate each child’s ability level. “Kindergarten children at all different literacy levels must sense that they are making progress if their eagerness and excitement is to sustain them through the hard work of learning to read and write” (Hall & Cunningham, 2000, p. 4). In addition to considering each child’s ability level, the teacher’s role is critical in creating a positive and competition free atmosphere. When teachers set up a positive and co-operative community, where each child is appreciated, then students become more comfortable. This increases the student’s confidence and promotes the value in learning from each other. “This will foster a positive atmosphere that will continue when children practice their own reading and writing” (Fisher, 1998, p.14).
In promoting literacy, research emphasizes the importance of teachers utilizing the numerous teaching opportunities that present themselves throughout the day. Instead of teaching literacy skills in isolation, skills should be incorporated as teachable moments reveal themselves. When such opportunities arise, it is beneficial to model a writer’s thinking process and demonstrate multiple purposes for writing (Nel, 2000). Teaching strategies that utilize information that is purposeful to the students can serve as a model for the skills necessary to learn about the relation between oral and written language. Students’ journals, peer journals, modeled and shared writing, songs, poems, and finger- plays can develop a meaningful connection between letters, sounds, and words. “In classrooms built around a wide variety of print activities, then in talking, reading, writing, playing, and listening to one another, children will want to read and write and feel capable that they can do so” (NAEYC & IRA, 1998, p.38). “Children can write anything they can say, whereas they can read only a fraction of the words they can say, therefore, writing is easier, quicker, and, in a sense, more naturally learned” (Graves, 1999, p.27).
In addition to the curriculum changes over the last few decades, there has been a shift in the way students interact with teachers in their journal writing. Years ago, teachers often took dictation from primary age children. Research now indicates that the teacher’s role should be that of coaching and helping children to do their own writing. “Teachers’ expectations of children’s writing sends the empowering message, ‘You can do it!’ Taking dictation sends the self-limiting message, ‘You can’t, so I will do it for you.’ ” (Feldgus & Caronick, 1999, p.9).
Research supports the theory that early foundations of reading and writing must reflect developmentally appropriate teaching strategies if students are to have a successful literacy journey. Successful child-centered journal writing is the product of a comfortable, positive, social classroom climate where a balanced multileveled literary program is in place. Students’ selection of topics makes writing more enjoyable to them, which in turn, will develop self-confidence and success. “If writing is perceived as an enjoyable, creative activity, many children will eagerly engage in the act of writing and produce beautiful pieces” (Riordan-Karlsson, 1999, p.27). It is the researcher’s goal to use the developmentally appropriate instructional strategies suggested by this literature review to facilitate students’ opportunities to become immersed in the successful child-centered journal writing experienceexplained in the book Kid Writing.
Research Process
The focus of this research was to examine the Kid Writing approach with consideration to developmentally appropriate strategies for teaching writing in kindergarten. To determine this, there was an investigation to decide in what ways the program had been successful this year, how the strategies were implemented to empower students’ journal writing, and to determine how the students’ views of writing and self-confidence developed as an outcome of journal writing.
Several sources were utilized to collect data about journal writing. The most valuable source of information was using the students’ portfolios of journal writing samples throughout the year while reflecting on skills that were introduced at certain stages. Student, parent, and teacher surveys along with student, parent, and teacher interviews were utilized. Teacher observation and observation checklists disclosed additional data.
To gather specific information about the success of the child-centered writing program this year, progress in journals from September to June was evaluated. Parents, teachers, and students were interviewed to explore additional ways the program had been successful.
To identify how strategies were implemented to empower students’ journal writing, data was collected through general teacher observation in addition to observational checklists while the students were engaged in journal writing. The students’ journals and portfolios provided additional information about the strategies that the students were actually utilizing. Students used pictures to prioritize preferred elements of journal writing. Teacher questionnaires provided different perspectives because the teachers have embraced the writing program in varying degrees.
The students’ views and development of self-confidence as an outcome of journal writing were evaluated in student and teacher surveys along with student and parent interviews. The results of this research will serve as an evaluation of Kid Writing and the results will be used to set up the writing program for next year.
Data Analysis
Kid Writing, the newly implemented child-centered journal writing program, seemed to be very successful when considering the aspects of students’ enjoyment and progress. The data analysis provided additional information as to other ways that the child-centered journal writing program has been successful this year.
Kindergarten teachers were interviewed (see Appendix B) and there was agreement that the journal program had been successful this year. In addition to the progress that they saw their students had made on the developmental scale, they indicated other areas of success. They felt that this program encouraged the application of the knowledge that the students were gaining about letters and sounds. Teachers observed their students gaining a positive attitude about writing, enjoying journal time, and that the writing process did not intimidate the students. Positive social interactions and positive building of self-esteem were also mentioned as results of a successful writing program. Teachers felt the success of the program was contingent on having assistance and support during journal writing.
Parents were also surveyed about the success of the journal writing program (see Appendix C). Twenty-eight out of thirty-four parents returned the survey. Most of the parents felt that their children had a very successful journal writing experience this year. Parents felt that the journal writing program had served as a basis for their children to learn to read and develop numerous other literacy skills related to journal writing. They also felt that the journal writing program encouraged their children to continue using literacy skills at home. All the children wrote at home making cards, notes, letters, using diaries, and writing about their pictures. Parents rated the emotional success and positive attitude about writing and learning as highly as progression through the developmental stages in journal writing.
An evaluation of the individual student’s progress was determined using the Conventions of Writing Developmental Scale (Kid Writing, pp.169-179, appendix D). Using the students’ portfolios and present journals, thirty-four students from two classes were rated on their writing in September as compared to June, as indicated in Figure 1.
Upon entering kindergarten, eleven children were in the emerging stage of writing, making unidentifiable scribbling. Seventeen children were in the pictorial stage, drawing a somewhat recognizable picture and telling about the picture. Three children were in the precommunicative stage, using letter-like forms to convey a message and attempting to read it back. Four students were in the semiphonetic stage, correctly using some letters to match sounds, writing left to right, and using a beginning letter for a word.
When examining the writing on the developmental scale at the end of the year, great progress was noted. Two children were in the semiphonetic stage. Five children were in the phoenetic stage, using beginning and ending consonant sounds, spelling some high-frequency-words correctly, and writing one or more sentences. Eleven children were in the transitional stage, correctly spelling many high-frequency words in sentences, using a vowel in most syllables, and using simple punctuation. Ten children had moved to the conventional stage, correctly spelling most high-frequency words, and using larger correctly spelled vocabulary in addition to the previous skills. Great progress on this developmental scale combined with the other aspects of success noted by the teachers and parents in interviews indicates remarkable success of the writing program.
With the verification of the success of the program, the next investigation was used to determine which strategies were implemented to empower students’ journal writing. This writing program encourages constructing a very comfortable classroom atmosphere where collaborating is encouraged while students draw their self-selected picture for the day and write about it with teacher assistance, as described below. A confidence building factor is introduced during the first mini-lesson in September demonstrating how the children already know how to do certain kinds of writing, ie: wavy writing, zig-zag writing, loopy writing, etc. The students enjoy using markers for drawing and writing. Using their pictures as a basis, the students always do their writing with an adult. The teacher helps each student write “stories” by helping them to focus on sounds in words. These sounds are known as “moving targets” because they change as the teacherand children move through the words. (Feldgus and Cardonick) This stretching allows the children the opportunity to listen for the sounds in their words. The teacher exaggerates key consonant sounds slowly in hopes that the children will pick up on the most obvious sounds – the letters whose sounds are heard in their names (ie: T, B, D) After they master the easier sounds, regardless of where they come in the word, the teacher encourages the children to begin to listen for the more difficult sounds. (ie: W, H, Y) They are encouraged to write the letters that they think they hear. This is the step where the children also use “magic lines” for unknown sounds. Feldgus and Cardonick (1999) explain the “magic line” as a horizontal line drawn on the paper when the child does not know any sounds in the word that they are trying to write. Since we expect the children to write something for every spoken word, the magic line serves as a placeholder – a tool for children to use when they get stuck. The magic line is liberating – it frees the children to focus on their thoughts and messages. (Feldgus and Cardonick) The adult then models correct writing for what they say underneath the students writing and the student reads it back to the adult – with as much support as needed.