My primary sources are students in grades 7-12 and their teachers. My questions for students will look like these:
1. Tell me about a time you enjoyed sharing your writing.
2. Tell me about a time a teacher edited your writing.
3. Tell me about a time a classmate edited your writing.
4. Tell me about a time you read your writing out loud.
My questions to teachers will look like these:
1. What are students' initial responses when you tell them they will be reading their written assignments out loud? giving your writing to a classmate to edit? giving your writing to a teacher to edit?
My relationship to them is that of a visitor to their class. The teacher told them I'm studying to be a teacher. I have spent anywhere from 15-30 hours in their classes. I was just told today that there is difficulty surveying students, that I could only interview 1 or 2, and that is only after getting parental permission. I need to do some research to find a form that is appropriate and get it moving through the necessary channels right away. I will make appointments with teachers to gain access to them at a time where they can focus for 10 minutes-hah! For secondary sources I will using the following:
A Guide to Teaching Self/Peer Editing, author Linda Christensen
A report entitled "Assessing the National Writing Project", located in a research publication
A dissertation entitled "Improving Student Revising and Editing Skills through the use of Peer Editing and Writing Conferencing"
A dissertation entitled "Increasing Motivation to Write by Enhancing Self Perception, Utilizing Collaboration, Modeling and Relevance"
I plan to use these secondary sources because they speak about student writing and the methods professionals use to motivate students to write with confidence, knowing they will have an audience. I will access these sources online and at the RIC library. I like that these sources cite specific reasons for lack of motivation in students to write. I will use this information to show how connections are made between strategies and what happens when they are put into place in the classroom.
Your questions are clear and well thought out and I think you will get a lot of honest responses from them. I like that you are looking at both times that students have been motivated and also the reasons that students would not be motivated. I also like that you are asking teachers about how students respond to certain people reading their work. Audience can be anything from the teacher to classmates to family and its important to think about all the aspects of audience to get a clear picture of how it influences student writing.
ReplyDeleteCindy,
ReplyDeleteI think your questions pertaining to teachers and the students are well devised in helping you learn what you need to know about instilling confidence and motivating students regarding their academic writing. I had no idea you had to ask for permission to speak with students, and it helps that I so conveniently had this blog to comment on because I was hoping to interview students at a high school, yet so far all I've gained access too is a professor at CCRI and his student who is an English Language Learner, so the heads up is greatly appreciated. Also, your secondary sources are well thought out and I think you're on a great track regarding your journey, good job!
You're topic reminds me of something I read on my own topic. That playwriting helps students develop this sense of audience we want them to understand so fully. It really sticks that you are having problems getting a hold of students to interview. As researcher we just need to find alternate route to our information but it is so hard when you cannot talk to the direct source without jumping through hoops.
ReplyDeleteCindy, I think your questions are well-formulated and I think you're headed on the right track. I like that you're asking the students questions regarding how their experiences with sharing and editing were.
ReplyDeleteI loved hearing about your collaborations with Dr. Cook-thank you for sharing this, and more!
ReplyDeleteHi Cindy,
ReplyDeleteAs I was reading Memo #2, I kept asking myself if RIC professors had written the sources that you are looking at because this is what my teachers are telling myself and my peers to boost confidence in the students writing. Even though my professors talk about it, it is nice to see the studies that back up what we are learning. I also really love how we see most of these in SED 445! I too wonder what the students would say when teachers asked them! It is definitely something to look into for your interviews and getting some time to ask students what they are experiencing in class.
I think you have great questions in Memo #3. I would be curious to ask the students how they feel about reading their writing out loud in class and is there a good enough environment to feel comfortable to share? I would also be curious to ask the teachers their opinions on creating confidence in the student’s writings. Do they do anything specific to boost confidence? How do they prepare the students to read in front of an audience, or group? I can’t wait to read about how the interviews go with the teachers and the students!