Rationale
This study was important because I was able to see the diverse needs of my students through my writing conferences as well as whole group instruction. I saw a need in many of my students to take accountability for their learning through goal setting. As fifth grade students, they were learning to put more responsibility on themselves. And as a teacher, I was able to see where the students wanted to put their focus. I believe it is important for students to be given choice and allowing them to choose their own goals from a writing rubric permitted this.
Based on my data, I believed this research would help my students not only with their writing, but also to see themselves as writers, which will carry over to an improvement of writing scores. My students have verbalized and showed me that they like to write but they don’t want more time to write or know the importance of writing. I believe when students are being challenged to choose and work toward goals within their writing, they can reach their potential as writers. I also hoped their ownership of their own learning will start to be recognized.
Culture and Diversity
School Population
Classroom Racial
Diversity
Classroom Academic Diversity
I was a fifth-grade teacher in a suburb of a large metropolitan area. The school has a student population of 460 students, with 81% being Caucasian, 10% Hispanic or Latino, and 9% made up of other ethnicities. The school is not considered a Title I program. The school opened 35 years ago.
In my class, I had 25 students: 13 boys and 12 girls. Of my students, 17 were Caucasian, 4 were Hispanic, and 4 were multiple ethnicities. My students came from various home situations including married parents, single parents, and mixed families. All of my students spoke English at home.
Along with a somewhat racially diverse classroom, I had a high level of academic diversity. Of my 25 students, I had 3 students on a 504 plan, one for medical and the others for a diagnosis that does not qualify them for an IEP; 1 student on an Individualized Education Plan (IEP) for speech and academics; and 7 students that received academic interventions in either math or reading. I also had one student on a behavior plan with a book of documentation forms that were filled out after each subject block. Lastly, I had one student with a mental health and safety plan. With all of the different needs and accommodations came the need for differentiation within academics in order to reach the needs of all the students in my classroom.
Classroom Need via Common Summative Assessment
At the beginning of the school year, my students wrote a baseline piece for me to understand what kind of writing skills they possessed and retained from 4th grade. Five of my eleven boys were below proficient, with two of those students at a beginning writing level. These scores are based on a rubric scale that is mandated by the district.
When looking at these writing assessments, I noticed that there was a large area of need, within word choice and voice. Eight of the eleven boys scored below proficient on the rubric in this area. From this data, I knew that as a teacher I would have to provide explicit instruction in writing so my students would be able to understand how to choose grade level appropriate words and use voice in their writing. I knew that giving them this goal would push these students past what they believed their writing ability to be.
I also had to provide enrichment for my two students who received an advanced score on this piece of writing. I wanted to make sure that all of my students had the opportunity to grow in their writing whether they received a beginning score or advanced score. Effective instruction and writing conferences were two pieces that helped me achieve growth in this area.
Classroom Need via Measures of Academic Progress (MAP)
After looking at the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) data from the Fall 2019, I also found a need for structured writing conferences with goal setting. Within language usage, 21% of all my students tested below average, while 3 of the 11 boys scored low achieving and low growth. While in reading, 19% of my students tested below average with 3 students with low achievement and low growth.
Seeing these scores proved to me that there was a large area of growth for my students. The language usage test wove directly into the writing skills that we worked on. These results allowed me to dive deeper into their MAP test and see what specific skills the students needed to work on, which could be implemented during writing conferences.
Classroom Need via Writing Attitude Surveys
Toward the beginning of the year, I had my students fill out a short survey about their attitude toward writing. The attitude survey was 10-questions that they rated themselves on a scale of 1-5, one being that they always enjoyed that specific part of writing and five being they never liked that part of writing. There were a variety of questions from how much they enjoyed writing to what they enjoyed writing the most to how they viewed themselves as a writer.
Through the attitude survey, I found the majority of my students liked to write but also don’t think writing is fun. I also found that my students don’t know the importance of writing and don’t want more time to write within the classroom setting.
I wanted to try to change a couple of those mindsets, especially knowing the importance of writing well. Since my students enjoyed writing, my challenge was to find a way for them to enjoy writing while they were at school.
Classroom Need via Text Dependent Analysis
Another area I saw a need in writing was our district Text Dependent Analysis (TDA). In our TDAs, students must read a short story and answer a comprehension question with details from the text in an essay format. Nine of the eleven boys scored lower than proficient, with two of them scoring a beginning.
This data suggested that my students were lacking the writing skills to form an essay with details and examples from a text they just read. I noticed many of my students struggled to organize their piece. As a teacher, this let me know exactly where my instruction needed to begin for my students to grow and be successful.
Classroom Need via observation and anecdotal notes
Based on observations seen and heard throughout the classroom, my students needed the most instruction within the writing block. Throughout our writing block, I heard phrases such as, “I’m not writing today”, “I have nothing to write about”, “I’m not a good writer”, and “Writing is my least favorite subject”. I also noticed students that would easily get off track and become distracted. Some students would find other things to try to do instead of their writing.
I believed that setting goals would help my students, especially the boys, improve their attitudes toward writing and writing scores.
Literature Review
The purpose of my study was to determine the effect of student goal setting on achievement of males in writing, which would be measured by my district formative and summative assessments. Throughout this review I explored, identified, and discussed the best practices to improve writing achievement, with a narrow focus on 5th grade boys. This review was a synthesis on the importance of goal setting with male writers within a writing conference.
Throughout this review, the research showed the need for goal setting with boys in writing. Research also identified how student goal setting was used to build independence and accountability. Using writing conferences effectively and best practices to make said writing conferences effective were important components to include in a writing block. Finally, the reasons behind why there is lower achievement in writing with males as well as strategies to help improve motivation and achievement were discussed.