Step 1: What is the observed impact after the ‘Take Action’ phase?
As I am teaching a new year level this year, I have no previous students to compare what I was seeing with the students currently in front of me. Both schoolwide and nationwide data shows that writing is the weakest of the three core curriculum areas, and that the level of achievement decreases further in Years 5-8. (Gadd, 2019) A problem I had identified was that children often had no audience for their writing, and so why would they be motivated to produce a high quality of work if no-one was going to read it. And so it became necessary to try something different to improve this.
The student's pre-inquiry data told me that those who struggled with writing had a negative mindset about it. However all students were keen to try something new in terms of digital publishing, When I look at the post-inquiry data, there are still a minority of students who reported that the inquiry did not improve matters for them, that their enjoyment had not increased, they were no more motivated and at home discussions did not take place. There was also a small number of parents who did not sign up to Class Dojo. Whether this had a detrimental effect on these students is unclear.
Most students were very keen to publish their stories using Book Creator. There was a big buzz in the classroom as students began to use Book Creator and see their stories come to life. The downside of this is that our student:technology ratio meant that students had to take turns with publishing and as some stories were very long it made accountability for completion difficult, and whether each child published the same number of stories remains to be seen.
Step 2: How is the observed impact different from or similar to the anticipated one?
Considering the impact, I anticipated that the use of Digital Technology would inspire the students to work faster, and improve the quality of their work. I was pleased to see that this appeared to be the case early on, and a reminder that their work would go out to their families was enough to inspire some to get the red pen out and edit their work.
I had not considered the impact on time, the length it would take from the initial writing planning until the publishing on Class Dojo. The result of this is that there were not as many published pieces of writing as I anticipated, and so the regularity of work appearing was problematic and perhaps meant that parents did not notice a huge improvement in communication, and therefore they did not bother to comment on the post-inquiry survey.
The student's pre-inquiry data told me that those who struggled with writing had a negative mindset about it. However all students were keen to try something new in terms of digital publishing, When I look at the post-inquiry data, there are still a minority of students who reported that the inquiry did not improve matters for them, that their enjoyment had not increased, they were no more motivated and at home discussions did not take place. There was also a small number of parents who did not sign up to Class Dojo. Whether this had a detrimental effect on these students is unclear.
Most students were very keen to publish their stories using Book Creator. There was a big buzz in the classroom as students began to use Book Creator and see their stories come to life. The downside of this is that our student:technology ratio meant that students had to take turns with publishing and as some stories were very long it made accountability for completion difficult, and whether each child published the same number of stories remains to be seen.
Step 2: How is the observed impact different from or similar to the anticipated one?
Considering the impact, I anticipated that the use of Digital Technology would inspire the students to work faster, and improve the quality of their work. I was pleased to see that this appeared to be the case early on, and a reminder that their work would go out to their families was enough to inspire some to get the red pen out and edit their work.
I had not considered the impact on time, the length it would take from the initial writing planning until the publishing on Class Dojo. The result of this is that there were not as many published pieces of writing as I anticipated, and so the regularity of work appearing was problematic and perhaps meant that parents did not notice a huge improvement in communication, and therefore they did not bother to comment on the post-inquiry survey.
When I look at the quality of work produced, I do believe the student's have worked to a higher standard than they ordinarily would have. This will hopefully show in improved scores when we next analyse and score their writing samples.
Step 3: What is the impact on future inquiry/practice?
On reflecting on my inquiry, and the realisation that for some, writing has still not improved, it leads me to consider where my inquiry went wrong for these students. Perhaps more support is needed, or a collaborative writing exercise may increase their enjoyment in writing.I need to look more closely at these students and discover whether it is the writing genre, literacy skills that are lacking, or low internal/external motivation when writing that is the problem. As I move into the next phase of the cycle of inquiry I need to look at what is happening for these children in particular, why my inquiry was successful for others but not them.
As I continue to evolve my practice to meet the needs of my struggling writers, I will need to look towards changing how the writing is published to continue to keep students engaged and motivated. Perhaps they move on from here to write scripts for iMovies, or some such thing, where we can integrate other curriculum areas and perhaps pull on other strengths or interests in these students.
Gadd, M. (2019). What's critical in the effective teaching of writing for Years 1-8?
As I continue to evolve my practice to meet the needs of my struggling writers, I will need to look towards changing how the writing is published to continue to keep students engaged and motivated. Perhaps they move on from here to write scripts for iMovies, or some such thing, where we can integrate other curriculum areas and perhaps pull on other strengths or interests in these students.
Gadd, M. (2019). What's critical in the effective teaching of writing for Years 1-8?
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