Interaction to Build Student Writing Interest, Essay Example

Describe the Group Characteristics

There were two different classrooms in the video. Both of them were a typical size of a public school classroom—25-30. It appears that the students in are in 4th or 5^th grade. Both classes have an element of the traditional learning style, with the teacher leading the class from the front of the room in lecture style. However, in both classes, a large part of the writing class is broken into other activities, such as listening to the teacher reading a book, sharing stories, writing, and one-n-one discussions with the teacher.

Describe the Observed Instructional Delivery

There were two different teachers with somewhat different instructional delivery. The first teacher called her writing sessions “mini lessons.” Each mini lesson included the students trying the skill or specific focus, a short writing session and then sharing. She explained that it is important for students to have an opportunity to plan for their writing sessions. Writing should not be an exercise where you jump right into the water and start swimming. It needs to be a step-by-step process that helps children feel comfortable about what they are doing, gain more confidence and have a better understanding of what they want to write and the details to include.

The first teacher had the students start out by drawing a picture of what they hoped to write about. She asked them to write a story about a memory they hadfrom childhood. The students already had listened to one or two books that were personal or memoirs, such as Roxaboxe, which isabout children who create their own town on a vacant hillside and how their memories of that time lasted until adulthood. The teacher showed the students her drawing from her vacation as an example. Drawing was used to help the students put their words into a symbol that is easy to convey. Once they completed their drawings, the students shared with another student(s) information about the picture. The teacher recognized that it is much easier to explain a picture than something that is being formulated in the mind.This helped the children verbalize their ideas and thoughts and add detail to their story. Her purpose for this writing exercise was to help the students write their story about a personal experience.

The second teacher used examples of books to demonstrate some of the aspects of good writing. She also focused on memoirs, because they are easiest for the children to identify with. The teacher read expressive books to the children. In the instructional session shown on the video, the students have already written a first draft. Now they were learning about elaboration. That is, they were learning about the different ways they can make their stories more detailed and vivid. The teacher used the elaboration in the book as an example and asked students to give examples of the elaboration they heard.

Then the students had time to elaborate on their own stories. While they were writing, the teacher went around the room to ask students if they needed help. She looked at the sentences or words that the students wanted to add and gave them specific help to focus them in the right direction. Once they had this writing session, a few of the students read their elaborated stories, and the other students commented on where the elaboration was added. The teacher in this group of students continues to reinforce the vocabulary of writing, such as simile, metaphor and elaboration. The students have improved greatly in their critiques of the other students’ works because they have this literary knowledge. The teacher’s ultimate purpose was to help the students understand the concept of “elaboration” and use it to enhance their writing skills.

Describe the Observed Student–Teacher Interactions

In both of the classrooms, there were student-teacher interactions, with the teacher reading a book or covering a topic and asking for student input.  In the first part, the teacher read a story to the students with a plot that corresponded to their writing theme for the day. Then the teacher gave her own personal experience, which was comparable to what she wanted the students to do.  She then asked the students to draw their personal experience. In the second part, the teacher read a story to the students and then had a question-and-answer period with them to go over the theme for the day.  She then spent considerable time during the writing sessions walking around the room and helping students with the assignment. In both cases, the teachers responded positively to the student responses and encouraged them to be open and vocal.

Analyze the Tone of the Observed Student–Teacher Interactions

As noted above, both of the teachers responded in a positive nature to the students and encouraged them to express themselves both orally and in writing. In the first case, for example, when the teacher asked a question about a book she was reading or about a specific writing term, the students were not hesitant to raise their hands and respond. There was no fear of being right or wrong in their answers. With the second teacher, the students also appeared to like the fact that their teacher spent some one-on-one time with them. Neither of the teachers spoke down to the students, which was another positive point. They spoke to them on an equal plane, which once again promoted communication and classroom participation.

Evaluate the Level of Student Engagement

With the first teacher, the writing exercises were very student oriented. The teacher encouraged the children’s involvement with her and with each other as well as the work they did on their own to complete the activity for the day. In the second part, the students interacted well with the teacher in the question-and-answer part and each other during the sharing process. No student looked concerned about his/her paper being critiqued (this is even difficult for adult writers in writing classes!). All of the students looked actively involved with what the teacher was discussing or reading.

Describe How TeacherSets Expectations for Academic Performance

Both teachers set expectations for the students, since in both cases the students had to either write something or revise something that already had been written. The first teacher, for example, recognized the difficulty of asking students to write without having a firm foundation about some of the factors that make good prose. She read from a book and then told her experience and then asked them to do the same. The second teacher also went slowly through her description of what she wanted the students to do. She introduced the concept, then had students discuss it and finally asked them to do the same with their papers. Both of the teachers helped the students –even those who perhaps were more leery about writing—feel comfortable. The fact that both centered on personal stories and memoirswas helpful; the students could better relate to this writing expectation than making up a story.

Connect an Instructional Purpose to the Teacher’s Interactions with Students

Both of the teachers encouraged the students to talk about a topic and share some of their thoughts before having them write. In the first part for example, the teacher wanted the students to write a personal experience. She led up to this by reading a story about a personal experience, then sharing one of her personal experiences and then finally having the students draw a personal experience and share it with other students. In the second part of the video, the children spent considerable time discussing the term “elaboration.” They discussed elaboration in a book that was read and the different ways that it is possible to elaborate. Only then were the students asked to spend time working on their own papers and elaborating their story thus far. If they still had difficulty, the teacher went around and helped the student further. She offered constructive suggestions.

Assess the Effectiveness of the Teaching Style

The teaching style that included a variety of different approaches appeared to be very effective. With the first teacher, the students not only looked interest in the topic, but were eager to read their stories for critiques from other students. For the age of these students, this was a very adult-like activity. It will help them as they become older and need to do more writing in upper grades and then in their careers. They will not be fearful and start sweating when asked to write something. They will be much more conducive to writing. In the second teacher, the students have clearly learned ways to critique other students and the words that go along with ways to improve writing styles. They are not afraid to ask for help to enhance their stories.

Evaluate HowInterest in Students Positively Impacted Learning

Unfortunately, sometimes teachers depend too much on the traditional lecture approach, and students have little time to participate in classroom discussions with the teacher or with other students. Also, some teachers are much more critical than others. Especially in something as personal and possible difficult as writing, the wrong teacher can sour the student for a long time. These students in the video looked like they will very happily continue writing in the future. With the first teacher, the students were able to write about their experiences after the teacher/student interaction at the beginning of the class, making their drawings and then explaining them to the other students. In the second teacher, the students clearly rewrote their stories using elaboration.

Evaluate How Teacher’s Expectations Influenced Student Performance

The first teacher expected students to learn literature terminology. Thus, with time, they picked up the words and began using them in their critiques of the other students’ works. She also expected students to have aneasier time writing when they are able to plan first before putting a pen down to the paper. This in fact did make it easier for the students to write. The second teacher expected that the students would learn through examples. The students knew that they needed to listen carefully to these examples and apply them to their own writing. They also knew that the teacher would expect them to ask any questions they have during their personal writing time. This made them more receptive to asking questions or listening to what the teacher had to say.

Alternate Approach to Use to Set High Expectations

The first teacher should think about other ways to “show off” her students’ papers when they are completed. This would show her students that she is proud of their work and wants other people to see them as well. Thus, when the stories are completed, she can post them on the bulletin board, compile them into a book along with their drawings to send home to parents or even have them available throughout the school. She should also write her own critique rather than just telling the student “This was really excellent.” Students often do not remember the verbal comments of teachers; their mind is on something else or they are just not listening. If there are written comments, for example a personal letter sent home or emailed to the student and the parents, the comments are more meaningful and long lasting.  The second teacher should keep in mind that the more students who have the opportunity to see the stories, the more she can build up her students’ self-esteem. Perhaps, for example, she can plan a “reading essay” assembly for the other 4^th and 5^th graders. Her students may work on a story together, which is presented along with music, drama or dance; students from other classes can get involved, as well.

Justification for Recommendation

With both the first and second teacher, the more positive feedback the students get on their hard efforts, the better it will be. It is great that they are getting good input from other students in their class in the personal critiques and from the teachers, but they can be more motivated if they receive comments from other teachers, principal, parents and other students. By putting up the stories on the boards for everyone to see, they are receiving additional positive input. The more positive feedback, the better.  The same is true with the second teacher. If she uses the stories in another way, such as with a dramatic skit, the students receive more feedback from others about their stories and feel prouder about their work.

Explain the Thinking Process You Went Through to Complete this Evaluation

I thought about the whole concept of positive feedback and motivation and how that can greatly encourage students to perform. I also thought of classes I had been in as well as watched where students looked very uncomfortable and, in some cases, miserable, because they were not given enough time to build self-confidence and the teacher’s negative or neutral comments greatly lowered student participation. Once a child becomes fearful about a subject, be it math or English or history, it will take a long time to turn that dislike around.

Essay

Research has concluded that theteachers’expectations for their students in terms of how they will behave and how they will perform academically often can have a strong positive or negativeimpact on success in learning, since these expectations can act as self-fulfilling prophesies (Zabel &Zabel, 1996). This concept of self-fulfilling prophecy in a student classroomstates that students will live up or down to their teachers’ “expectations, predictions, or preconceivednotions” concerning their behavior and scholastic achievement (Boehlert, 2005, p. 491).There is considerable difference in the amount to which teachers treat low- and high-expectancy students, as well as in the manner of their differential behavior. Some teachers will give high-expectancy students more attention and time, and some teachers, to the opposite,promote “compensatory” actions and give the low-expectancy students more time (Babad, 1992).

Students will show different forms of interest and motivation depending on their personality types and the degree to which they are encouraged to improve themselves. Vallerand &Ratelle (2002) find that student motivation will fall in one of three categories: intrinsic, extrinsic, or amotivated. Intrinsic motivation consists of students who engage in an activity, such as reading, just out of pure interest or pleasure and satisfaction that comes from the experience. These are students who feel self-confident about the activity. They know they can do well with this activity.  Extrinsic motivation includes anumber of different behaviors in order to gain something positive and to avoid something negative.These are students who are looking for external motivation that will either motivate them toward some action or behavior or against that behavior or action. If a teacher is negative toward something, the student will avoid it in the future.  Amotivation includes feelings of incompetence and lack of control. Amotivated individuals do not derive rewards or benefits from their involvement in an activity. These are students who so not have any self-confidence in their ability. They need a great deal of positive motivation and direction from a teacher to turn their behavior around.

These two video parts demonstrate the expectations that can be used with 4^th or 5^th graders that can influence the student’s academic performance in a beneficial, productive manner. Five examples of these expectations are:

• Expectation: The teacher does not separate students by higher and lower academic levels. If students are put into categories and know that they are not considered as good academically as the other students, they begin to see themselves as second-class students. They will not be motivated to improve their work and feel challenged to get increasingly better. On the other hand, if the teacher equates them to other students, they may push harder to achieve.  In both of the video classrooms, all students were asked the same question in the discussion and were expected to know the terminology and be able to critique other people’s work;
• Expectation: The teachers create a classroom environment that does not respond negatively to language mistakes. Such errors are seen as part of the scholastic process;mistakes are seen as learning tools that enhance, not detract from education. When students are criticized for making mistakes, they will be more hesitant to write in the future. When they know they can make mistakes, they will be more creative;
• Expectation: Students are given ample time to communicate with one another by sharing their stories and getting feedback from each other. This cooperative learning promotes peer-interaction, planned communication, and collaboration. The student communication can raise expectations, since it consists of all students, focuses on sharing of best practices rather thancompetition among students, and fosters the creation of a friendly and supportive group;
• Expectation: The teachers offereffective praise and feedback that focuses on the students’ efforts, not on their actual skills. Although all students will have different levels of communication ability, they are on a level playing field in terms of effort. For example, a student may not write as well as another student, but puts more effort into the writing. This should be commended;
• Expectation: The teachers act as role models for instructive criticism and encourage the students to act the same way in their critiques of each other. Students became increasingly knowledgeable in how to offer constructive advice and suggestions. All these positive expectations would surely benefit their writing ability. The positive behavior of the teachers will result in students who are confident about their work and will be intrinsically motivated to write in the future.

References

Babad, E. (1992). Teacher expectancies and nonverbal behavior. In R. S. Feldman (Ed.),Applications of Nonverbal Behavioral Theories and Research (pp. 167-190). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.

Boehlert, M. (2005). Self-fulfilling prophecy. In S. W. Lee (Ed.), Encyclopedia of school psychology, ThousandOaks, CA: Sage.

Vallerand, R. J., &Ratelle, C. F. (2002). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivation: A hierarchical model. In E. L. Deci & R. M. Ryan (Eds.), Handbook of self-determination research (pp. 37-63). Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press

Zabel, R.H., & Zabel, M.K. (1996). Classroom management in context: orchestrating positive learningenvironments. USA: Houghton Mifflin Company