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Problem
In the beginning of the year, I was noticing a pattern of students that were able to strongly articulate an answer verbally or in a discussion. However, these same students often struggled to articulate arguments in written form. At times, these students had a hard time starting the writing assignment. Other times, these students were able to write and answer quickly, but not as articulate as they would be able to in a verbal form.
Hypothesis
If struggling writers discuss the prompts within a small group before working on their writing sample , then they will provide a stronger writing session , as measured by multiple writing samples from the target group.
Target group
Looking for students who are able to express themselves well verbally & discuss content but struggle with writing their ideas in a clear and coherent way.
Qualitatively I’m looking for students who work hard and do the work but aren’t seeing the numerical results (at least the first time).
[10 selected students]
Data collection
Data collection
Baseline data
I reviewed benchmark writing samples from targeted groups.
Measuring success
Measuring students ability to provide a stronger and more articulate independent writing sample following a student discussion.
Overall findings & impact
Majority of sample provided a stronger claim in the French Revolution meme activity vs the Ottoman Legacy
Completion rate was much higher on French Revolution assignment vs Ottoman Legacy
Students struggled without “examples of what they can write about”
Students found writing about their meme to be helpful
Actionable steps
If you want to use this strategy in your classroom, I recommend …
Scaffolding/chunking the directions for the writing assignment into digestible pieces.
Discuss the prompt as a whole class. Discuss what resources may be useful for this activity.
Break students into intentional groups. Have students discuss the prompt with one another verbally. Teachers can focus on providing lower level readers/writers with extra support (ideal if students are broken into these groups before the lesson)
Give students an opportunity to take freehand notes on some of their discussion
Students will answer the prompt. If necessary, provide students with sentence starters.
Dan McQuillan | dan.mcquillan@uamaker.nyc
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