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Archives for September 2017

The Journey to Online Writing: Tools for Individualized Learning

September 26, 2017 by Carol Connor Leave a Comment

By Jenell Krishnan

When I enrolled in “Technology in the Classroom” as a part of my Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction the year my public school district adopted a one-to-one device program, I was hopeful. But after that first class my interior monologue went something like this: “I’m a teacher, not a technician!” “How am I supposed to meet all my students’ learning needs and use technology?” “If I don’t know how to use it, how can I expect my students to use it?” “What if…what if…what if?”
But after this self-doubt waned, I committed myself to a journey in search of answers to an important question.
“How can instructional technologies support my high school students’ learning in individualized ways?”
And in my pursuits of answers to this question, my “what ifs” of uncertainty became “what ifs” of possibility.

As a former ELA teacher in a 21st Century classroom equipped with various technologies, I learned to play many roles. Yes, I still provided direct instruction (think sage-on the-stage), but I also became a flexible technician, digital literacy coach, and writing collaborator (more like a guide-on-the-side). I came to know and use a few digital tools that helped me to better meet all my students’ learning needs. Once I recognized that some instructional technologies were making my practices more efficient (i.e., Edmodo and Polleverywhere), as well as more inclusive (i.e., Backchanneling; Krishnan & Poleon, 2013), I was ready to explore other technologies that would help me meet my students’ widely differing needs as writers.

Using my Professional Learning Network, both online and off, I started to vet the many resources available for writing instruction. Some free tools appeared engaging and student-centered but seemed to only meet the goal of using technology. Because I was focused on student learning and outcomes, I questioned how much value these tools would add. Would the time it would take to introduce the tool be worthwhile? Would it help my students’ learning in their other classes? Would they ever use the tool again?

A Tool for Individualized Student Research

This was not my reaction when I learned about Noodletools, a program designed by educators for supporting online research and online writing. At this point, I think it’s important to stress that online tools are only a support for evidence-based instructional practices. I must also note that it is crucial to understand each student’s digital literacy skills prior to introducing these tools into classroom practices. Through regular reading and writing tasks designed to develop students’ background knowledge and literacy skills (including digital literacy), I knew my 11th graders were ready to tackle a literature review scaffolded by Noodletools. Because this tool provides tailored scaffolding to each student’s pre-writing needs, I was empowered to encourage each student to choose a topic that aligned with their own interests, an instructional practice that supports student writing motivation (Bruning & Horn, 2010).

Noodletools’ Dashboard helps students stay organized and focused during searches for scholarly research articles and while engaging in research writing.

Users are prompted to set writing goals (i.e., “To-do items”), a practice that aligns with recommendations in IES’ Educator’s Practice Guide for Teaching Secondary Students to Write Effectively—developed by experts in the field of writing pedagogy and writing research. Users can also save their research question(s), so each student is reminded of their specific research purpose each time they log in.

The digital notecards page asks students to differentiate between “Direct Quotation,” “Paraphrase,” and “My Ideas.” This is an important feature because some students may plagiarize unintentionally, due to a lack of awareness. I recommend encouraging students to write their in-text citation directly in each digital notecard to avoid this problem. Students can construct their writing outline or they can drag and drop notecards into an outline that they have previously created.

Areas in their outline that do not feature notecards can serve as a visual cue to students that they need to continue their search for source-based evidence. This represents both “Goal Setting” and “Planning,” two important elements of the writing process (p. 7). Once students complete the outline and develop notecards that address components of their outline, they will have a solid blueprint from which to start drafting.

From High School to College

But what impact did this technology have on students’ future source-based writing? Was it worth the trouble of learning how to use this platform? For one student, the answer was a resounding yes! In an email to me, this student, now majoring in Human Services wrote,

“Our professor was truly impressed with the quality of work all of your former students had not only in their writing, but also in their research skills. And yes, I still use Noodletools to this day to help me out!”

Although anecdotal, this suggests that Noodletools has the potential to support students’ research writing at the college level and reflects efforts to support college students’ writing development through principles of Universal Design for Learning (Gradel & Edson, 2009).

The student success and improved motivation that I witnessed by using Noodletools to scaffold individual student research projects piqued my curiosity about other digital programs that support students’ writing development in individualized ways. This led me down the path to Automated Writing Evaluation (AWE) software.

Tools for Individualized Writing Feedback

AWE programs evaluate each student’s draft and some programs even provide formative writing feedback in real-time. Although the feedback algorithms are not perfect, there is still utility in these fallible tools. Most clearly, the instant feedback given to each draft is not possible during paper-based writing instruction.

Learn more about Revision Assistant, an AWE program, by watching this brief video.

In my experience, AWE encouraged students to write and revise- a crucial and often underappreciated component of the writing process. But when they received automated feedback, I encouraged my students to think critically about these suggestions. They were coached to ask themselves, “Does this feedback help me meet my writing goals, or should I choose to do something different?” In turn, they became writing detectives, critically rereading their own words, and each other’s, in new and exciting ways.

One surprising consequence of using an AWE program during writing instruction was the unsolicited conversations sparked between writers. Students talked willingly about their writing in ways I had not seen previously. These peer-to-peer learning opportunities, along with the support of AWE, helped my students tackle significant revisions as well as minor edits in grammar and mechanics. Because of these revision efforts, I became less of a copy editor for my students’ writing and forged a path marked by more meaningful writing feedback.

Supporting Struggling Writers

I witnessed the development of one particular student’s writing as she took up what Geertz (1988) calls a “writerly identity” (p. 9). The writing support from all her teachers, the individualized learning affordances of the AWE program, and her own commitment to writing improvement all contributed to this student’s writing journey.

Julia (a pseudonym) entered 11th grade with 4th grade level writing skills. This likely attributed to her struggle with grade-level writing assignments. One writing task posed a significant problem, yet she would need to write this type of essay as a part of the (former) New York State Regents examination, a prerequisite for high school graduation.

Click here to see Julia’s writing development from her initial essay in September to the last one in June when she used ETS’ Criterion, an AWE program, to support her revisions. Despite lingering concerns, Julia’s final piece represents many improvements.

Julia’s development of ideas and use of textual evidence are more apparent. She included a thesis statement, discussed her reasoning behind this claim, and demonstrated emerging use of punctuation. Ultimately, Julia’s progress is an example of how automated feedback can support individualized writing instruction, feedback, and student success.

In general, my classroom experience with AWE reflected the results of one study (Warschauer & Grimes, 2008). The researchers reported that AWE “encouraged more revision” (p. 22). The researchers also found that AWE saved teachers time.

Final Thoughts

In writing this, my hope is to inspire teachers to explore evidence-based instructional technologies that have the power to support student writing development in individualized ways. Whether it is a tool students can take with them to college or one that helps struggling writers practice the basics, teachers who take this road might make all the difference. 

Notes

Images used with permission from Noodletools, Inc.

References

Bruning, R., & Horn, C. (2000). Developing motivation to write. Educational Psychologist, 35(1), 25-37.

Geertz, C. (1988). Works and lives: The anthropologist as author. Stanford University Press.

Gradel, K., & Edson, A. J. (2009). Putting universal design for learning on the higher ed agenda. Journal of Educational Technology Systems, 38(2), 111-121.

Graham, S., Bruch, J., Fitzgerald, J., Friedrich, L., Furgeson, J., Greene, K., Kim, J., Lyskawa, J., Olson, C. B., & Smither Wulsin, C. (2016). Teaching secondary students to write effectively (NCEE 2017-4002). Washington, DC: National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance (NCEE), Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved from the NCEE website: http://whatworks.ed.gov.

Grimes, D., & Warschauer, M. (2010). Utility in a fallible tool: A multi-site case study of automated writing evaluation. Journal of Technology, Learning, and Assessment, 8(6). http://www.jtla.org.

Krishnan, J., & Poleon, E. (2013). Digital Backchanneling: A strategy for maximizing engagement during a performance-based lesson on Shakespeare’s Macbeth. Teaching English with Technology, 13(4), 38-48.

Pecorari, D. (2003). Good and original: Plagiarism and patchwriting in academic second-language writing. Journal of Second Language Writing, 12(4), 317-345.

Warschauer, M., & Grimes, D. (2008). Automated writing assessment in the classroom. Pedagogies: An International Journal, 3(1), 22-36.

Research Article: Using Technology and Assessment to Personalize Instruction

September 21, 2017 by Carol Connor Leave a Comment

A new research article about A2i titled Using Technology and Assessment to Personalize Instruction: Preventing Reading Problems and written by Dr. Connor has just been published in Prevention Science. Take a look at the abstract below and check out the full article here.

Abstract

Children who fail to learn to read proficiently are at serious risk of referral to special education, grade retention, dropping out of high school, and entering the juvenile justice system. Accumulating research suggests that instruction regimes that rely on assessment to inform instruction are effective in improving the implementation of personalized instruction and, in turn, student learning. However, teachers find it difficult to interpret assessment results in a way that optimizes learning opportunities for all of the students in their classrooms. This article focuses on the use of language, decoding, and comprehension assessments to develop personalized plans of literacy instruction for students from kindergarten through third grade, and A2i technology designed to support teachers’ use of assessment to guide instruction. Results of seven randomized controlled trials demonstrate that personalized literacy instruction is more effective than traditional instruction, and that sustained implementation of personalized literacy instruction first through third grade may prevent the development of serious reading problems. We found effect sizes from .2 to .4 per school year, which translates into about a 2-month advantage. These effects accumulated from first through third grade with a large effect size (d = .7) equivalent to a full grade-equivalent advantage on standardize tests of literacy. These results demonstrate the efficacy of technology-supported personalized data-driven literacy instruction to prevent serious reading difficulties. Implications for translational prevention research in education and healthcare are discussed.

 

Promoting Advanced Literacy in Middle School with the Word Generation Curriculum

September 11, 2017 by Carol Connor Leave a Comment

By Karen Taylor


How do you take middle school literacy improvement efforts beyond the English-language arts classroom? Several sets of recent standards encourage literacy learning across content areas (Common Core State Standards, C3 Framework, and NGSS), but how can middle school teachers work together to promote their students’ literacy?

WordGen Weekly is an interdisciplinary, supplementary curricular resource for middle schools desiring to foster their students’ academic language and argumentation skills. It was developed in collaboration between Strategic Education Research Partnership (or, SERP), and Boston Public Schools and other districts in Massachusetts and Maryland, under the direction of Catherine Snow at Harvard University. Numerous foundations supported the development of the original WordGen Weekly series for grades 6-8. The U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences later supported the development of three additional Word Generation programs (WordGen Elementary, Science Generation, and Social Studies Generation) through Reading for Understanding grants.

Word Generation is now used by thousands of teachers across the U.S. In a typical WordGen Weekly unit centered on a discussable topic (for example, Cloning: Threat or Opportunity?), students learn relevant academic vocabulary words, and they learn about the controversial issue through a math activity, a science activity, and then a debate in social studies class. Classroom discussion is emphasized throughout the lessons. At the end of the week, students are challenged to apply higher order thinking in an argumentative writing piece where they synthesize their position on the topic.

These learning activities may sound like they take a lot of time. But the organization of WordGen makes it fairly easy to implement. Students spend about 15-20 minutes per day using the program, and the math, social studies, science, and ELA teachers each spend one of those segments per week, with the exception of ELA having two 15-20 minute segments per week due to the writing activity. (However, some schools choose different ways to configure the time.)

A key ingredient to smooth school-wide implementation? A collaborative school culture already in place, although trying out WordGen could be a great way to start on the path of organizing teacher teams for professional learning.

WordGen has been the focus of a number of research studies and articles. For example, some of them focus on academic vocabulary, some address disciplinary literacy, and some of them point to the quality of classroom discussion as a promising instructional practice.

Considering the developmental period of early adolescence in relation to literacy learning, noted reading researcher Jean Chall puts it this way; once students have cracked the code of learning to read, then they can begin to move into the next level of reading to learn (Chall, 1983). From an education policy standpoint, a lot of attention has been dedicated to the primary grades (K-3) and reading instruction. However, in recent years, the subject of adolescent literacy has also gained traction (see the Carnegie Report, Reading Next).

WordGen is a promising example of a middle school literacy resource that has flowed out of the tide since Reading Next. And although programs such as WordGen and the newer educational standards emphasize literacy across subject areas, the issue of adolescent literacy has a long history (see this article to see how Vicki Jacobs puts everything in context).

In a lesson video of the unit on secret wiretapping, Mr. Buttimer asks his students, “So why do some people think that secret or covert wiretapping is a bad idea? Why are people opposed to it?” A student responds, “Because, well it says (referring to the text in her WordGen notebook), they think wiretapping violates a person’s right to privacy.” In this brief conversational turn, Mr. Buttimer begins a discussion about the perspectives surrounding secret wiretapping, and later the students adopt various positions on the issue in order to have a classroom debate.

WordGen is freely available online.

Notes

Permission to use the images in this post was granted by Strategic Education Research Partnership in accordance with the following Creative Commons License.

References

Biancarosa, G., & Snow, C. E. (2004). Reading Next-A Vision for Action and Research in Middle and High School Literacy: A Report from Carnegie Corporation of New York. Washington DC: Alliance for Excellent Education.

Chall, J. (1983). Stages of Reading Development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

 

UCI School of Education September Newsletter

September 5, 2017 by Carol Connor Leave a Comment

 

The UCI School of Education September Newsletter has just come out and members of the ISI lab make a few appearances! Click here to view the full newsletter as well as get updated on the accomplishments of Dr. Connor and graduate student Taffeta Wood.

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