Junior High, Intermediate, Middle School Education and Teaching Commons^™

Math Is In The Title (Un)Learning The Subject In Qualitative And Post Qualitative Inquiry, Kayla Myers, Susan Ophelia Cannon, Sarah Bridges-Rhoads

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

An ongoing experiment in (un)learning the humanist subject in qualitative and post qualitative inquiry, this writing-reading-thinking explores the tensions that two doctoral students and an assistant professor grapple with through an undirected/directed reading course and beyond. The paper takes up and troubles conventional academic writing practices that aim to present knowledge as finished and neatly packaged for consumption, pushing against the stable academic subject. We intend for the reader to experiment and play in the manuscript and to think with multiple fragments together. We hold a persistent wondering about how to teach and learn to think differently—how to ‘‘untrain’’ researchers …

The Writing Process: Using Peer Review To Develop Student Writing, Jennifer M. Troester

Department of English: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The following thesis will explore how peer review through an online writing exchange influences student writers during the writing process. I propose that when students participate in this online writing exchange to peer review, it will assure that they will have a better understanding of the writing process, and more confidence in analyzing their own writing and in themselves as writers. It also makes these students more conscientious of the writing they share with peers because they have a wider audience than just their teacher, and this motivates them to improve their writing. The last part of the document features …

Boston Writing Project, Glenn Mitchell, Peter Golden

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

The Boston Writing Project focuses on the core mission of improving the teaching of writing and improving the use of writing across the disciplines by offering high-quality professional development programs for educators, at all grade levels, K–16 and across the curriculum.

Voices From The Classroom: Elementary Students’ Perceptions Of Blogging, Ewa Mcgrail, Ann Davis

Middle and Secondary Education Faculty Publications

Blogging appears to be a promising instructional strategy which may provide solutions to some of the challenges in traditional writing instruction; however, few studies explore elementary students’ views on blogging. This qualitative case study gives elementary students voice as it examines their perceptions of blogging and their views of themselves as writers, readers, and learners. The researchers drew from multiple data sources, including student and teacher interviews, student and teacher blog writing, and classroom observations, to ascertain young writers’ perspectives. The findings indicate these student bloggers’ reader awareness and appreciation of the reader-writer relationship. Student bloggers also benefited from emotional …

The Use Of A Computer Graphic Organizer For Persuasive Composition Writing By Hispanic Students With Specific Learning Disabilities, Caridad H. Unzueta

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Many culturally and linguistically diverse (CLD) students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) struggle with the writing process. Particularly, they have difficulties developing and expanding ideas, organizing and elaborating sentences, and revising and editing their compositions (Graham, Harris, & Larsen, 2001; Myles, 2002). Computer graphic organizers offer a possible solution to assist them in their writing. This study investigated the effects of a computer graphic organizer on the persuasive writing compositions of Hispanic middle school students with SLD. A multiple baseline design across subjects was used to examine its effects on six dependent variables: number of arguments and supporting details, number …

Making Writing Personal [6th Grade], Kathleen Fenske

Understanding by Design: Complete Collection

In this unit, students will view nonfiction and fiction as a commentary on an author’s personal life and on society, particularly the life of a migrant worker. Students will also begin to view writing as a process and as a reflection of self. Students will begin the unit by delving into the following questions: How does literature reflect a culture or time period? What can we learn from the past? To what extent can fiction reveal truth? Should a story teach you something? Why write? Why share personal experiences in writing? What makes writing worth reading? Through these questions, students …

In The Classroom: The Winter Tradition Project (Feb. '91), Michael P. French, Kathy Everts Danielson

Teacher Education Faculty Publications

In an effort to involve all students and to educate them about the cultures of other countries, I developed a "winter tradition" project. The project required that students write brief descriptions of things their families do during the holidays or winter months. These were compiled into a class booklet. The winter tradition project proved to an excellent activity for middle school students because it allowed them to learn about each other while increasing their writing, computer, and interpersonal skills. I introduced this five-day project to five language arts classes of 20-25 students each.

A Study Of The Effects Of Writing Instruction Versus Writing And Reading Instruction On 10th Grade English Students, Patricia E.G. Craig

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The effects of writing instruction as opposed to writing and reading instruction were studied on 10^th grade English students’ reading comprehension and writing. Two groups (classes) completed pretests and pre-sample writing. Then, both groups were given writing instruction while only one group was given related reading skills instruction. Finally, both groups completed posttests and post-sample writings.

An analysis of covariance of the pre-and posttest data was done. It revealed no significant difference between the two groups related to reading comprehension. However, a significant difference existed between the two groups related to language expression (editing skills or writing sub-skills). The …