Field+Study+Proposal+Spring+2010


 * __ Proposal Outline __**
 * __ Field Study #2 __**

By Susan Nishimura January 2010

 During first term, my class wrote very few journal entries, reading responses or compositions. As a result, I felt the need to have the students write on a regular basis. In previous years, I have had the students handwrite in a notebook which I collected, edited and returned to them. This worked fine, but I feel the process can be improved in several ways. For instance, several students find that their creativity is diminished when they have to write on demand, in an environment that is over-stimulating (the classroom) using a medium that is outdated (pen and paper). I am repeatedly asked if the writing can be completed at home on the computer. Therefore, I am curious if my students’ participation and accountability will increase by offering them the option of composing on the computer during class time. Furthermore, I wonder if their interest in writing polished pieces of work will increase knowing that they will be peer reviewed.
 * 1. Focus and Rationale for study **

 How can I improve students’ writing skills through the use of teacher editing and peer editing?
 * 2. Essential Question (Big question) **


 * 3. Sub‐questions **

· How can I use my already existing SharePoint site to facilitate the writing process? Specifically, where will students submit Word documents on the site? · Will the facility to incorporate images engage students, and help or distract from the writing process? · How can students use the technology to improve **//self//** editing of work, over time? How will accessing the Performance Standards on the SharePoint site assist with this? · Which component of “writing skills” will be most affected or easy to affect with technology and peer editing: meaning, style, form, conventions, ideas, voice, fluency, organization, etc? · What role will the environment play in encouraging self expression? · Will the computer lab as opposed to the classroom increase or decrease students’ distractions? · Will the genre of short stories be the appropriate style of writing for my learners? · How will I facilitate the word processing as part of the overall writing and editing of students’ work? · How often will the students be required to submit their work and what will be the allotted time for reading and editing? · How will I best facilitate the peer review process i.e. reading and editing? · How will this online tool specifically assist students who are low or reluctant writers or students with written output concerns? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Will the creativity of students’ writing increase? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Will the students’ self esteem increase as a result of feeling like they have more control over how they write and when they can submit their work? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">How can I encourage participation and accountability by all learners and decrease the amount of “lost” documents? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">How can I ensure students will proofread accurately and respectfully? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Will my workload be increased or decreased? · <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">What will my management issues be? For instance, will I book the computer lab for one block a week or will students do this work from home as well?

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> As I did with my previous field study, I plan to create a step by step process that will build up to the students entering the computer lab. I want the class to have a solid foundation of writing and editing skills before they add the technology into the picture. Therefore, I will begin my field study by having the students do several journal entries on a variety of topics. Next, I will introduce short stories by having them read and respond to a series of them. This will expose the students to the style of short story they enjoy reading and will eventually write. I will also teach the elements of writing such as plot, character development, overcoming conflict etc. After they have read and responded to four or five stories, I will have them write their own. I may start the writing process off by showing them a picture and have them develop a story around that. If this proves to be a useful technique, I will continue it throughout the field study. After the students’ have written their stories, I will have them self edit in a different colour. This will give me a baseline of information about how adept they are at proofreading and correcting errors. The class has already learned about editing conventions, but if I feel it is warranted, I will refresh their memories about form and conventions of writing. After **//I//** have also edited several of their pieces, I will begin the peer editing process. Students will start by editing their friend’s work and then branch out to editing other students’ work. After I feel that the class has successfully learned the key elements of the writing and editing process, I will bring them into the computer lab and allow them to word process their stories. Again, this will be a step by step process of learning to set up a document properly, writing, proofreading and then submitting it to me in the SharePoint inbox. After they have written one or two stories, I will branch out to having students peer review each other’s work. They will submit the work online, pick it up from the inbox, review the work, edit it in another colour font and then resubmit it for pickup by the author. I will start with having them edit the **conventions** of writing such as basic spelling, punctuation, grammar and sentence structure. If I feel this is going well and students are doing a very good job of finding and correcting the errors, I will have them edit the **form** of the short stories.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">4. Outline of the design of my inquiry: **

This is a tentative timeline:


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">January 11 - 29 **<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">: Students will write and edit several journal entries. They will also read and respond to short stories from the //Crossroads// and the //Sense and Feeling// anthologies.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Feb 1 - 19: **<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Students write short stories of their own (approx. 3 double spaced pages). They will learn to edit their own work and then submit it to me for further editing.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Feb 22 - March 5: **<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">Students will write a short story, self edit and then allow a friend to peer edit. The peer editing process will be expanded so that students edit various pieces of work.


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;">March 8 – April 9: **<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> Students use computers to compose, self edit and submit stories to the Sharepoint site. I will edit the first story and then the students will take over and edit each other’s work.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> My sources of data will be student surveys examples of compositions on paper and on the SharePoint site, student reflections on the writing process and my journal reflections. I will begin my study by asking students to journal about their favourite place to write and explain why this is so. I will use this information as I analyze the writing they do in class as opposed to the computer lab or at home on the computer. I will also give them an online survey that will cover several different topics. The topics will be such things as writing and editing short stories in class as opposed to online. For instance, are they more adept at using traditional forms of media versus new technology and do they feel that they would be more fluid and creative writers by word processing rather than using paper and pencil. I will also ask if they feel comfortable with peer review of their work and are they comfortable with submitting their work to the SharePoint site. I will ask yes/no and open ended questions. I will then administer another survey after my field study is complete to see if their preconceived notions have changed. My aim is to see whether or not using Word 2007 and the SharePoint site as technological tools will help or hinder overall participation by my class. As the term goes on, I will ask the students to briefly comment in writing on the process they are going through. They can let me know of their concerns, highlights, frustrations and anything else about the creative writing process. I will of course be looking at their work on a regular basis and monitoring who is keeping up with the assignments, who is finding it challenging and who is shining. As I edit their work, I will individually assess if there is improvement in the conventions and form of their writing. I will use the Quick Scale for Writing from the grade 7 P.L.Os and highlight where they fall at the start of the term. At the midpoint of the study, I will again highlight the scale (in a different colour) and note any improvement. Finally, I will use the same scale at the end of the study and note the progress over the term. To assess whether students are learning to edit their peer’s work, I will attempt to track the frequency and type of edits by students. For example, after a document has been edited by the peer and submitted to SharePoint, I will look at it and note how many spelling, punctuation and grammar errors were circled. I will also record whether or not the editing was done correctly. Finally, I will also be journaling about the process throughout the term.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">5. Data Sources **


 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">6. Connection to educational research **

//**<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif';">. “ **////<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Peer // //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Editing // with //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Times New Roman'; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Technology //: Using the Computer to Create Interactive Feedback”. English Journal. v94 n6 p23 Jul 2005. 2 pp. (Peer Reviewed Journal)<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 2. Kowalski, Rosemary. “Problems in Using Computers in Peer Editing.” Educational Technology. V. 30 Issue 1 (Jan. 1990) pp. 37-40.<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> 3. Stemper, Julie. “Enhancing Student Revising and //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Editing // Skills through //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Writing // Conferences and //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Peer // //<span style="font-family: 'Calibri','sans-serif'; font-style: normal;">Editing //.” 2002, 87 pp. (Full Text available online) 4. []Editing Checklist. (This is a Ning Network of documents that look really useful and practical for my class) 5. [] The B.C. government Prescribed Learning Outcomes for Grade 7 Writing.

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> The people who will assist me with this study will be my students, Rick Botero, the technology teacher at Minnekhada, Tom Fullerton other individuals in the Learning and Teaching with Technology program who have expertise with SharePoint. The technology that I will rely on will be the computer lab at Minnekhada Middle, my laptop computer and various applications and software.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">7. Other Resources: **

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> I will be incorporating the five program capacities in my research. Specifically, I will be reading, reflecting and taking part in discussions both in my mentor groups and in the larger LTT class. I will be using a small journal to record “aha” moments as well as put information into Word documents to share with others. Eventually I will synthesize all my reflections and data into Learning Statement summaries that I will put on my Wiki. I will be introducing my class to the process of writing a Word document and submitting it the Sharepoint site, editing another’s work right on the document and resubmitting it to the website inbox. As a result, I will be continuously learning and participating alongside my students.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">8. Connection to Program Capacities **

<span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 12pt;"> As I carry out my research, I will be writing and reflecting. I will also be discussing my new discoveries and pitfalls with my colleagues. In the end I will share my results through a Wiki presentation.
 * <span style="font-family: 'Cambria Math','serif'; font-size: 15pt;">9. Sharing the field study learning **