Teaching and Learning Writing Skills in a Low-Ses, Urban Primary Classroom

Abstract

This study investigated which writing skills were learned in one low-SES, urban, primary classroom in relation to the children's instruction. The skills measured in this study included fluency, a sense of audience and purpose, organization, use of “written” language (rather than oral), use of lively or engaging language, use of compound or lengthy sentences, end mark punctuation, capitalization, and spelling. The children's learning was studied in light of instruction from a whole-language perspective. Participants were three teachers who team-taught a group of primary-age children and 11 children who were considered conventional writers at the beginning of the study, 3 of whom had learning disabilities. Children's writing folders and journal entries were collected in late September and compared to their writing samples in late March/early April. The first five skills (above) were examined holistically using a rubric, and the final four skills were examined through word and sentence counts and error rates. To capture learning in its instructional context, the teachers and children were observed twice a month for a school year during literacy instruction, and six visits were tape-recorded. Teachers were interviewed and lesson plans were photocopied. The children in this classroom became more fluent writers who used more complex sentences and lively language. Children used surface level skills for some purposes, but the skills did not become automatic. Although the teachers changed their instruction midyear to meet the needs of learners, their instruction was not always a part of the children's writing. More opportunities for editing and publishing and more explicit instruction on particular skills may be needed for some of the children.