As a sixth grade teacher, I noticed my students were strong academically. In mathematics, they were all proficient, and except for three students, all were on grade level in reading. Although academically strong, writing was difficult and achievement was not as high. In order to get a general idea of the academic abilities of my incoming sixth graders, I talked with the fifth grade teachers. After our discussion specifically about the class' academic strengths and opportunities for growth, they noted that as a whole they could improve on their writing. This information was based on formative assessment of their students as well as district assessment data the fifth grade teachers had collected. Out of all the content areas, writing had the lowest scores, and the teachers felt as though the students could make the most growth in writing. At the beginning of the year, the students' baseline writing data confirmed the discussion. Only nine students out of the twenty three students scored a proficient or higher. Of those students, only one scored in the advanced category.
Furthermore, improvement of writing is a tier two goal for my school which means it is a great area of focus for all grade levels. . It states that teachers will "improve student proficiency in writing as measured by multiple common summative assessments." As a building, writing is considered an area of growth. It was important that I assisted with accomplishing this goal; therefore, focusing on writing seemed like the perfect fit.
On the district-wide baseline writing assessment, 18 out of my 23 students did not have a summative score of a proficient, and of those five students that met the standard, only one scored advanced. Specifically for organization, only three out of 23 students were proficient, and in word choice 13 students were not proficient.
Writing is a content area in which instruction is greatly individualized. Individualization is quite challenging in order to meet the needs of each of my 23 students. As a teacher, I did not feel that writing was my strength. I struggled to know how to take each student where they currently were as a writer and move them to where I knew their potential lies. I implemented the writer’s workshop model in which conferencing is a key component. In my classroom I took the time to do individual conferences with students; nevertheless, I did not take detailed notes in order to see their week by week growth. Also, I did not have a strong structure to teacher-student writing conferences. My students did not enjoy writing. Whenever we began our writing block, my students moaned and groaned. During independent writing time, I noticed that the majority of my students were on and off task. Their stamina was low. In order to push them to keep writing, I had to continually remind them to get back on task. Largely, my students did not show enthusiasm for writing. I felt that if my students could visually see their improvement as writers, as well as to set goals, their writing would improve. Research suggested that students tracking goals is an effective component of writing conferences.