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This case study explores how scaffolded persuasive writing instruction improved students' writing skills in a southern suburbs school. The teacher utilized modeling, joint construction, and independent practice to support students' learning. The impact on student learning was assessed through formative and summative assessments.
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TPA Assessment Ashleigh Taplin
Site Context Southern suburbs school with total enrolment of 653 students DECD index of educational disadvantage category 7 I was situated in a double unit with 55 year 6/7 students Within the class we had two students on Negotiated Education Plans (NEP) A variety of students who required extra support and a handful of students who struggled with impulse control
Prior Knowledge and Learning Needs Before I took over the Monday writing lesson, the student’s had already done some work around persuasive writing and various persuasive writing strategies such as using the T.E.E.L structure I had observed the students writing and noticed that they needed some extra support in relation to writing their persuasive texts in an interesting way. We saw a lot of first, secondly, thirdly etc. I also noticed that many students needed extra support with the structure of their persuasive texts.
Students Zain- (year 7) Likes footy and bike riding, talks a lot, tries hard, gets off task easily Jasper- (year 6) Likes gaming and BMX, works well with others, has really good ideas but struggles getting them down, sometimes struggles to focus
From theory to practice Throughout my writing lessons I helped to scaffold the students learning. Vygotsky believes that by receiving support from a more experienced other, students are able to achieve outcomes that they otherwise would not have been able to achieve on their own (Derewianka, B & Jones, P 2012). I used the gradual release of responsibility model by first modelling the genre, then joint construction of a text, and finally students were having a go independently. I also consulted the ‘7 Steps to Writing Success’ (McVeity, J 2011) handbook which follows a ‘chunking’ process. Students work on one aspect of their writing at a time so that they can perfect that and then move on to the next. I also used the genre approach to teaching writing for aspects of my planning. This is how I prefer to teach writing. This particularly came through in my lesson on structure and editing as I showed students work samples and we discussed the quality of these samples together. This is as Winch claims, using the genre approach includes discussion of models of the genre and how effectively they use the features of the text to meet the purpose of the text (Winch et al, 2010).
Curriculum (ACARA, 2018) The Australian Curriculum English for year 6 and year 7 provided me with insight into what the students needed to know The curriculum asks that students be able to create persuasive texts, select aspects of subject matter and particular language to convey information and ideas It also asks for students to be able to edit their own work and others work, revise for meaning, refine ideas, reorder sentences, and add or substitute words for impact.
Lesson 1- Sizzling starts Lesson one’s focus was on how to hook your reader using a sizzling start. The students had worked on this before but this was not coming through in their writing. We followed their usual structure, talking through what we needed to do: choose topic, pick a side, brainstorm arguments etc. (McVeity, J 2011)
Student work samples Zain Jasper
Lesson 2- Ending with Impact Lesson 2 began with a focus on planning as I had noticed that many students were not using the planner that they had learnt about prior to my arrival. Again we used the gradual release of responsibility to structure the lesson For the ‘we do’ part of the lesson, we had the students do this in small groups rather than a whole class as they were struggling to come up with ideas
Student work samples Jasper Zain
Lesson 3- Structure and Editing The focus for lesson 3 was on structure and editing. We revisited what needs to be included in all aspects of a persuasive text and I brought in work samples that I grabbed from the Australian curriculum for students to have a look at. The students went through and labelled sections from the work samples and gave the piece an overall grade.
Student work samples Zain Jasper
Impact on student learning- Assessment Formative assessment: reading students work after they had a go individually, providing ongoing feedback both written and verbal. Each week students would hand up a persuasive piece as part of their literacy block. Summative assessment: The students completed a summative assessment task which I marked according to a rubric. The task was designed for them to succeed with a clear structure to help scaffold their thinking. The rubric gave the students a clear guide of what we expected of them.
My teaching resulting in learning The most significant aspects of my teaching that impacted student learning are: Using the gradual release model- this gave the students an opportunity to see the text modelled and contribute to the modelling Opportunities in class to practice the writing technique- each week students had to write a persuasive text as part of their literacy block Ongoing feedback was given over the course of the weeks both written and verbal so the students had a good idea of what we wanted from them and where they needed to improve
References ACARA (2018), English, Australian Curriculum Assessment and reporting authority, viewed 02/04/2018, <https://www.australiancurriculum.edu.au/f-10-curriculum/english>. Derewianka, B & Jones, P 2012, Teaching Language in Context, Oxford University Press, Sydney. McVeity, J 2011, Seven Steps to Writing Success, Highlighting Writing, Sandringham, Victoria. Woodend Primary School, 2018, Woodend Primary School, Government of South Australia, viewed 20/09/18, < https://www.woodendps.sa.edu.au>. Winch, G, Johnston, RR, March, P, Ljungdahl, L, Holliday, M, 2010, Literacy : reading, writing and children's literature, 4th edn, Oxford University Press, South Melbourne, Vic.
