Literature Review

Abstract

So much emphasis is put on high stakes tests. Not only do we want students to pass these tests, but we want them to be commended. Sixth, seventh, and eight grade students must now pass the reading test in order to move onto the next grade level. What happens when a student does not like to read? Does not want to participate in class? How can this student be encouraged? By modeling. This is the path I took with one seventh grade student. She entered my classroom as a nonreader, but she left it hooked on reading. I kept a pile of books on my desk for her to see, I read during her RICH time, I responded to the very short letters she wrote about her books, and I recommended books to her. All of this modeling helped her become an avid reader. This modeling helped this one student not only pass the test, but she made commended. Since this method, modeling, worked so well with my reading students, I wanted to see if it would work with writing as well. That was the emphasis of the research for this review: Since the practice of modeling is helpful to student success in reading, can it also be helpful to student success in writing?

Review

Research shows that a reading/writing workshop is the best approach to get students to write. As I read article after article, not only was the emphasis placed on the workshop method, but also on teacher modeling. Keaton Shenk (Writing from the Heart, 1996) implemented the reading/writing workshop in his classroom and determined that not only was this a good way to encourage student writing and participation, but it was vital that teachers write alongside their students, sharing drafts of their work with students. “I could identify more keenly with my students’ feelings each day in class as I asked them to write and revise, persuade and publish.” (Shenk 1996).

This same line is shown in articles by Tom Romano. In his April 1996 “Crafting Authentic Voice,” Romano shares his own writing with students in his writing class and together they analyze his craft—how he develops his authentic voice. Romano encourages the “death of adverbs’ and the “use of verbs with muscle” to craft voice. Romano revisits this idea of voice
in “Writing with Voice” (2003). Students used prompts from 100 Quickwrites by Linda Reif (2003) and When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant to spur writing. Not only did Romano write as students wrote, he shared his writing with them. Modeling.

William P. Bintz and Karen S. Shelton focus on a unique strategy in their 2004 article titled “Using Written Conversation in Middle School: Lessons from a Teacher Researcher Project.” Bintz and Shelton showed that note passing is a way for students to do something they enjoy, passing notes in class, and combine it with something they really do not like all that much, studying a novel. Shelton modeled the note passing procedure for her students. The model included: the format for each note, the manner in which students respond, and reflection at the end. Once again modeling for students.

Joyce Armstrong Carroll, in “Drawing into Meaning: A Powerful Writing Tool.” (1991) relates how drawing is not just for children who cannot write, but images at any age are part of making meaning. Use of images can be a valuable writing tool. This is shown many times over, I think, when we utilize a slideshow presentation. These slideshows are full of words and pictures to make our points. Even though Carroll does not make a direct case for teacher modeling as a strategy or idea, she shows models of drawings and books to enhance her idea of ‘drawing into meaning.’

Students must be exact in their writing by ‘showing not telling’ (Anderson, 2003). He shares how teachers can take skeletal sentences and flesh them out into full images. Use concrete nouns to help writing stick in the readers mind. Add absolutes and participles to create a telephoto lens that enhances the focus on specific details. Pull passages from novels to model this for students.

These ideas can be used in drafting as well as in revision. Writing is all about revision (Saddler 2003). Revision is hard for students, I think it is hard for all writers, but it is easier if teachers model specific revision strategies and give students time to practice them.
Students need several things to help them develop as writers. They need time, choice and models (Rief 2006). Students need good models of writing, professional writing and peer writing, to help them develop their skills. Using these models is learning to read as a writer. Models from all genres should be shown and shared to allow students to step inside and gain understanding of its characteristics.

Nancy Atwell, in my opinion, offers language arts teachers the best model for teaching reading and writing, the reading/writing workshop. Atwell encourages teachers to keep things real for students. She tells us writers thrive and create when they are motivated to work hard, have regular opportunities to practice and reflect, and benefit from the knowledge and experiences of a teacher who writes and knows writing (Atwell 2003). In other words, a teacher who models writing for them. She brings this to the forefront once again in “Hard Trying and These Recipes” (Atwell 2003). Students can accomplish good writing if they have lessons about topics, lessons about principals, lessons about genres, and lessons about conventions. The information she collected for this article became the focus for her book Lessons That Change Writers (2002). Each of these types of lessons is modeled for teachers and students in the book.

Much of the research I found cited Atwell’s workshop method for language arts classes. Sherry Guice (“The Second Time Around” March 2000) chose to implement the workshop when she returned to a middle school classroom. Sheryl Lain states, “My students learn to write better when I use the writing workshop because they write more and practice more thoughtful process.” (Lain 2007). No matter where I turned or what research I read, writing workshop was a main focus. Not only was writing workshop the method chosen for students, modeling was a major strategy used.

Modeling takes on many forms. It can be sharing examples, models, of your expectations for students, sharing examples, models, of your own writing with students, and simply doing the same thing your students are. No matter how your look at it, modeling is a must for student success in both reading and writing.