Little things mean a lot

Teaching Pre K-8, Apr 2003 by Glazer, Susan Mandel

Directives, tone of voice and even page format may be hindering your students' growth as writers

George loved the book, Mr. Floop's Lunch by Matt Novak (Orchard, 1990). He talked about the story all the time and composed stories of his own orally. When directed, he also attempted to write stories down. However, when he wrote, the pace, enthusiasm, momentum and desire to create stories dwindled. George's mood changed. "I want to do my science experiment now," was his way of saying, "I don't want to write anymore."

Writing stoppers

His teacher tried everything to keep George's interest in creating stories at its height. She lifted time constraints. She'd sit down next to him and she would do the retelling as he wrote it down. George would begin his written retelling but always stopped within five to seven minutes. His teacher taped George's oral retellings, hoping that hearing his own voice would lure him to write. That didn't work either. She provided oral and written directions at the top of his papers. She used several prompts like "What happened in the story?" "Tell the story and write it down." "Write down all of the things you told me about the story." Some directives resulted in a bit more composing, but not much. What were supposed to be motivating directives became "writing stoppers." His teacher's comment, "I feel like the big bad wolf who just can't blow the house down; clearly identified her frustrations.

A lack of desire

George's problems and his teacher's challenges became part of the staff's lunch room talk at the Center for Reading and Writing at Rider University. The teachers decided that Phyllis Fantauzzo, our school psychologist, and I would observe George's actions. After three months of looking, talking and discussing, we came to the tentative conclusion that the format of the paper and the way in which directives were provided seemed to be reasons for George's lack of desire to write.

Differences in production

George had difficulty writing on lined paper. He once muttered, "My mind can write it, but my hands don't like to do it." Conversations with George revealed that questions resulted in one kind of response, while directives resulted in another. His dilemma led us to carry out a survey with 400 students over four years. Our purpose was to discover the differences in students' production of text using two different paper formats and prompts. We wanted to learn how children felt about themselves as writers. It's well-known that positive attitudes make a difference in a student's success. We presumed that attitudes toward writing would surface when our children wrote about themselves as writers.

A "good writer" sheet

My staff and I created two versions of a "good writer" sheet and used them on the second day of school. We surveyed early with each class so that children's interactions with their new teachers had as little input into their responses as possible. Children in inclusion classrooms from second to eighth grade were surveyed. Our prediction was that format and directions make a big difference in childrens' performance.

Seven-year-old Blake's ability to say "I don't know" showed he felt confident about himself as a learner. His feelings about writing confirm our notion that Blake likes to write and is probably praised often for doing so. It was wonderful to discover that the less structured format made a difference for Blake.

Sixth-grader Nicole revealed that the less structured format made a difference for her, as well. Nicole knows that writing can be a story, but is also a journal and e-- mail as well. Her hesitancy to refer to herself as a good writer, indicated by "I make mistakes, but I fix them," was typical of most of our mainstreamed children.

Tentative writers

We also found that 372 of the 400 kids surveyed were tentative about their abilities as writers. The data led us to believe that 93% of the children in the survey wanted to please their teachers. Responding with good writing habits and balancing these with negative actions, permitted the teachers to make their own judgements. Nicole and Blake's responses are typical of most mainstreamed children. They performed freely when using less structured formats and open-ended directives.

Shorter spaces

We predicted that our children who had learning problems would respond best to the more-structured format with specific questions. We found that questions were needed to direct their efforts; they kept kids on task for longer periods of time. The shorter spaces (lines between the questions) provided constraints that some of these children seemed to need. Choices and open-ended questions appeared to stop these youngsters from writing anything. One nine-year-old student' grumbled, "You know I can't write with all that space. I don't know what to write or where to write it!"

Making the difference

It's the little things that often make a difference. Questions and some statements stop kids from saying and writing more. Our tone of voice makes a difference as well. If we sound as if the child knows more, they will usually produce. Saying, "How do you know that?" indicates that youngsters know the correct answer and pushes them to write and say more. Our study indicated that the layout of a page for producing text makes a hefty difference for mainstreamed children, most of whom are free from learning difficulties.