Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

The Impact of Pen Pal Participation on Writing Conventions

Michele L. Helm

California State University, Fresno

San Joaquin Valley Writing Project

Invitational Summer Institute 2016

Helm 1
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Introduction

Background
While there are five schools in the district, only three are at the elementary level.

I teach first grade at Palm Elementary, which is the largest of the three primary schools.

Being that I just switched grade this past year from third to first many challenges came

about, one being the quality and level of expectation of writing. Starting the school year,

I was in a complete shock at the lack of writing abilities my students had. The drastic

difference from the pieces of work from the end of the year third graders to what were

now almost kindergarten level work. Needless to say, the first few months of writing

instruction was difficult on the students and I, tears were to be had.

Literature Review

Unless a writer has a personal investment in a piece of work, often times the

effort put forth is minimal. This holds true for you writers at the primary ages as well.

Many teachers believe that engaging students in authentic writing activities will

encourage their growth as readers and writers, enabling them to discover more about

their world, (Edelsky & Smith, 1984). Students need to have a buy in, or a purpose to

put forth their energy for any task. However, writing can seem daunting to a young child,

the best approach is allowing the students to have the ability to explore their thinking in

an engaging manner. Teachers often try to over fill students with knowledge and

information, rather than helping them through the journey of inquiry. As a facilitator, we

should be creating an environment in which the students desire to explore. In doing so,

it will provide a more sustainable foundation for learning. Participating in pen pals is one

Helm 2
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

of many methods that allow students to discover new ideas. It allows students to be

both the initiator and receiver of of information (Lindfors, 1980).

Methods

Research Question:

How does participating in a Pen Pal project contribute to young students ability to

enhance their writing conventions?

Research Plan:

In first grade, students have yet to develop the writing skills they need to be

successful. Therefore, such skills are a focus during our classroom writing block. During

this time, students are taught skills in isolation during a mini-lesson at the carpet. They

are then to go back to their seats and apply that skill to the story they are developing. In

a setting like such, it is easier for the students to use the convention that is being taught.

They have more than likely discussed it for a couple of days, watched me model it, and

worked with a partner to apply the convention to a sample piece. Even then, a handful

of students still need small group support to help scaffold the writing skill task.

Besides classroom assignments, I want to measure the impact leisure writing has

on students outside of self efficacy. While it is safe to say that the students would enjoy

participating in pen pals, this inquiry project will focus on the notion of skills transferring

from different target audiences and purposes. I wanted to follow a cohort of selected

students, and monitor their abilities to use and apply the skills that were taught during

our writing core block in a leisure style of writing.

Helm 3
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

The purpose of this study was to determine if participating in a pen pal project

would improve the writing conventions of 1st grade students, who are participating in

small group instruction, in a classroom at Palm Elementary in the Cutler-Orosi School

District. The study compared the students writing levels after implementing the penpal

project by using the Tulare County created rubric. In doing so, the change in writing

convention useage was measured.

Setting:

The research took place in a self-contained first grade classroom at Palm

Elementary. The observations and student work samples were performed in the same

classroom, during after school hours. Palm Elementary is one of the three elementary

schools within the Cutler-Orosi School District. The district is located in the San Joaquin

Valley, with that said, over fifty percent of the families work in the agriculture industry.

Hispanics are the largest ethnic group in this community, and is continually growing in

relation to other groups since 2000 (Census 2010). All student that attend school in the

district qualify for the Free/Reduced meals, they receive breakfast in the classroom

daily, along with a snack at break and lunch (California Department of Education, 2011).

Most students in this district have limited educational materials outside of the

classroom, therefore many are writing below grade level.

Participants:

The selected participants include four students all from the same first grade

classroom. They are students who have been identified as writing below grade level

Helm 4
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

when assessment using the Tulare County created Rubric based off standards. The four

students are writing at a level 2 when measured using the Tulare County created

Rubric. They were selected for this study because they are considered struggling

writers, but do not have any specific learning disabilities that would contribute to their

limited writing abilities. All four students are English Language Learners and receive

language development on a daily basis. Three of the four participants are male, and of

those three, one is on a Speech individualized education plan. The students range in

age of six to seven, and are all of Hispanic ethnicity.

Instrumentation:

Tulare County Created Rubric

I scored the students writing pieces using the rubric, table 1.1, that my district

created alongside Tulare County Office Of Education. When scoring students

assessments all columns are use, the number received most frequently becomes the

student's overall score. Often times it is difficult to discriminate between specific scores

within a category, however for this given study I only used the Writing Convention

column. Using the likert scaling system in terms of grading students writing conventions

helps to see the progress being made, even if they are not producing grade level work.

A score of 0, 1, or 2 are considered to be producing below grade level. The writing piece

did not demonstrate an adequate use of conventions. At the first grade writing level,

writing conventions consist of punctuation, capitalization, spelling, and number of errors.

A score of 3 or 4 are to be passing, however to receive a four the work is to be above

grade level.

Helm 5
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Procedure:

The students created a postcard in the beginning of the year to a peer in a

different first grade class. This writing sample was used to provide a baseline score, that

would then be compared with their writing convention development throughout the

process. As the school year progressed, the four participants received daily writing

instruction with the rest of the students in the first grade class.

For four consecutive months the participants had a pen pal in which they would

write to, as well as receive letters from. Each month, I would randomly select one letter

from each of the participating students to score using the Tulare County rubric,more

specifically the writing convention aspect. The data was then added to a table to help

keep the data collection organized.

Data Analysis:

When analyzing the students writing samples, the purpose was to look at how

effective their command of conventions were aligned with the Tulare County rubic. For

each collected piece of writing, they were analyzed sentence by sentence. The analysis

included looking for proper usage of punctuation, capitalization, and phonetic spelling.

All of which are stated to be grade level expectations in the first grade common core

writing standards. Refer to table 1.1 for specific descriptions of each score.

August/Baseline September October November

Postcard Data Data Data

David 1 1 1 1

Jacob 2 2 2 3

Helm 6
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Isabella 2 2 3 3

Eric 1 2 2 2

Ethical Considerations:

The ethical considerations within this study revolve mainly around the safety and

privacy of the involved students. In order to protect their identity, pseudo names were

generated for each participant. This allowed the data to be collected and categorized

individually, but in doing so will not reveal the student's personal information.

Another ethical consideration within the study is the fact that the lead researcher

is also the teacher of the students. It is important that the researcher remained unbiased

when collecting and scoring the needed data. Without unbiased data the study would be

completely unreliable.

Findings

Three of the four students who participated in this study displayed growth in their

writing conventions while participating in a pen pal project. For a few the growth was

minimal, nonetheless progress was made. One student did not show any movement in

their writing application, this could be due to multiple reasons. One being that they are

only get access to the English language in the classroom. In this students homelife

spanish is the dominant language for both speaking and writing. Often times the child

returns their spelling homework in spanish.

The idea of taking an abstract audience for students at this age level and making

it concrete, really helped students have a clear picture of who was reading their letters.

Helm 7
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Too often we as teachers, myself included, have students develop a piece of writing and

hang it up on the wall so they can read it. I noticed the level of engagement and thus

focus to conventions improved when the kids knew exactly who was going to be reading

their work. The students applied their knowledge because they felt like it actually

mattered.

After analyzing the data and having the time to reflect on my own teaching

practice, I have come to realize that too often I have my student write just to write.

Therefore their engagement level was low as was their efforts put forth. I need to make

sure that my students have the ability to share their writing pieces with a true audience,

this could be done through digital media, or simple sharing out in class.

I learned that in the younger ages being able to partake in a project like such, it

creates an atmosphere for the students to enjoy writing. The students who participated

in this study are those that pause writing every few seconds to ask about a spelling of a

word, or just simple take an ample amount of time to complete a simple writing task.

This assignment could develop even further as they become more knowledgeable with

computers. The students could then create emails or even communicate in a blog like

setting.

Helm 8
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Tables

1.1

Helm 9
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Student Work

Sample 1.A

Sample 1.B

Helm 10
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

Sample 1.C

Sample 1.D

References

Helm 11
Penpals Developing Writing Conventions

California Department of Education Cutler-Orosi Joint Unified - Reports. (2011).

Retrieved November 24, 2016, from http://data1.cde.ca.gov/dataquest/DQReports.asp?
CDSType=D&CDSCode=5471860

Data Access and Dissemination Systems (DADS). (n.d.). American FactFinder -

Community Facts. Retrieved October 10, 2016, from
http://factfinder.census.gov/faces/nav/jsf/pages/community_facts.xhtml

Edelsky, C. & Smith, K. (1984). Is that writing - or are those marks just a figment of your
curriculum? Language Arts. 61 (24-36).

Lindfors, J. (1980). Children's language and learning.Englewood Cliffs, NY: Prentice

Hall.

Helm 12