Annotated Bibliography

Arrimada, M., Torrance, M., & Fidalgo, R. (2019). Effects of teaching planning strategies to
first-grade writers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 89(4), 670-688.
https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12251

Summary:
In this study, Arrimada et al. sought to understand the effects of teaching writing planning
strategies to first graders. Planning strategies, or self-regulatory strategies, are primarily used
with upper elementary grades while spelling and handwriting are heavily focused on in early
elementary grades. Arrimada et al. collected data from five first grade classes comprised of
students with mixed abilities. Three classes were taught the planning strategies while the other
two classes were used as a control. Students’ writing was assessed before and after ten 50 minute
sessions of writing instruction. They found that teaching writing planning strategies had strong
benefits for young students, even if they are not proficient in spelling and handwriting.

Reflection:
When looking at research in writing, this article stuck out to me and helped me shape one of my
research questions. I will be teaching writing planning strategies to my students, promoting a
process-oriented approach to writing. Many of my students are not approaching grade level in
writing, but this article left me feeling more comfortable with teaching writing strategies that will
ideally target the quality of their writing rather than simply spelling or conventions. Part of my
study will be very similar to Arrimada et al.’s, but I will not be using a control group.

Bishop, E. (2017). Critical literacy: Bringing theory to praxis. In A. Darder, R. D. Torres, &
M. P. Baltodano (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (3rd ed.) (pp. 370–380.). New
York, NY: Routledge.

Summary: This chapter discussed critical literacy including history, examples, how it is limited
in schools, and how youth organizations are an ideal place to practice critical literacy outside of
schools. Critical literacy goes beyond reading and writing; it enables people to practice reading
and writing in ways that help them understand and engage in issues of daily life, especially for
marginalized groups. Bishop explains that schools are typically a place where silence is
preferred, and this is not ideal for critical literacy. Rather, it is important to take critical literacy
into spaces of activism.

Reflection:
As mentioned in the chapter, there are limitations to critical literacy projects in schools.
However, preparing students with the skills necessary to engage in critical literacy projects can
be addressed in school. The research I conducted with my students was focused on writing, and
through it, I found that many students have a difficult time understanding that writing goes
beyond answering a single prompt introduced by their teacher. Writing is a powerful tool that
can illicit change, and students should understand how their writing can be used in different
ways. Recently I have been reflecting on how I can make writing more applicable to students’
lives outside of academics. While I teach first grade, I am forming ideas for writing projects that
follow a critical literacy model of researching, collaborating, planning, and taking action for a
proposal to school administration (e.g. permission for a school garden).

Chohan, S. (2011). Any letter for me? Relationships between an elementary school letter
writing program and student attitudes, literacy achievement, and friendship culture.
Early Childhood Education Journal, 39, 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-010-
0438-5

Summary:
Chohan sought to explore the effects of letter writing on students’ attitudes about writing,
progress toward literacy skills, and school community at an elementary school. Employing the
help of teachers, the school created a mailing system. Data was collected over 8 months from
each grade level. By the end of the study, there was an increase in students who felt that they
were good writers. More students stated they enjoyed writing compared to before the study
began. Many teachers adopted the practice even after the study concluded because they found it
to support the students in developing their literacy skills.

Reflection:
I found this study after reading White et al.’s article. While White et al.’s article was a great
starting point and helped shape my question, Chohan’s study aligns much better with mine.
Chohan utilized an informal writing program to understand its effects on students’ attitudes, and
I will be utilizing multiple informal writing opportunities to understand its effects on students’
attitudes. Chohan’s findings implicate that letter writing can have positive effects on literacy
skills. I plan to use letter writing and other informal writing opportunities in hopes of finding
similar results in relation to student writing attitudes.

Gibson, S. (2008). An effective framework for primary-grade guided writing instruction. The
Reading Teacher, 62(4), 324-334. https://doi.org/10.1598/RT.62.4.5

Summary:
In this article, a framework for guided writing instruction is provided including practices and
procedures to explicitly teach students skills and strategies of good writers. This framework was
developed using Gibson’s study: Guided writing lessons: Second-grade students’ development of
strategic behavior. The article describes four steps that should be taken for this framework:
discussion about the topic, discussion about a targeted strategy, individual time to write, and a
time to share their writing. The portion of the article I am focusing on is discussing specific
strategies for writing. In this section, it provides a variety of different strategies and examples for
teaching composing, transcribing, writing conventions, etc. It mentions that teachers should
prompt these behaviors from students.

Reflection:
This article helped inform me of how to address problems I noticed in Round 1. Rather than
teaching strategies for writing conventions, I was merely telling my students writing conventions
such as punctuation and capital letters need to be included. Despite having self- and peer-editing
checklists with the aforementioned included, my students’ writing products were lacking in these
areas at the end of Round 1. I will be utilizing instructional strategies in this article for teaching
strategies to students to determine if they increase my students’ writing quality. These strategies
are being added as an intervention in my process-oriented writing approach.

Jasmine, J. & Weiner, W. (2007). The effects of writing workshop on abilities of first grade
students to become confident and independent writers. Early Childhood Education
Journal, 35(2), 131-139. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10643-007-0186-3

Summary:
Jasmine and Weiner’s study on the effects of writing workshop in first grade writers to explore
the writing processes of drafting and editing in young writers. For this mixed-method study, the
sample included 12 boys and 9 girls with mixed academic abilities in a first grade classroom, and
data was collected over a period of three months. Throughout this study, students participated in
writing workshop to determine whether they would become more independent in writing and
revising their writing with their peers. Students were taught and encouraged to be active in
revision conferences with peers. Students were taught to be responders by listening, telling, and
asking. Students’ attitudes about writing were also measured throughout the study. They found
that students’ attitudes increased slightly. Students’ opinions about peer conferencing and
revision also increased. Additionally, students’ writing sample scores did increase, but the
standard deviation increased as well. They noted that this may be due to varying writing abilities
among students.

Reflection:
This source is being used to rationalize why I am going to implement teaching students how to
give effective peer feedback. While I have implemented peer editing with my class, I have only
gone over the checklist and what to look for. My students are conversing more with their peers
while writing their drafts compared to during peer-editing. In order to increase their interaction
during peer-editing and make it more productive and meaningful, I am going to implement
teaching students how to take an active role in peer-editing as discussed in the source. I will be
following the same structure of teaching students how to listen to their peer, tell them about their
writing, and respond to their feedback.

Kent, S., Wanzek, J., Petscher, Y., Al Otaiba, S., & Kim, Y. (2015). Writing fluency and quality
in kindergarten and first grade: The role of attention, reading, transcription, and oral
language. Reading and Writing, 27(7), 1163-1188. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-
9480-1

Summary:
In this article, Kent et al. conducted a longitudinal study examining kindergarten writing literacy
skills and writing outcomes in first grade. They took into account various skills including reading
ability, spelling, handwriting, and language. Their sample included 265 students from 31
kindergarten classrooms across 10 schools. Throughout the study, they measured the following:
transcription skills, oral language, reading skills, attention, and writing skills. They found that
many of these affected their writing skills in kindergarten but had little though statistically
significant relation to writing in first grade. However, they found attention to be the most
important factor in writing production. They emphasized that students who struggle with
attention can benefit from self-regulatory strategies such as planning and revising writing. They
also note that these strategies are usually applied with older students, and research should be
done on using these strategies with young students as it may provide benefits.

Reflection:
This article helped me better understand the relationship between early literacy skills and
writing. Because my students have such a wide range of levels in literacy skills, I did consider
whether my students would benefit from writing planning strategies or if it would be too difficult
for them. This article helps me rationalize using a process-oriented approach, especially for my
students who struggle with writing. Also, the study done by Arrimada et al. confirms Kent et
al.’s idea that planning strategies have benefits for young students. These articles together greatly
add to my rationale.

Knudson, R. (1995). Writing experiences, attitudes, and achievement of first to sixth graders.
Journal of Educational Research, 89, 90-97.
https://doi.org/10.1080/00220671.1995.9941199

Summary:
Knudson’s study sought to explore the relationship between student writing achievement and
student attitudes about writing, as well as grade levels and genders in relation to attitudes about
writing. Knudson’s sample included 430 students from first to sixth grade, and she randomly
selected 12 students from each grade level for interviews. She found that students who had
positive attitudes toward writing were overall had higher achievement in writing.

Reflection:
This article helps me rationalize why student attitudes about writing are important to address.
While I always want to foster a positive classroom climate, maximizing instructional time and
academic outcomes must be reflected on. This article helps me understand how attitudes about
writing can effect students’ writing achievement. This is relevant to my research because I am
exploring student attitudes about writing. I anticipate finding correlation between student
attitudes about writing and student writing achievement. While this is not a main focus of my
research, I am looking into and considering many possible outcomes.

Kohl, H. (2017). I won’t learn from you! Thoughts on the role of assent in learning. In A.
Darder, R. D. Torres, & M. P. Baltodano (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (3rd ed.)
(pp. 440–447.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Summary:
In this chapter, Kohl reflected on his experiences observing cases of students not-learning. Not-
learning is actively rejecting learning, often done when the act of learning challenges ones
family, integrity, or identity. He described instances with multiple students with reasons for not-
learning taking place due to racism and oppression. He mentioned that rebellion is stigmatized
and there isn’t a way for students to safely criticize what they are learning, especially for
oppressed communities. He emphasized that we must stop seeing students who willfully choose
not to learn as failures and instead confront oppressive education.
Reflection:
This chapter completely struck me. I was particularly in awe with Kohl’s explanation that there
is no legitimate way for students to criticize their learning or the people they are learning from.
Though true, I hadn’t considered this before. Thinking back to students who have actively
chosen not to participate in a lesson, I am wondering how their—and my—experience would
have been different had I allowed students the space to criticize what they were learning,
especially if it was challenging their integrity or identity. Reading this chapter has left me
wanting to understand more about oppressive education and how to better understand and
support students who reject what they are learning.

Miller, B. & McCardle, P. (2011). Reflections on the need for continued research on writing.
Reading and Writing, 24, 121-132. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-010-9267-6

Summary:
This article explains that there needs to be more research on writing, and it explores why there is
this need, what should be addressed in further research, and how to move forward. Miller and
McCardle dive into national writing scores and state that by fourth grade, most students perform
at or below the basic level. They also note that historically marginalized groups have higher
proportions of students performing below. They point out most writing research is done in
conjunction with other literacy skills, but this is too broad. More research is needed specifically
on writing alone.

Reflection:
This article helped shape my research. When first developing my research questions, I was
focusing on early literacy skills and their effects on student writing, but I found myself feeling
compelled to focus on the effects of writing activities and strategies after reading this article.

Orelus, P. (2017). Decolonizing schools and our mentality: Narratives for pedagogical
possibilities from a former high school teacher and colonized subject.  In A. Darder, R.
D. Torres, & M. P. Baltodano (Eds.), The critical pedagogy reader (3rd ed.) (pp. 254–
262.). New York, NY: Routledge.

Summary:
In this chapter, Orelus reflected on his personal and professional experiences of colonialism in
schools to examine the ways colonialism still impacts marginalized students, and he described
how to combat this with education that prepares students to become free critical thinkers. Some
effects of colonialism are teachers’ lack of cultural awareness, oppressive education in which
teachers talk and students listen, and teachers who are poorly prepared to make curricula relevant
to all students. His suggestions in response to the effects of colonialism are as follows: learning
about your students’ cultures and identities, following students’ interests, promoting meaningful
dialogue between teachers and students, and fostering critical thinking in students.
Reflection:
This chapter led me to reexamine my thoughts and opinions. Initially, I read it with the mindset
that I had read these ideas many times before. In fact, my arrogance kept me from truly
understanding what I was reading. I reread it with a clear mind and found some habits that I
unconsciously fall into and need to regularly reevaluate. One point Orelus mentioned that
resonated strongly with me is the power of dialogue with students. He mentioned that in the
Socratic method, the teacher learns along with the student. I found this to be overwhelmingly
true in my research. Observing and listening to my students so purposefully led me to many
discoveries throughout my action research, and I further appreciate the value of listening to my
students.

Peterson, D. (2019). Engaging elementary students in higher order talk and writing about text.
Journal f Early Childhood Literacy, 19(1), 34-54.
https://doi.org/10.1177/1468798417690918

Summary:
This qualitative study explains student discussion and writing with seven and eight year old
students. Peterson’s sample included second and third grade classes in 23 schools over the course
of three years. Peterson found that student-led discussions about their writing and their peers’
writing led to higher level writing compared to teacher-directed feedback. Peterson noted that
peer discussions are effective towards building motivation and engagement due to the sense of
ownership in their own learning. Additionally, students were able to build on their social and
academic language skills. Peterson recommended modifying instruction to support peer
interactions.

Reflection:
This article supports my findings regarding peer interaction. My students found collaboration
and discussions with their peers to be one of the best parts of writing. This heavily affected their
attitudes toward writing. As a result, I implemented more opportunities for students to engage
with their classmates during formal and informal writing.

White, C., Reichelt, S., & Woods, B. (2011). Low stakes writing as an instructional strategy to
engage students. Family Science Review, 16(1), 74-83.
https://doi.org/10.26536/FSR.2011.16.01.06

Summary:
In this article, White et al. describe university students’ feelings about “low stakes” writing
opportunities. These informal writing assignments were used only as participation points. The
quality of the content was not considered. Students, overall, responded positively to the writing
tasks. They reported feeling warmed up, were able to think better, writing became easier, etc.

Reflection:
I was not able to find much research on the effects of informal writing opportunities. While this
article is about university students, it addresses one of my main research questions about
informal writing. They mention that informal writing is a solid teaching practice and can easily
be incorporated in any class. Finding this article also helped me narrow down what it is I am
looking to understand about informal writing. Opportunities to practice writing are undoubtedly
beneficial, but the students’ responses seemed to be very positive, as if they enjoyed the
experience. This led me to wanting to understand how informal writing affects attitudes about
writing in young students.