Implementation Plan-Harper 1

Implementation Plan

Kaylee Harper

Georgia Southern University

ELEM 7233

Dr. Nedra L. Cossa

July 11th, 2022

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Introduction

In this implementation plan I will be focusing on incorporating technology into the

writing classroom along with the writers workshop program I started implementing last year.

Students in this grade tend to shy away from writing and view it as just another task to complete

in class. It becomes a long drawn out process that can be challenging to keep students engaged

with. Incorporating technology could aid in this problem as well as the continual implementation

of writers workshop. Students of this age are excited to be on their computer and any other

technology. My goal with this is to excite students to write and create new ideas.

Implementation of this will consist of multiple steps. Our school is receiving

chromebooks for each student that will be kept at the school next year. This will be the first step,

and source of technology that can be used. We also have brand new newline boards that can be

utilized to pull up writing samples and analyze them as a class. Other sources of technology that

will be used will be online websites and platforms. Throughout the year I will slowly introduce

the technology with writing. It will be one resource at a time to not overload the students and

confuse them. Continuing to incorporate writers' workshops will be key in this process as well.

Technology will be used to aid in enhancing my writers workshop implementation next year.

My School, Class Demographics, and Writing Assessment Data

I teach third grade at Sand Hill Elementary School in the Effingham County school

district. My class will consist of twelve boys and eleven girls. I have twelve students with

disabilities and one English language learner. Last year my class had an average grade of 92

percent on our persuasive writing, 75 percent on narrative writing and 84 percent on

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informational writing. In second grade this group of students scored the highest in the county for

English language arts on their end of year testing last year.

Sand Hill Elementary School scored higher than the state average in all areas but lower in

our district. The mean third grade score in 2018 was a 494 with 34.7% beginner, 34.7%

developing, 27.6% proficient, and 3.1% distinguished. In 2019 the mean score was 511 with

26.0% beginner, 35.4% developing, 31.3% proficient, and 7.3% distinguished. 2020

distinguished scores continued to rise with a mean score of 507 with 27.9% beginner, 31.4%

developing, 30.2% proficient, and 10.5 % distinguished. Fifth grade had similar patterns with

their scoring. In 2018 the mean score was 511 with 19.0% beginner, 44.3% developing, 34.6%

proficient and 5.1% distinguished. In 2019 the mean score was 516 with 23.7% beginner, 33.1%

developing, 34.2% proficient, and 7.0% distinguished. Lastly, in 2020 the mean score was 517

with 18.2% beginner, 39.4% developing, 37.4% proficient, and 5.1% distinguished.

How I Have Been Teaching Writing

Last year was my first year teaching and I was placed in a third grade classroom so I

followed what the school gave me for writing as well as what my team thought worked best for

their students in the past. Most of my teaching consisted of a writers workshop. Our school is

very big in this as it is a new program that they implemented two years ago. I felt that the

students gained a lot from this program but that it was missing something. My students still were

losing interest towards the end steps of the writers workshop and the end of the year.

I usually start my teaching with a mentor text, then we work through the steps of the

writing process. I allow for peer feedback and teacher feedback throughout the whole writing

process using the rubric that they will be graded with in the end. I have a graphic organizer that

students use to organize their ideas and we have writing journals to brainstorm topics in. They
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also have a writer's notebook that is split into different tabs for each step of the writing process

and they will place their work behind each tab. They also have a tab for handouts where they

keep the handouts I give out with the information on the different types of writing, how to

brainstorm and key spelling words that they might need help with. I currently do not use a lot of

technology with writing. We do our brainstorming and writing with paper and pencil, but when

they take their standardized testing it is all on the computer. I did however have them type up one

of their essays during the year for their publishing stage. I want to incorporate technology more

into writing so they feel more comfortable when they take their assessments.

What I learned

This implementation plan is to help incorporate technology within the writers workshop

program that I started to implement last year. I want to continue to implement a writers workshop

and enhance it using technology. To do this I wanted to research and determine if a writers

workshop is found to be a useful program and show success within the classroom, along with

studies that should use technology with writing and its effects on students.

After completing a review of research I found that the writers workshop, I started

implementing last year in my classroom, has a positive effect on students and their writing.

Cicalese (2009) found in a study amongst fifth graders and their teachers, that students' attitudes

towards writing were improved with the implementation of writers workshop and that their

writing scores increased as well. They were able to see a clear path of where their writing should

go and what they are being asked to do. I determined that I need to incorporate real world

examples and practices within my teachings. The Indiana Partnership for Young Writers (2011)

explained that they found in their study that students are more engaged when they can focus on

real world text that they are familiar with and can refer to. Students of this age are familiar with
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technology and use it daily at home as well as in the classroom. From this study I was able to

learn that the use of technology can be helpful in keeping my students engaged. I can use it to

show them examples of text as well as allow them to use it to publish their essays in a way they

are more familiar with. Students are used to viewing text on a computer or on the Promethean

boards we use in the room, so incorporating technology into the writing process would engage

them more as this is the platform they are familiar with viewing things from.

An article by Green (2021) explained that we need to celebrate our students' writing and

to do this students should be able to publish their work not only within the classroom but also

throughout the school and more. They found that this increases students' motivation and made

students feel more confident in their writing. In order to publish our writing to more than just our

classroom we need the use of technology. Students can type up their writing pieces and publish

them to a school wide platform or type them up and print them to display them in the library as

finished pieces. Our librarian loves displaying students' work and to make my students feel more

comfortable and see their writing like real authors they will need to type it on their chromebooks.

From this article I was able to see that the feedback I currently do with my students and the

publishing party is a positive thing to continue with them. This allows me to celebrate their

progress, but to further this I need the use of technology so that we can take it beyond our

classroom.

I also found that writing instruction tends to be outdated. Many teachers are relying on

old writing instruction that decreases students creativity and keeps them in a box. They cannot

properly express themselves when using these old writing habits. Kress (2019) explained that

student engagement and teacher writing skills were strengthened by the use of more updated

writing instruction. This showed me that I need to include things such as technology in my
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teaching to stay up to date with what my students are used to and to help strengthen my teaching

skills. Petty (2022) looked into video feedback as a more updated way to give students feedback

that may encourage students to receive feedback and be more likely to use it and understand it. I

currently use feedback in my classroom frequently. We do peer to peer, student to teacher and

teacher to student feedback, but I have always done it using paper. Petty brought up a new way

of doing this using technology. Writing requires a lot of feedback and students tend to get tired of

reading it and using it, so the use of something like video feedback could keep my students more

engaged and excited to receive feedback. This way may be easier for them to understand and

they can refer back to it whenever they need to.

Lastly I found in a study done by Denning (2020) that students worry the most about their

handwriting, and spelling the most when they are writing and this hinders their excitement and

perseverance when writing. Technology could aid in this problem by allowing them to type their

thoughts and brainstorm. This way they are not thinking about spelling and punctuation as much

when brainstorming and drafting and can focus more on getting their ideas down. They could

even type up their writing so that it can aid them in learning spelling and punctuation. When

typing it offers corrections that could help them learn and feel more comfortable using bigger,

more complex words.

Overall I learned a lot from my research. I found that the writers workshop program that I

started to implement last year has proven successful among students in elementary school. I also

found that implementing technology into this process can create a more positive outlook on the

writing process for my students. They will be more excited to write, feel more comfortable and

be able to share their writing with others. The research I conducted supported what I expected. I

knew that students this age love technology and are not as excited to write. That they tend to be
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shy when sharing their writing or lose interest since it is such a long process. With this research I

found that using technology can increase their interest in writing and allow them to feel more

comfortable with their work. I also found that celebrating what they write not only among myself

and our classroom but also with others can engage my students more and make them excited for

the end result.

Reflecting

My vision for writing was always something I struggled with. I was never big into

writing as I did not have a good experience in school with it. I wanted more out of it and I

wanted more for my students. I knew what I was doing wasn’t enough because I never really

learned how to teach writing. Everything I learned in class this semester, along with the research

I conducted I was able to aid in my vision. My vision for writing is to get my students engaged

and excited to write again. I feel like there has been a loss of creativity and writing skills and in

order to get this back I need to create a writing plan that will engage and excite students of this

age. Tompkins stated that “through sharing students develop sensitivity through to the audience

and confidence in themselves as authors” (2019, p.17). He goes on to talk about sharing their

work through a class website, the library, sending it to a pen pal, or submitting it through a

magazine. All things that would require technology, feedback and the writers workshop. That is

why I determined that my vision would be to continue using writers workshop and incorporate

technology into it to further engage my students. Tompkins later states that there is a “positive

link between laptop use and the quality of students’ writing” (2019, p.38). Students feel like they

can work more quickly and it helps them correct their errors. I have noticed students get tired of

writing as we go throughout the year and even just throughout a unit because it is a long process.

Using a computer can speed this process up as well as enhance their writing. I also found that
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when they get to share their writing with others they are more willing to do the assignment.

Beschorner (2021) explains that students being able to share their work created a healthier

environment for students and they were able to get more out of the lessons. To extend this even

further we can use technology to share our work beyond the classroom.

My New Goals

My new writing goals for next year will be to incorporate technology in all of our writing

pieces throughout the year, enhance my writers workshop by using technology, and collaborate

with others in the school to publish my students' work. Tomkins (2019) explained that by

exploring different digital applications would get students more excited about writing. I like to

increase the willingness of my students to write as well as their scores on our standardized

testing at the end of the year. Success of these goals would be my students finding enjoyment in

their writing, an increase in our end of the year writing testing scores, and technology being in all

my writing lesson plans. Students' enjoyment would be in the fact that they are willing and

excited to write everyday. I want them to be creative and excited to share their work with others.

Lewison (2012) explained that students who are allowed to be creative improved their writing

skills and created better communication within the classroom. I would also like our test scores to

increase so that more of our students are in the proficient and distinguished sections. I would

love to have our scores so that 40 percent were proficient and 20 percent were distinguished.

This would be a ten percent increase in both sections. My plan to implement technology into the

classroom consists of a gradual introduction of different resources. They already know how to

use chromebooks so we will start by looking at mentor texts online, followed by creating short

writing samples and working our way up to full writing pieces. We will then begin to do

feedback amongst the class using technology. Lastly, we will do a research based paper where
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they will have to research using the computers, and then write a paper using the information they

found. I will also have them publish their work in different forms throughout the year. This could

be on our google classroom, printed, at the library or shared on our school wide platform.

Allowing students to use technology and having a gradual introduction of the different ways we

can use it with our writing will help in reaching my goal of students becoming more willing to

write. I can tell them that with each new writing assignment will come a new technological

activity. This will excite them to continue writing. To reach the goal of increased test scores will

come with the use of technology to type and research our writing. The end of year testing is done

on the computers and with more and more practice on the computer and writing they will be

more confident when they take these tests.

The Components of my Implementation Plan

My implementation plan will consist of slowly incorporating technology into my writers

workshop lessons. This will be through the use of chromebooks and our Promethean boards. Our

school will have access to a chromebook for every student next year. All of my students are used

to using these computers already since they used them in technology class last year. My first step

in implementing technology within my classroom will be to introduce different writing samples

to the students through their technology. This will show them that authors post work online and

how it looks. Tompkins states that using websites created by authors can allow “students to learn

about authors and gain a new appreciation of the writer’s craft” (2019, p.77). The next step will

be to allow them to write a small writing sample on their computers as well as brainstorm using

different digital web maps. To do this we will write a mentor text together on the Promethean

board as an example to show them how to use the tools within the program. Then they can

complete a mini writing piece that we can share with the class. Once we have done this a few
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times they can try writing a full writing piece on their own using their chromebooks. They will

be allowed to use digital web maps to brainstorm, create a draft and a final piece using

technology. I will also provide feedback to them through google docs. I will have them share

their writing pieces with me at each stage of the writing process so that I can make comments on

their work. Once they get comfortable with this I will allow them to share their work with their

classmates to get feedback as well. Lastly, we will publish our work on a class website that I will

create so that others within the school can view their work and comment on it. We will also have

a publishing party where they can present their pieces. The reason I want to complete it in such a

way is because of research that was done by Troia (2012), she explains that teachers who have a

balance between explicit and incidental writing increased their student engagement. In a

classroom students need instruction that tells them what success looks like but they also need the

hence to explore and learn on their own. By slowly introducing different elements of technology

within writing it will allow me to introduce it, but also allow them a chance to explore it and get

comfortable using it to their advantage.

How Will I Assess/Measure Success

To measure success on my goals I will have different forms of collecting data. One being

our end of year test, GMAS to see if they had an overall increase in the proficient and

distinguished sections. The other forms will be more informal. I will do google forms that will

ask the students how they feel about the new types of technology and technological resources I

introduce. I will do this after I introduce something new to them so I can see if it is engaging

them or if it is something that is just wasting time. Another way I will measure success will be

through feedback fridays. I will conduct a meeting with my students on friday to talk about their

writing that they have completed that week. This will consist of me pulling the comments I have
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made on their work and talking through them, as well as allowing them to make comments and

suggest things to me about the different technology we have introduced that week. This will

allow me to measure if their writing is improving by looking at their samples and talking with

them about their pieces, as well as allow me to monitor their feelings towards writing and the

technology used. Since I am implementing technology into writing I will also be using online

assessment tools. Tompkins states that “teachers who use these programs report that their

students’ writing improved” (2019, p.108). I would like to use the Online Writing Evaluation

website as well as online feedback through google docs and videos. Petty (2022) also explained

that students found video feedback to be more useful as they felt they could correct their work at

their own pace and it was easier to understand because they could rewatch the video, as well as

hear a tone in the teacher's voice that you would not get through written feedback.

Conclusion:The Future of My Plan

Improving my writing instruction and my students' success is the overal goal that

incompasses why I want to incorpaorte technology within my writers workshop program. In

order to fully improve my classroom I will need to continue to collect data and make changes for

many years. Technology will also aid me in doing so by allowing me to keep track of all of this

data and research. I will create a spreadsheet to keep previous years data on that will also tell me

exactly what was introduced and used that year, how it affected the students excitement towards

writing, and how it affected their test scores. I will then be able to make changes for the next year

based on this data. To continue to sustain my instructional plan I will continue researching this

topic each year to see what new research and technological resources that will be new and useful

for the next year. I will reference my previous years data to see what worked to continue or add

onto the next year as well as look to see what was not a success and could be improved or taken
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out of the plan for the next year. I will also meet with administration and my team to see what

suggestions they have to improve my instruction. Troia (2012) explained that teachers with

structure and continual professional development saw an increase in student engagement and

success. Green (20211) explained that teachers who took the time to really understand and stay

up to date on the different writing pedagogies found an increase in students' motivation and

confidence because they saw it within their teachers. Lastly Beschorner (2021) explained that

when students were allowed to share and work together they grew more in their writing skills.

Allowing students to share their ideas and work not only with other students but with the teacher

as well can really motivate them, as well as aid in the teachers success by allowing them to hear

what their students think. By continuing my research and staying up to date on the new

technology that rolls out each year I can continue this implementation plan and improve my

instructional writing skills .

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References

Cicalese , J. (2009). The Implications of Writers’ Workshop in Fifth Grade. The Corinthian,

10(3), 87–110.

Beschorner, B., & Hall, A. (2021). Building inclusivity and empathy through writers'

workshop. The Reading Teacher, 74(5), 631–634.

Denning, Taylor, "Implementing Writers’ Workshop Into the Special Education Classroom"

(2020). Masters of Education in Teaching and Learning. 32.

Georgia Department of Education. Georgia.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved July 11, 2022, from

https://georgia.gov/organization/georgia-department-education

Green, Jennifer and Steber, Kayla (2021) "The Evolution of an Elementary Writing Workshop:

Fostering Teacher Efficacy and Authentic Authorship in Young Writers,"

Teaching/Writing: The Journal of Writing Teacher Education: Vol. 10 : Iss. 1 , Article

Kress, Darcie K. "Writing workshop and creativity despite standardization: An exploration of

elementary teachers' practices" (2019). Dissertations and Theses @ UNI. 996.

Lewison, M., & Heffernan, L. (2012). Rewriting Writers Workshop: Creating Safe Spaces

for Disruptive Stories. National Council of Teachers of English , 42, 435–465.

Petty, S. (2022). Writers Workshop: Comparing Video and Written Comments Through Flash

Feedback. New Jersey Education Association.

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Tompkins, G. E., & Jones, P. D. (2019). Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product.

Pearson.

Troia, G., Lin, S.-ju C., Cohen, S., & Monroe, B. W. (2012). A Year in the Writing

Workshop. The Elementary School Journal, 112(1), 155–182.

"Why Writing Workshop?." (2011). Indiana Partnership for Young Writers, Butler University,

Digital Commons.