Successful Writers with Habits of Mind
What is the impact of Habits of Mind training on Grade 2 (SP/SSA) and Grade 3 (SSA) students' self esteem in their production on Writers Workshop in Portuguese?
General topic of interest
We have been studying the impact of Habits of Mind in student's writing and their self esteem and how that impact may affect their written productions.
Participants
Grade 2 and Grade 3 - Salvador
Grade 2 A - São Paulo
Data collecting approach
We plan to collect data via Google Forms researches and by observing and comparing writing samples during the research period.
Data collecting example
We took advantage of the resources we normally use during our Writer's Workshop lessons - from planning the writing using keywords, drafts, checklists, illustrating up to the final piece - and added the online resources used during the Virtual Village, like Google Classroom Google docs, Google forms. Epic! Books, Árvore de Livros. We also built data literacy collection by asking students which HoM they use when writing. This activity provided opportunities for participants to actively cultivate their favorite HoM.
Emerging results
Grade 2A SP
The first research was answered by 13 students and most of them chose Persisting as the most helpful Habit of Mind. This research was done in August. It was a simple question and students could choose only one of the options.
The second research was answered by 19 students and most of them chose Persisting. This research was done in late November. Some open ended questions where added to this research to gather more specific and personalized data.
GRADE 2 SSA
This year, my second grader’s language skills grew. Simple sentences grew into compound sentences. We should still work on the HoM. The HoM that they chose persisting tells me that we are getting ready to take their writing to the next level.
The second research was done just like the first. It was answered by 15 students out of 20, in November. They chose Persisting as the HoM that they most use when writing.
GRADE 3 SSA
This first research was answered by Grade 3 SSA students and most of them chose Persisting as the most helpful Habit of Mind. This research was done in October, 2020. It was a simple question and students could choose more than one option.
The second research was done in early December and was answered by 11 students. Most of them chose Persisting again. Some open ended questions where added to this research to gather more specific and personalized data.
Reflections
Grade 2A SP
The most important takeaway was the importance of reminding students of their abilities and how much they can develop those abilities if applying the HOM.
Grade 2 SSA
While students develop at different rates, all of them made progress as they wrote. Their sentences started to grow and they added descriptive words and more complex ideas. I believe they chose Persisting because they associate writing with time consuming.
GRADE 3 SSA
Reminding students to think about how they can have a much better production if they are aware of some strategies to help them develop their ideas and pay attention to revising and editing, definitely makes the difference in the final product.
Video answer from Grade2 A SP learner on the question: How are HoM important during the Writer's Workshop?
What is next for Grade 2A Sp?
Video answer from Grade2 A SP learner on the question: How are HoM important during the Writer's Workshop?
Video answer from Grade3 SSA learner on the question: How are HoM important during the Writer's Workshop?
Video answer from Grade3 SSA learner on the question: How are HoM important during the Writer's Workshop?
Slide on what second grade learned about HoM
Next steps
Students have difficulty organizing their ideas. They could benefit from learning how to group similar sentences into paragraphs and learning how to sequence important story events. We want students will practice how to develop a critical position with their work: inquiring, editing, thinking flexibly, and learning from another person's perspective. Also, they will be encouraged to give feedback to one another focusing on specific ways that their peers would benefit from using the HOM. We hope that they can share their experiences to make others feel more comfortable and confident in their writings.
