Jennifer, thank you for sharing your paper for review.  I really found your paper to be quite enlightening as I feel a great deal has been written about the process of teaching reading, but topic of how to best approach writing instruction is not addressed as frequently. 

The ten principles and three broad concepts you cited are wonderful pillars on which to base writing instruction.  I found myself reflecting upon the idea of "teaching writing."  As I read your paper it truly reaffirmed, whether you employed the (BW) or (AW) approach that we need to provide a framework and model what "good" writing should look like.  Students will not become proficient writers simply by writing, without instruction.

The one point which really stood out within your data was the success of the At Risk Students.  This is especially important to note from a high stakes testing perspective as well in regards to the designation applied to the special education subgroup in language arts.

Thank you again for sharing your work!

Regards,

Matt Dauchert

Jennifer, I am so pleased to see a paper regarding writing. I too am working on a literature based model. One thing that the on-line student suffers from most, in my experience, is the APA format and expressions associated with coming back to the classroom after a long absence, or turning from MLA to APA. I am very impressed with your content knowledge from ESL to special education. Your transitions roll very smoothly and the paper reads well.

I wonder how PARCC with CCS will affect, if at all this study? Have you considered this? 

Hi Jennifer,

I enjoyed reading your paper. I see how this study would work with sixth graders, I liked the variables you utilized in your study. I know what his paper as not about college students, but I cannot help to wonder how this might apply to higher education. I am trying to come up with ideas as to how this can apply to what I do as an assistant professor. How could the information you provide in your study apply to my everyday work?

Jennifer - this is particularly good work in identifying teaching techniques to promote improved writing skills.  Your study was well-designed and your findings are impressive. 

Two additional thoughts: (1) What impact would the BW approach have on ESL (non-native speakers) learners?  (2) How can we bridge the gap for those students who are beyond the age group you studied?  In other words, how can the BW approach be applied to high school and college students? 

Congratulations on your impressive work!   Now comes the important process of translating your research into practice!  I really enjoyed reading your paper.

Hello Jennifer,

Very interesting study!  Being a former middle school science teacher I can relate to your study and the pressures of high stakes testing.  I found that reading and writing can very tough on the English Language Learners who are also trying to learn the language while learning to read and write.  The color-coded blueprint form, graphic organizers, multi-sensory activities, peer-talk, and scaffolding of the (BW) approach really caught my eye being that it was so effective for at-risk learners.  It seems the (BW) would be a great support for the ELL student as well. There was a significant growth from the Pre-test to the Post-test with the (BW) strategy.  It sounds like the (BW) approach really promotes multiple learning styles that can really help the at-risk student population.  Do you feel that the multiple learning styles also aided in the substantial growth or more the systematic approach/training of the teachers? This was a very interesting study! Do you plan to do a follow-up study?

Thanks!

-John

Hi Jeniffer,

I like the way your research emcourages discussion around the difficulty students face in learning to write , as well as the instructors' efforts in teaching students to write. As you rightly noted, many variables contribute to the challenges in learning to write, and in teaching students to write. A key element is language that helps or hinders a person to communicate in writing. There is also the issue of culture in which a language is spoken or written, such as I have experienced with many students in recent years. I read some DQ responses or even assignment papers as if the stduent is writing on a facebook website, or on an iPhone! Some even struggle to apply research or use APA formatting in their DQ posts or paper submissions. Is there a way to address this concern as an institution of higher learning? -Moses   

Hi Jennifer

Thank you for this interesting and informative study. This is an important topic and I believe many of the challenges we face at the college level could be mitigated by more effective writing instruction earlier in a student's career. I found the differences in results between the instructors with more experience and less experience to be very interesting. I wonder if there are other variables affecting teaching strategies between the groups that would be beneficial to investigate as a follow up study. The results were not what one might expect and warrant further investigation. My only suggestion would be to clarify the second research question a bit more "Do both groups of students respond similarly to the interventions". This information is likely in the longer analysis but I wasn't entirely certain what was meant by "similarly". Clarifying the variables up front may help the reader follow the data later in the report. Overall, very nice work and congratulations!

~Eva

Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for your research in this topic of students in their learning to write and comparison of approaches. I believe that there is a good background in your paper of the problem with our children's low writing test scores. Although, I am not a elementary or middle school teacher, as a reader, I wanted to know about the reliability and origin of the WIAT-I and WIAT II. This would add more strength to some of your testing. A little more about the BW and PW would be helpful as well. I particulary apppreciated the consent that was obtained, and exclusion that you mentioned for your study groups.I wonder if you could include students with English as a second language in this study. Many immigrants are attempting to get more education, and struggle with basic writing skill (English). They are often the brightest, and hardest-working students, and this may not be revealed in their writing scores due to a language barrier. I see this in my college students at GCU. Often times, my students from other countries have done more participation, more research and struggle with basic writing skills. In your paper, would it be feasible to speak of lack of funding for the extra time and training that it would take to perform the superior approaches in teaching, or need for policy restructure? Your findings and summary were clear to me.

Thanks again!

Joanne Senn, MSN, CEN< CNL

Jennifer, Thank you for sharing your research.  I have used both approaches in my teaching experience as a first, third and sixth grade teacher and found them applicable in various instances. Your work reveals how strategic approaches to writing allow learners to orgnanize and share their thoughts in a more effective manner.

Another thought I had while reading is that there seems to be a disconnect somewhere in the learning process when students emerge from elementary to high school as well as from high school to higher education.  It seems when the variable of research, APA formatting as well as a more technical style of writing is required, there is a decline in the quality of writing. I wonder how this research might be applied to higher education in order to move writers to a proficient stage in all forms of writing such as that required in academia. 

Thanks again!  Leah Barley

Jennifer,

Having worked in elementary and secondary education, and being a certified Response to Interventions (RTI) coach in the State of Arizona, it is refreshing to see that there are methods in place for increasing the writing skills of our youth. The training I participated in from the Department of Education focused on reading and mathematics, and failed to provide any formalized or research-based methods to improve the writing skills of students. The intervention taught was to merely have students write anything, and the goal was to simply increase word counts.

Although many schools have adopted a writing rubric of sorts, including the use of Venn diagrams and the Six Traits Writing Rubric, the Blueprint Writing approach you present appears to be a holistic approach to teaching students write. Having specific knowledge of special education, this approach offers students identified as having specific learning disabilities in written expression more opportunities to identify and utilize their specific strengths when writing.

I wonder how this approach will impact student performance in relation to STEM and Common Core.In addition, I wonder if this approach help college students improve their writing skills as well. There is obviously more research needed in this area.

Thanks for your timely research!

Ronald R. Summerhill, Psy.D., M.Ed.

Jennifer,

Thank You for sharing your research. I have taught 7th grade Language Arts for ten years and I always made sure that students used the writing process while writing. I did think a loud showing my students how to begin their writing and write a coherent composition. I feel like each nine weeks teachers should pull away from the think a louds and be the 4th nine weeks students should be writing on their own. So the 1st nine weeks I would complete a think a loud on the entire paper. Second nine weeks the intro, one body paragraph and the conclusion. Third nine weeks the intro and conclusion by the fourth nine weeks students will be given a outline of the assignment and what is needed in each paragraph. The students is expected to write their own essay, letter, etc... without the think a loud but is given the outline to complete the essay.

Rubrics are important! I love the use of rubrics in the Grading Element a PLC I conducted I learn the importance of giving grades and feedback and showing students the fairness in the feedback through rubrics. 

Alicia Leach 

Hi Jennifer,

I appreciate the immediate significance of this paper because it clearly relates to the well-known problem of the United States education system, which has been under scrutiny for some time at the middle school and high school levels, and compellingly targets a specific problem area.  Moreover, the quality of data, meaningful outcomes, critical analysis and featured main points of the paper are a catalyst for igniting additional thought about other related issues because of the heightened intellectual stimulation that the content generates. 

 For example, our country is obviously experiencing difficult and complex challenges, and always will be, with the levels of difficulty and complexity apparently increasing to higher levels.  To deal with these challenges, an increased intellectual resource of creative and diverse minds within the business, technical, research, medical, political, social, psychological and economic realms will certainly help in dealing with the challenges.  Of the many mediums intertwined in the development of creative and diverse minds, competency in expressive writing is a valuable one.  This further stresses the importance of the paper.

The generations identified in this paper, without a doubt, are going to play a key role in dealing with the future challenges of our county.  As educators, it is our unequivocal duty and responsibility to take every reasonable and well thought out action, within our scope of influence, to help improve the quality of education.  I think the tone of this paper exudes this importance, especially in the future research section that addresses the issue that more research is required to infiltrate the barriers preventing the permeation of the effective BW and PW methods into the classroom.

The paper did a great job on identifying and comparing various socio-economic classes and varying degrees of learning levels.  I am curious though to see the levels of deviation in the research outcomes, if any, if there were multiple school districts tested in different regions of the country.

Thanks

Chris Lyons, CPA

This wan an informative article based on a study of sixth graders' expressive writing ability with the challenge of increasing their writing competency level.  Writing profciiceny was also discussed.  As a college professor primarily of graduate students, I do find that the majority of students have acquired expressive writing skills and I actually find moe fault with the actual composition of the writing.  There are some graduate students who still use a "sprinkle and spray" technique with punctuation not following proper writing guidelines.  I think it would be great for an article to be written on a study of graduate student's writing to see whether the rules taught to students in sixth grade are actually being acquired.