Date of Award

5-2012

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Education (MEd)

Department

School of Teacher Education and Leadership

Committee Chair(s)

Sylvia Read

Committee

Sylvia Read

Committee

Cindy Jones

Committee

Barbara DeBoer

Abstract

Research has demonstrated students may improve their writing ability when cognitive strategies are demonstrated for them in clear and explicit ways as they observe and participate in writing events directed by knowledgeable writers, particularly when these events are followed by opportunities for independent writing. Carefully crafted scaffolding with abundant amounts of oral interaction such as that in Read’s IMSCI model that includes inquiry, modeling, shared writing, collaboration and independent writing, can give students the needed support to develop skills essential to quality writing. An informational genre unit was developed with seven specific lesson plans focusing on the five elements in this model. Data were then collected that indicated student growth in use of specific genre features following explicit, strategic, and scaffolded writing instruction. Read-alouds appeared to be essential for providing explicit examples of genre features and helped teachers to demonstrate both product and writing process. Use of these daily instruction plans gave a focus on specific objectives for each lesson and added spiraling of new information to help students apply learning to their own writing. Also demonstrated in the data was an increase in desired student behavior during writing time with scaffolded instruction. Success of this research indicated that explicit scaffolding in any instructional area will improve student learning.

Comments

This work made publicly available electronically on August 24, 2012.

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