I have been teaching for four years in the Chapel Hill Carrboro City school district. I began teaching in first grade and moved to kindergarten my second year. During the summers, I have tried to broaden my grade level perspective and teach older students in summer school. One of the things I noticed that students in all grade levels struggle with is writing.
Writing poses a challenge on multiple levels because it requires so many different processes to be used simultaneously. The brain must concentrate on generating an idea, constructing sentences, incorporating details, and conventions. Throughout my graduate journey, I have focused on learning more about how to build a sense of story within my students to help improve their writing ability.
I observed students even in the fourth grade having a difficult time planning and/or remembering their ideas as they wrote. My students would come up with great ideas for their writing, but when they got a pencil and a piece of paper everything seemed to leave their mind. In addition, I noticed some students could remember their ideas, but would have difficulty putting those ideas into complete sentences. As a teacher I struggled with finding an authentic way to publish my students' work for a boarder audience than just myself.
Throughout my graduate school journey, I realized how fortunate educators are today because of the ample possibilities technology affords us. Students are already familiar with these digital tools such as iPads, iTouches, and computers, and they quickly pick up on how to use them. I decided I wanted to focus on using these tools to help students improve their writing. Throughout this project I used iPads to help my kindergarteners plan, construct, evaluate and publish their writing work.
After graduation I hope to use my newly acquired knowledge to improve my own classroom instruction and help support other staff members at my school through professional development sessions. My ideal job would be to become a reading interventionist and work with students who are struggling with different aspects of literacy.
Writing poses a challenge on multiple levels because it requires so many different processes to be used simultaneously. The brain must concentrate on generating an idea, constructing sentences, incorporating details, and conventions. Throughout my graduate journey, I have focused on learning more about how to build a sense of story within my students to help improve their writing ability.
I observed students even in the fourth grade having a difficult time planning and/or remembering their ideas as they wrote. My students would come up with great ideas for their writing, but when they got a pencil and a piece of paper everything seemed to leave their mind. In addition, I noticed some students could remember their ideas, but would have difficulty putting those ideas into complete sentences. As a teacher I struggled with finding an authentic way to publish my students' work for a boarder audience than just myself.
Throughout my graduate school journey, I realized how fortunate educators are today because of the ample possibilities technology affords us. Students are already familiar with these digital tools such as iPads, iTouches, and computers, and they quickly pick up on how to use them. I decided I wanted to focus on using these tools to help students improve their writing. Throughout this project I used iPads to help my kindergarteners plan, construct, evaluate and publish their writing work.
After graduation I hope to use my newly acquired knowledge to improve my own classroom instruction and help support other staff members at my school through professional development sessions. My ideal job would be to become a reading interventionist and work with students who are struggling with different aspects of literacy.