Kim Combs

September
1. Describe your approach to composition. I tried five sentence paragraphs when we used to do TCAP writing. Then, I looked at some information on six trait writing on the Internet, and I tried to incorporate that into my teaching. I t was very difficult because the students came to fourth grade without a lot of prior knowledge in the area of writing. We had to start with the basics such as capitalize I by itself and then work our way to full page stories by February. Last year, I tried the four square approach, but I really didn’t have a good enough grasp on it myself to teach it well.


2. How often do your students attempt to write each week? We usually write once or twice a week. In the past, we wrote every day.


3. How have you integrated technology into instruction in the past? I have used power points, Internet websites, Orchard, Microsoft Word (I write English sentences, and we correct them on the screen with a dry erase marker), accelerated reader, cyber exchange, class pet exchange, Internet quilt project, various software that I have purchased for my classroom, and elementary computer lab.


4. What do you hope to gain from participation in this project? I hope to better understand the four square writing method and how to implement it into my classroom. I also hope to gain some valuable resources to take back to my classroom to use and share with other teachers.

October

1. Describe your class’ positive experience(s) with Four Square writing this past month. My class enjoyed the Four Square writing this month. A few students would ask in the morning if we were going to write that day. They were able to write sentences better than I thought they could.

2. How far did your students get with the Four Square method? (4 Square, 4 Square to paper, 4+1, 4+3) Why? I was able to do 4 Square to paper with my students. They were familiar with the 4 Square, but seemed to have difficulty with the wrap up and moving it onto paper. I didn’t want to take them move on until we learned the first part really well.

3. Have you experienced any problems through your participation in this project this past month? Describe. My biggest problem was explaining the fourth square. They are having difficulty understanding the wrap-up sentence. I think I am having difficulty explaining the wrap-up sentence. Also, I think conferencing is difficult with 26 students.

4. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? I love this project, and I am learning a lot about the Four Square writing. I can’t think of anything that would make it better for me and my students.

November

1. Describe positive experience(s) with Four Square writing this past month.

My students really enjoyed the virtual field trip to Colonial America. I am noticing several students writing better sentences. They are able to get the basic Four Square down without a lot of help. I am ready to move on to Four Square + 1. They seem to enjoy writing better than any group that I have taught in the past.

2. How far did your students get with the Four Square method? (4 Square, 4 Square to paper, 4+1, 4+3) Why?

We tackled our first 4 Square + 1 when Mrs. Campbell came to our classroom. I wasn’t sure that they were ready, but they proved me wrong. We are now going to consistently try the + 1.

3. Discuss the Virtual Field Trip experience. The students were very attentive, and seemed to soak in the information from the field trip on Power Point much better than from the text. I plan to do several more of these field trips. They really seemed to remember the information well to write their stories.

4. What problems are your students encountering? My students are still struggling with the feeling sentence, although I have seen some improvement. I have a few students that need to work on good strong sentences.

5. What problems are you experiencing? Time is my biggest problem. I am trying to incorporate the writing into the content areas, but I still fall back into old habits. We are still struggling with the feeling sentence. After Mrs. Campbell’s visit the students seem to be doing a better job with the feeling sentence. I have a handful of students that still have really weak sentences.

6. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? Overall, this project has been very beneficial to my students and me. I have learned a wealth of new information that I can use in my classroom. I love sharing ideas and information with the other fourth grade teachers in the county. It is so good to know that they face the same struggles and challenges that I face each day.

December
 

1. Describe positive experience(s) with Four Square writing this past month. We have had a difficult time this month writing as often as we should. I feel like it has only been a week since the last Write On. We are trying to move on to 4 Square + 1 and they seem to be ready for this move.

2. How far did your students get with the Four Square method this month? (4 Square, 4 Square to paper, 4+1, 4+3) Why?

We are on 4 Square + 1, but we haven’t moved it to paper yet. I wanted them to practice really good sentences first.

3. Discuss the Sentence Stretcher experience.

At first, the Sentence Stretcher’s confused them. A lot of children tried to make a different sentence for each question. I had them read their sentences aloud, and after a while they caught on to what I was requiring of them. They really enjoyed the Sentence Stretchers after they all understood. The students were proud of their sentences when they read them aloud. They could really see the difference from the beginning to the end.

4. Were you able to complete a Colonial America writing activity? Discuss the success/problems. Connie came in my classroom and did this writing activity with my children. They really enjoyed the Power Point, and learned a lot of new information. They completed the 4 Square + 1. This was their first time, and I was impressed with their understanding and sentences.

5. Were you able to successfully download a file from the Write On site this month? Tell about any problems you encountered.

I was able to successfully download, and I did not encounter any problems.

6. What problems are your students encountering with their participation in this project?

They really enjoy the new ideas that I bring back to the classroom. They seem to enjoy the writing activities. I suppose taking the work to paper and editing are the most difficult parts of the writing for my students.

7. What problems are you experiencing? My major problem is time and the amount (26) of student’s in my classroom. I know writing is important, and that it can be incorporated into the content areas. I sometimes have difficulty following through.

I feel guilty about missing once a month, but I also comfort myself by thinking about all of the new ideas that I am learning. Ultimately, my missing once a month benefits my children.

Last year was the first year my student’s had seen 4 Square, and that sometimes makes the writing difficult.

I also wish that President Bush and the people who have backed the No Child Left Behind laws would get a dose of reality. They have no idea the time constraints, funding, home life etc. problems that we face each day. They are asking teachers to be miracle workers. I am given 26 little people to work with, and I have absolutely no control over what was done at home or before I met them. Of course, I want them to all work on grade level, but the amount of stress added by this law is unbelievable and unattainable. Have any of these lawmakers spent a day in a rural public school system lately? I would like to send them a video of a day in the life of a public school teacher. I see wonderful small achievements everyday by my students that no standardized test will ever measure. What about the student that hated school at the beginning of the year, but now loves it? That cannot be measured by a test. I have two special education children that wrote a story (not assigned by me, just on their own initiative) about me picking blueberries yesterday. It was a major accomplishment for them, but to measure it by state standards they would have failed the writing test. So I feel an incredible amount of pressure this school year, and I think in the long run some wonderful creative things we could be doing for our students will be lost forever. This project is a perfect example. It is wonderful, and I could return to school and spend hours on writing and all of the wonderful materials on the website, yet if I do I might accidentally leave off one of the 1,000,000 objectives I am to meet for No Child Left Behind.

8. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? I have learned so much that I cannot think of any ways to improve this project.

January
 

1. Describe positive experience(s) with Four Square writing this past month. I must confess that between the flu (the week before Christmas I only had 15 out of 26 present each day), head lice epidemic, Christmas break and snow days that I did not accomplish any Four Square writing. However, we did work on Miss Take’s Challenge and writing good complete sentences. We worked on sentence stretchers.

2. How far did your students get with the Four Square method this month? (4 Square, 4 Square to paper, 4+1, 4+3) Why? Well, once again I dropped the ball on Four Square writing. I feel guilty, but it was impossible between holidays, sickness and snow.

3. Discuss the Miss Take’s Challenge experience. I was only able to do this twice, but the children loved it! I am going to finish my Mountain Language for the week on Thursdays. Then, I am going to do Miss Take’s Challenge each Friday. We made the milk carton dice to name the teams together. They gave me names of animals and then adjectives for the other die. They worked together well in the groups, and helped each other out. They loved writing on the television. The following Monday I made them do the corrections on the handout independently. If we can get on a good routine, I think this will be very beneficial to my students.

4. Was Mr. Indent helpful to your students? If so, in what way. If not, why? I hate to admit it, but I did not get to Mr. Indent either. I won’t list my pitiful excuses again.

5. What problems are your students encountering with their participation in this project? The students love to hear about the new things that I have learned in this project. They do seem to enjoy the writing activities for the most part. However, they don’t like it when they have a substitute. I hear a lot of grumbling and complaining when I have to be out a day, which makes me feel guilty for missing school. I try to explain that it is worth missing because I am learning so much to teach them. ( I’m not sure that really has an impact ) I don’t tell them I enjoy the hour for lunch instead of the 15 minutes I usually have to inhale my food.

6. What problems are you experiencing? Time, time, and time. There are simply not enough hours in the day to accomplish all that I want to do with the class, and still eat and go to the restroom. We do still have recess each day. I’ve thought about taking that away, but I’m not going to do so unless instructed by the principal. I went to a teleconference yesterday on Brain Based Education, and research shows they need a break to get oxygen flowing to their brains through physical activity especially ADHD children. I find they do focus better in the afternoon if we have a 25 minute recess after lunch.

7. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students? I really cannot think of anything, because I have learned so much through this project about writing.

February
 

1. Describe positive experience(s) with Four Square writing this past month.

My students are always enthusiastic about writing. They enjoy coming up with ideas.

2. How far did your students get with the Four Square method this month? (4 Square, 4 Square to paper, 4+1, 4+3) Why? We worked on 4 Square + 1 this month. I think it has to do with their limited experience with writing in the past. I look forward to going farther with next year’s group that has been working on the Four Square in earlier grades.

3. Discuss the Goof’s activity.

They love this activity! They ask me often if we will be doing more Goof’s activity. One rainy day, we did this activity instead of recess. They wanted to invite the other fourth grades over to do Goof’s with them. We did, and they all loved this activity.

4. What improvements are you seeing in your students through participation in this project?

I am really impressed at how far their editing skills have come through activities such as the Goof’s and Miss Take’s challenge. They are better about forming complete sentences and putting their thoughts together. I love seeing how the 4 Square helps them to organize their thought process.

5. What is the biggest hurdle you have experienced in composition instruction with your students? One of my biggest hurdles is management with a large class size of 26. I also find it difficult when some students are ready to go farther than others with their 4 square. I also have to get over being intimidated about including writing in the content areas.

6. What activity through Write On has been most beneficial to your students?

My students have really benefited from the power point presentations activities such as The Goof’s and Miss Take’s Challenge. They were really weak at editing skills and proofreading at the beginning of this project. They also enjoyed listening to the Science songs from the link on the website. They also enjoyed the day Connie came to the classroom, and they participated in the Hillsborough Squares game with her.

7. What suggestions would you have for making this project more beneficial to you and your students?

This project has been so wonderful that I always find this question difficult to answer. I have learned so many new things to take back to my classroom, and to share with the other fourth grades. I say just keep up the good work, and the funding for projects such as this one! I amaze my teacher friends from other counties when I tell them all that we learn at Connie’s technology in-services and projects such as Write On and Cyber Exchange.

March
1. Describe your class’ experience with Four Square writing this past month.
My students were their usual selves when it came to Four Square this month. We are progressing at the rate that I assumed we would be by this point in the school year.


2. Did your students participate in a science cross curriculum writing activity? If so, describe its successes/weaknesses.
We looked at the light activity that I made just because they wanted to see it. Then, we looked at the Life Cycle of a Frog PowerPoint. I felt like it was a success, and the students really remembered the details from the presentation.


3. Other than time restraints, what is your biggest problem in composition instruction?
I think a large class of 27 has been my biggest obstacle this school year, because it has made conferencing difficult. I have also struggled with the diverse ability levels of my students. I still have to restrain myself from focusing on every single little mistake that they make in their writing.

4. What positive effects can you see in your students through the participation in the Four Square method of composition?
They are better able to organize their thoughts with this method. Some students have gained confidence in their writing abilities. I am also very pleased with the progress that they have made with their editing skills this school year.


5. Have you been able to share experiences or activities addressed through this project with any other educators? What was the result? I have shared many things about this project with my fourth grade coworkers at school. We have worked through the Goofs and Sentence Stretchers together. One rainy day, we played Hillsborough Squares as a Fourth Grade boys against girls. The students enjoyed that activity. I have also shared the Science Presentations which we have used as TerraNova review. We are all very excited about this project.


6. What changes will you make in your approach to composition in the upcoming school year?
I will start them off earlier in the school year, and make sure that I do not use time constraints as an excuse for not writing a little every single day. I am looking forward to the upcoming group because they have been using the Four Square Method for two years prior to coming into my classroom. I hope I will be able to take them further with the method than the current class. I also pray that it is a smaller class, or that they hire another Fourth Grade teacher. I do not feel I can do my students justice with a 27 to 1 ratio, especially when other Fourth Grade’s in my same county only have 13 students in their classroom. With 27 students, everything is double plus 1 for my class, conferencing, grading papers, getting settled , taking roll, doing report cards, calling parents. . . so . . . I hope I do not have this same unfair disadvantage next year!
 

May

This project address the following Tennessee Master Plan Goal: State of the art technology will be used to improve curriculum. Tennessee Report Card Performance Indicators Competency (Composition Skills) How do you feel this project moved toward the goal of improving student composition skills?

I feel this project is moving our teachers in the right direction of improving composition skills. I feel better equipped in teaching these skills after my time in the Write On project. Using Sentence Stretchers, Miss Take's Challenge, Writing Across the Curriculum and other materials created through technology have all helped my students improve their composition skills.

List ways your participation in this project has positively affected the writing skills of the students in your classroom.

I was able to take back to my students creative and interesting ways to practice their editing and writing skills. They were excited about the Sentence Stretchers and Goofs, and they were learning at the same time. They loved the use of the computer as opposed to just the textbook.

How did your participation in this project positively affect your instructional strategies?

Through the Four Square Method, I was able to organize my teaching of writing to my students. I was also able to use innovative games and methods of teaching about editing and sentences by taking back to the classroom what I learned at Write On.

How has your approach to writing composition changed through your participation in this project from that of previous years?

In the past, I did not have a very organized way to teach writing. I never used graphic organizers, which have really helped my students this year. I have used technology in teaching language arts skills. I was able to integrate writing into Science and Social Studies better this year.

What other curriculum areas would you like to see implemented in a professional development technology integration project?

Science, Social Studies, or maybe, Math.