Claudia C.

Narvaez

December 2008

EDU 630 Doing Teacher Research

Research Project

RESEARCH QUESTION: "WHAT EFFECTS, IF ANY, OCCUR WITH MY STUDENTS

WHEN I USE INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES THAT ALIGN TO THE "6+1" TRAITS

THAT ARE ASSESSED IN THE WRITING RUBRIC? WHY? HOW?

WHAT?

I am interested in finding out the impact 6+1 traits writing model has made or can make on

students’ writing. In addition I plan to change my previous approach to teaching writing and

focus on using mini-lessons based on the 6+1 traits of writing which are used as the criteria of

6+1 writing rubric(see appendix A). Therefore the 6+1 rubric will be the treatment applied. In

the past I have spent more time on the overall writing piece and hoped that the students would be

able to look at the 6 +1 traits and understand them and to use them collectively after simple

reviews and discussions. Using the rubric to develop individual lessons based on the traits

themselves is the change that I will make to the strategy I have been implementing in the writing

portion of my Language Arts classes.

WHY?

I am interested in finding this out because the 6+1 traits writing model has been implemented

within the last few years in the middle school Language Arts classes. I have experience working

with the students in grades 6, 7, and 8. In the past these specific grades have had difficulty in the

writing area of the state standardized test. Because my focus is 7th grade Language Arts this year,

I decided to use some students in my homeroom to conduct the study. I want to know if

continuing with the 6+1 traits writing model is an effective approach to teaching writing. I would

also like to see if the use of this writing model in the classroom is making the concepts more

apparent for the students.

WHO?/WHERE?

I work in Paterson, NJ in a K-8 school that is 109 years old. There are approximately 450

students enrolled in a school that was originally built as K-5 school. The majority of the students

are identified as Hispanic with a small African-American population and an even smaller

white population. There are also 1 or 2 Bengali students. I am going to focus on the students

during the 3rd block of my seventh grade Language Arts classes. This class has a total of 24

students. Of the 24, 13 are girls and 11 are boys. 7 are identified as English Language Learners

(ELL). The other 17 are identified as general education students. As a whole the members of the

class are identified as Hispanic. As I previously mentioned, the middle school students have had

difficulty meeting the state test requirements for proficiency. Since I am focusing on my
homeroom the participants of the study emerged from my first data collection strategy. The 24

students in my class participated in answering a questionnaire. Six of the 24 students voluntarily

put their names on the questionnaire and they became the study participants.

WHEN?/HOW?

Four weeks turned out to be a feasible time frame to gather the data, analyze it and apply the

necessary treatment. The data collection occurred during the third Language Arts block

embedded in the daily schedule. A questionnaire was distributed ( see Appendix A) to get an

understanding of the students’ perception of the affects the 6 + 1 traits have had on their writing

task performance. The questions were piloted with a group of 8th graders who were my students

last year. This allowed me to assess if the questions were appropriate for the questionnaire. The

students did not have to put their name on the questionnaire but my assumption was that there

will be some who will. The questionnaire provided a priori categories that were used in grounded

analysis. There were 3 boys and 3 girls who put their name on the questionnaire and became the

subjects of my study. The amount of subjects provided enough time to analyze the data. My a

priori assumption in this case is that these students will be able to respond accurately to the

questionnaire since they have previous exposure to the 6+1 traits of writing. (see Figure 1) the

students were assigned a writing task. Before they began they were given a review mini-lesson of

the 6+1 traits of writing. In addition they were instructed to use the 6+1 scoring rubric as a

guiding tool during the writing of their piece. When the tasks were completed they were

collected and scored using the 6+1 traits rubric. I had one of my colleagues review the
 completed writing tasks in order to provide inter-rater reliability. The results of their writing

tasks represent first order data. I assessed which traits need the most attention. I prepared a mini-

lesson based on those specific points of need. I found that the students scored lower than a 4

(effective) for the IDEAS,ORGANIZATION, VOICE, and WORD CHOICE traits of the rubric.

As part of the 6+1 traits treatment, I provided students with tips on how to use the other traits to

help them with a writing task. The students received a new prompt and completed the essay

using the 6+1 traits scoring rubric as a guiding tool. At the end of the the students turned their

second essays in to me and were again scored using the 6+1 traits scoring rubric. When this data

was analyzed, this second set of archival data helped me determine if there were any changes in

the particular areas addressed in the criteria of the rubric that was the focus of the mini-lesson.

Figure 1

Student Questionnaire Responses

Students Rubric Use and Scoring criteria Helpful Understanding 6+1 Traits Has 6+1Traits Importance of 6+1 Traits
Knowledge of Writing-(helpful & trait Improved Writing of Writing
focus)

Jared Yes, to check It helps you with your It helps you organize the Yes I am getting It helps you in a lot of
progress writing, about spelling and writing that you wrote better using it writing stuff that you need
punctuation

Jay Yes, to check I don’t understand what The rubric shows and says
writer’s work criteria is things that are right or wrong
in the story. If I put the right
amount of detail I may have
to focus and see if I have
good capital letters and
punctuation
I know how to If you ever plan to be a
make relations with writer you can check the
the story and then I rubric and make sure you
can get right to follow what it says
writing my story
Nestor Yes, to grade writing I don’t understand the It helps you get a higher Yes, it helps me Yes it tells you what to do
word criteria grade and how to get it. It add and include and what to follow if you
tells you what to include. I stiff to it want to get the best grade
focus on one and don’t that you could
understand if I go to the next
one

Talia Yes, a little, to help Of course, I hate That way I can see if I It helps you Important because how
you in writing Language Arts but at the proceed in my writing, yes become better at it you gonna know how to
same time I like it fix your writing without
learning about it

Sheila Not that much, for Not that much It tells me what I need in my Yes, because Yes it helps you to write a
writing story. It happens to me before in the 4th better prompt or story
sometimes. grade I used to be
bad in it but now
I’m doing good.

Judy Yes, to check work It helps me to be focused I want to get the highest Sort of because I It’s important but only if
and not wonder of to get mark on the rubric in order have been focused you want a good grade. It
the grade I want to get a good grade. but only improved is important to me because
a little I need to get a good grade

Analysis: Using the above 2nd order data, I conducted a grounded analysis of the data display. In

analyzing the questionnaire there seems to be a pattern when the students identify the usefulness

of the rubric. Five out of the Six students seem to have understanding of the rubrics use. In 3 out

of the 6 cases there is a lack of understanding of the rubric’s criteria. From these a priori

questionnaire categories the following 3 new topics emerged: 1.) understanding the criteria as a

concept, 2.) understanding the function of the rubric, and 3.) how the students feel about the

rubric. I also found that 2 of the 6 students made reference to the traits in their responses. One

talked about organization which is a direct reference to a writing trait. Another talked about

details which encumbers the ideas trait of writing. The n/a’s displayed demonstrates that some

students didn’t not answer the questions directly when it came to these questions. In the

understanding the rubric category there is a conclusive trend of a positive response. When it
came to understanding the function of the rubric there were only 2 positive responses, therefore

the trend was inconclusive. In reference to the students feelings about the rubric, a conclusive

trend of a positive response was apparent. ( see Figure 2)

Figure 2

Understand Understand How they feel

criteria as function of about rubric
concept rubric
Jared Yes yes helpful
Jay Yes yes n/a
Nestor Yes yes helpful
Talia Yes n/a important
Shiela No n/a helpful
Judy Yes n/a important

Figure 3

6 1ST IDEAS
1ST ORG
1st Writing Prompt Rubric Results 1ST VOICE
1ST WORD
5 1ST SENT FLUEN
1ST CONVEN
1ST PRESENT

4
Rubric Score

0
JARED JAY NESTOR TALIA SHIELA JUDY
Student Name
 Figure 4

2ND IDEAS
6 2ND ORG
2ND VOICE
2nd Writing Prompt Rubric Results 2ND WORD
2ND SENT FLUEN
5 2ND CONVENT
2ND PRESENT

4
Rubric Score

0
JARED JAY NESTOR TALIA SHIELA JUDY
Student Name

As indicated earlier I gave the students a writing prompt on 2 different occasions. The first time

they had been given a mini-lesson based on all of the 6+1 traits of writing as a review. The

second time it was given after developing mini-lessons based on the areas of need from the 1st

piece. I then compared the results of the two sets of questionnaire data. Figure 1 contains the

results for the first writing piece and Figure 2 contains the results for the 2nd writing piece. I

found that certain students seem to portray a score increase in the 2nd piece in traits they had
previously portrayed a lower score in the first piece. (I should be specific here as far as who

they are or should there some sort of percentage due to my data displays?)

As the students were working on the essays throughout this 4 week process, I kept an

observational journal/activity log to see what behaviors they exhibit during the writing of their

essays and to keep track of the approaches I was taking during this time period. This will

represent second order data. (See figure 5)

Figure 5

Journal Entries

October 15, 2008-Questionnaires were distributed to the members of the 7th grade Language Arts class. All students participated
in the answering the questions. Although the students did not need to put their names on the questionnaires 6 of them did. This is
how I chose the subjects of the study. The students answered questions based on the 6 +1 Traits of writing.

October 20, 2008- I conducted a whole group lesson based on the 2 of the 6 + 1 Traits of writing as an . The mini-lesson
focused on the IDEAS & ORGANIZATION traits of the 6+1 Traits of writing. The students were provided with a prompt that
correlated with the current class text. As a class, we developed a brainstorming chart for ideas to include in the writing piece and
a chart of possible vocabulary words to include as well. The students were guided through the process of organizing the piece to
maintain a focus on how to generate their ideas. Questions were answered as they surfaced. Of the 6 students involved in the
study, Talia was absent that day.

October 21, 2008- Whole group mini-lesson was conducted based on VOICE and WORD CHOICE traits of the 6+1 traits of
writing. When this was completed the students continued to work on the writing prompt provided the previous day. The students
were reminded to have their 6+1 Traits of Writing rubric on their desk for reference during the process of working on their piece.
All 6 students in the study were present on this day. It was observed that Talia took longer than other students to begin the
assignment that she had not started the previous day due to her absence. Jay seemed to be using the rubric because he frequently
looked at it as he was writing. Nestor seems to be aware of what the criteria is and seems to be referring to the traits for guidance
in completing the piece. Shiela seems to be working but as I pass her desk I realize she is looking at a rubric that is not related to
the 6 + 1 traits of writing. She is prompted to find the 6 + 1 rubric in her writing folder and replace the one on the desk with it.
Jared is looking at the rubric and writing. Judy seems to be stopping and reviewing the criteria in the rubric and then proceeding
to go back to the writing the piece. Talia finally seems prepared and ready to beginning the task. She then asks for help and I
proceed to sit with her and explain what she had missed the day before. This unfortunately becomes a threat to validity. She
didn’t have the same instruction the other students had.

October 27, 2008- While scoring the 1st writing piece, I realized that 5 of the 6 students involved in the study had scored lower
than a 4 (effective) on the IDEAS area of the rubric. A new mini-lesson was presented. There was a new brainstorming chart
developed as a class for the new prompt. The students were then given 15 minutes to pre-write. After the 15 minutes the students
had the opportunity to share their ideas with the class as while. (writer’s workshop model) The students were then given a new
checklist that focused on the IDEAS trait of writing. They were to use it as an additional reference. On this day Nestor and Shiela
were absent. This becomes a threat to validity since they missed part of the treatment?

October 30, 2008- Students are still working on writing piece #2. Before they continued to work there were presented with a list
of tips on how to use the other traits to help develop the writing piece. There was a focus on organization trait of the 6+1 traits of
writing. As a result a list was developed with tips for organizing by time. The students also received a check list based on
organization trait. Students were reminded of the importance of the other traits. During this session all 6 students participating in
the study were present. I noticed that all of the students seemed to be using the guidelines provided except for Shiela. Once again
she was reminded to use the 6 + 1 Traits rubric as a guide and to make sure she followed the checklists provided.

November 3, 2008- The students worked on the piece once more. The second piece is collected for scoring at the end of the 80
minute block.

These 3 forms of data collection will make triangulation possible for analyzing. The consistency

of measurement is shown in the use of the 6+1 traits rubric for essay. I began to analyze the data

the week of November 10. Once that portion was completed I began to prepare the report of my

findings.

SO WHAT?

I plan to share my findings with my colleagues. Once every six days data team meeting is

conducted. Since this meeting is supposed to be conducted by teachers and students work is the

topic of discussion, this is the perfect setting to share my findings. I have data to present which

will in turn help develop ways to improve our own strategies to better address the needs of ur

students. This research will matter to Language Arts teachers in my school especially the ones

working 6,7,8 graders and simultaneously to 5th grade Language Arts teachers will benefit as
well. These teachers can be aware of the expectations as the children move into the middle

school and possibly help prepare the students for that. This information can be helpful to them as

well since we do try our best at collaborative planning in order to reach a common goal (even

though we don't have enough time to meet during the school week.)
 Appendix A-

Student Questionnaire

PLEASE ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS AS BEST AND AS HONESTLY AS

YOU
CAN. ALL OF YOU R ANSWERS WILL HELP ME TO MAKE LEARNING BETTER FOR
YOU.
YOU DO NOT HAVE TO WRITE YOUR NAME ON THIS PIECE OF PAPER. THANK
YOU.

1. WHAT IS A RUBRIC USED FOR?

2. DO YOU KNOW HOW TO USE A RUBRIC?
3. DO YOU FEEL THAT THE 6 + 1 WRITING TRAITS ARE HELPFUL WHEN YOU ARE
WRITING A SPECULATIVE ESSAY? PERSUASIVE ESSAY? WHY OR WHY NOT?
4. IF YOU USE THE 6+1 TRAITS, DO YOU FOCUS MORE ON ONE TRAIT THAN THE
OTHER?
5. DO YOU FIND THER SCORING CRITERIA TO BE HELPFUL?
6. DO YOU THINK THE 6 + 1 TRAITS MODEL HAS IMPROVED YOUR WRITING? WHY
OR
WHY NOT?
7. DO YOU THINK IT IS IMPORTANT TO FOLLOW THE 6 +1 TRAITS WRITING
MODEL?
WHY OR WHY NOT?
 Appendix B
1 2 3 4 5 6

EXPERIMENTING EMERGING DEVELOPING EFFECTIVE STRONG EXCEPTIONAL

IDEAS Searching Hints at topic General topic Topic fairly

The meaning and for a topic Reader left with defined narrowed
development of the Limited many Reasonably clear New ways of
message Information unanswered ideas thinking about
Vague questions Details present but topic is attempted
details Sporadic details not precise Credible details
Random Glimmer of main Shows some with some support
thoughts point specifics Writer
understands topic
ORGANIZATION No lead or Ineffective lead Routine lead and Effective lead and
The internal structure conclusion and conclusion conclusion conclusion
of the piece Sequencing Some sequencing More logical Sequencing works
is not present apparent sequencing well
No awareness of pacing Pacing awkward Pacing generally Well-controlled
Hard to Some attempt at under control pacing
follow structure Common structures Common
detract from structures have
content smooth flow
VOICE No concern for audience Occasionally Writer begins to Writer
They way the writer Lifeless and mechanical aware of connect with reader occasionally
brings the topic to life Flat or inappropriate audience Pleasing yet safe intrigues the
Purpose not present General Writer/reader reader
statements connection fades in Pleasing: takes
require reader and out risks
interpretation Purpose Engages reader
Tries to engage inconsistent most of the time
Hints at purpose Purpose consistent
WORD CHOICE Vocabulary is limited Generally correct Some active verbs
The specific Simple words used words; no spice and precise nouns
vocabulary the writer incorrectly Language is A moment or two
uses to convey No figurative language functional of sparkle
meaning Words do not convey Attempts at Experiments with
meaning interesting words figurative language
Words convey Words begin to
general meaning enhance meaning
SENTENCE Choppy , rambling or Some simple Attempts
FLUENCY incomplete sentences compound and
They way the words No “sentence sense” Occasional complex sentences
and phrases flow Oral reading is not connecting word Sentences usually
throughout the text possible use connect
Repetitive beginnings Oral reading \parts invite oral
difficult reading
Attempts Sentences begin in
variation in different ways
sentence
beginnings
CONVENTIONS Spelling errors impede Spelling errors
The mechanical readability even on easy
correctness of the piece Incorrect punctuation words
and capitalization Errors on basic
Many usage and punctuation and
grammar errors capitalization
Lack of paragraphing Some usage and
grammar errors
Occasional use of
paragraphing
PRESENTATION Handwriting unreadable Handwriting
The overall appearance Random spacing or lack poor
of the work of spacing Some thought
Poor use of white space given to spacing
Overall appearance Attempts at
unacceptable margins and
headers
.