In allowing this particularly violent story in our curriculum,
we followed the lead of writers such as Cooper
(1993) and Engel (1999; 2005), who argue that stories
create a much-needed space where children can play with
ideas that concern or frighten them. Cooper believes that
stories empower children. Rather than encouraging further
violence, they simply give children opportunities to play
out, and thus diffuse, scary material. Similarly, Engel
argues that children understand stories are different from
real life. Because stories don’t represent the real world,
they give children a clearly defined, safe place to explore
scary, taboo, or otherwise worrisome ideas.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Parent Questionairre: age, School Writing and child's strength
Skylar is 7.
Her parents report that she is an excellent reader and loves to read; her comprehension is weak, but they are working on that.
At school Skylar has written about holidays and seasons.
Michael is 7.
His parents circled reading well, writes well and enjoys reading on the form.
Parent does not now what kinds of stories Michael writes at school.
Deseree is 7.
Her parents think she writes and speaks well.
Reports one story written at school called "Her Lost Kitten."
She is good with communication.
Trace is 6.
Parent reports that he has a very strong vocabulary and strong language skills, and that he explains thought processes very clearly.
Reports he has written about pets, family and vacation at school.
Very advanced in usage of large words, and very descriptive.
Chosen is 6.
Parent reports his language strength is that he enjoys being read to.
Left the writing at schools space blank.
His parent thinks he needs more practice reading.
Arianna is 6.
Arianna speaks and writes well. She enjoys being read to at this point more than she likes to read to her parents.
Her parents are not sure they are writing actual stories right now in school. She has seen paragraphs here and there with her describing a picture.
Arianna has a great accent in Spanish when she speaks the words she knows. (Her dad is a fluent Spanish speaker.)
Bryce is 7.
He loves to read. He reads very well and has a great vocabulary.
He has only brainstormed ideas for stories.
He often surprises his mom with some of the things he says.
Jaidyn is 6.
Jaidyn has great language skills. She loves to talk, read and write.
At school, she has written stories about times with her family.
Her parents report that she is an excellent reader and loves to read; her comprehension is weak, but they are working on that.
At school Skylar has written about holidays and seasons.
Michael is 7.
His parents circled reading well, writes well and enjoys reading on the form.
Parent does not now what kinds of stories Michael writes at school.
Deseree is 7.
Her parents think she writes and speaks well.
Reports one story written at school called "Her Lost Kitten."
She is good with communication.
Trace is 6.
Parent reports that he has a very strong vocabulary and strong language skills, and that he explains thought processes very clearly.
Reports he has written about pets, family and vacation at school.
Very advanced in usage of large words, and very descriptive.
Chosen is 6.
Parent reports his language strength is that he enjoys being read to.
Left the writing at schools space blank.
His parent thinks he needs more practice reading.
Arianna is 6.
Arianna speaks and writes well. She enjoys being read to at this point more than she likes to read to her parents.
Her parents are not sure they are writing actual stories right now in school. She has seen paragraphs here and there with her describing a picture.
Arianna has a great accent in Spanish when she speaks the words she knows. (Her dad is a fluent Spanish speaker.)
Bryce is 7.
He loves to read. He reads very well and has a great vocabulary.
He has only brainstormed ideas for stories.
He often surprises his mom with some of the things he says.
Jaidyn is 6.
Jaidyn has great language skills. She loves to talk, read and write.
At school, she has written stories about times with her family.
Computers and Computer Use at home (cross case)
Reported by parents:
Skylar -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: learning activities, games
Michael -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: playing games
Deseree -
Computer at home? No. Family plans to get one soon.
Trace -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: ToonTown, Academic games.
Chosen
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: playing games, cartoon network, nick, etc.
Arianna
Computer at home? Yes, but she doesn't use it often.
Home computer activities: starfall, educational cds
Bryce
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: games
Jaidyn
Computer at home? Yes
Nick games, there's a math website she enjoys.
Skylar -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: learning activities, games
Michael -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: playing games
Deseree -
Computer at home? No. Family plans to get one soon.
Trace -
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: ToonTown, Academic games.
Chosen
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: playing games, cartoon network, nick, etc.
Arianna
Computer at home? Yes, but she doesn't use it often.
Home computer activities: starfall, educational cds
Bryce
Computer at home? Yes
Home computer activities: games
Jaidyn
Computer at home? Yes
Nick games, there's a math website she enjoys.
Teacher Descriptions of LA (writing/speaking)
Mz. MP:
Shared Writing 2 times a week, journal writing 2-3 times a week.
Children have daily classrooms discussions after calendar and story time
Ms. AG.
Every Monday begins with journal writing about the weekend. Start off with two sentences at the beginning of the year and end up with seven towards the end. Throughout the week there is usually one big piece, but there is daily journaling in other subjects.
(Informal interview about other writing: For instance, if they are studying penguins, students may be assigned to write "5 facts about penguins" on cute pattern, Or to write a "creative" story about a Penguin in a new home.)
Shared Writing (informal interview) - One student's story is written on a chart. The other students write it in their journals what the other child has written only the focus is on correcting spelling of common words. Ms. G said she really wanted the kids to know how to spell those common words.
Opportunities to talk: partner sharing, opinions about stories, Lessons begin with teacher initiated questions, and end with "our" thoughts about what is learned.
Ms. GP
Journal writing 2x a week. (teachers do slight variations of basically the same routines - (confirmed by teachers themselves in informal interviews and from journal samples, observed classroom and hall displays.)
Student talk opportunities are at calendar time, and discussions of stories in the basal.
Shared Writing 2 times a week, journal writing 2-3 times a week.
Children have daily classrooms discussions after calendar and story time
Ms. AG.
Every Monday begins with journal writing about the weekend. Start off with two sentences at the beginning of the year and end up with seven towards the end. Throughout the week there is usually one big piece, but there is daily journaling in other subjects.
(Informal interview about other writing: For instance, if they are studying penguins, students may be assigned to write "5 facts about penguins" on cute pattern, Or to write a "creative" story about a Penguin in a new home.)
Shared Writing (informal interview) - One student's story is written on a chart. The other students write it in their journals what the other child has written only the focus is on correcting spelling of common words. Ms. G said she really wanted the kids to know how to spell those common words.
Opportunities to talk: partner sharing, opinions about stories, Lessons begin with teacher initiated questions, and end with "our" thoughts about what is learned.
Ms. GP
Journal writing 2x a week. (teachers do slight variations of basically the same routines - (confirmed by teachers themselves in informal interviews and from journal samples, observed classroom and hall displays.)
Student talk opportunities are at calendar time, and discussions of stories in the basal.
Pre- Interviews Across Cases
Trace
His pre-interview is short compared to his post interview where he took a leadership, guide role with Skylar who is very reticent.
On the computer he says he likes to go to game goo. (this is a game in the computer lab) He did not mention until later his avid use at home (his parent mention it.)
He was confident in his abilities as a story writer and story teller, but gave the reason as "I just am." When pressed he said he "thinks first and then writes." He answered the same for story telling: "I think first." This is a theme his teacher hits upon in her questionnaire about him.
Choesn's pre-interview:
Chosen said he liked Dr. Suess (just heard in the library that day) He also said he liked the "monkey movie." Says he likes to write about magic school bus (an assignment in class after watching a video.)
Talked about going to centers and taking his journal to write there.
What makes him good at writing stories?
Well he writes at home (a list?) and staples them to the wall. He has to buy more staples to staple them. When pressed he said Every single day he gets better and better at writing. When he talked about telling stories he mentioned reading at home makes you get better with your voice, and that one had to read loud so the listener can really hear it.
Bryce's pre interview
In his pre-interview, Bryce was asked what kinds of stories he likes. He said liked science stories and he likes to tell make believe stories. He answered quickly without much hesitation. In fact the only hesitation in his entire interview was when he was asked about the writing he did at school. He did mention he writes about math... explaining his strategies. He said there was no show and tell and he didn't really raise his hand much to speak in class.
Bryce considers imself good at writing stories. When asked what makes a good story he said "pictures and words."
He also considered himself good at telling stories. When asked what makes that kind of story good, he said when "they figure it out. This means when the listener follows and understand events. I think this would be an issue with Bryce speaking with other children because his stories are long and often complicated and he uses interesting language.
Arianna pre-interview
Arianna, in her pre-interview says she likes all types of books when asked about her favorite book. WHen pressed, she said she liked fiction books. Asked to name a favorite, and she paused and said she doesn't remember the names of favorites. She said she likes to tell scary stories- tell scary stories to her little cousin who reacts "scary."
At school she says she likes to write about her "weekend."
Asked about opportunities to share and talk at school, she had not answer. She did say that in kindergarten she would bring her stuffed Animals for show and tell. When asked what she would say about those animals, she said that she usually gets them from sea world.
She said she is a good story writer because she "writes neatly."
She said that what makes a good story to tell "words come out of your mouth." I thought she might have meant expression, but when pressed that doesn't seem to be where she was headed.
Michael's Pre-interview
In his pre-interview he said he liked funny stories like Captain Underpants. He said he liked to tell stories like Charlotte's Web.
He said he liked to go home and tell about things he did at school. (Parents mention this as well.) He says that at school he also likes to write about what he did and where he went. I think this is the standard journal entry for his class: What'd you do this weekened?"
Like all the other students, the parents seemed unaware of any writing students did at school.
He said he was a good writer and that he was good because his sister taught him. He could not verbalize what made a good story. When pressed about what he could do to make telling a story interesting to a younger child, he could not verbalize what he might do with his voice, etc.
In the pre-interview he said he liked "reading stories" on the computer. (There is a website we used in the computer lab.) His parents said he had a computer at home and liked playing games.
Jaidyn's pre-interview
Jaidyn most talkative here! Talks about what she likes to do in the computer lab. (Gamegoo) At home she plays Nic and Sponge Bob games.
Says that she likes Arthur stories... that they are her favorites.
Says she likes to tell what happened at school at home.
Says we don't usually write much, but that they write what they did for spring break. Said she wrote about the zoo.
Says yes she is good at writing stories. The reason is because she write "the beginning and I write the ending and I write the middle." Agreed that teachers her that.. and mom.
His pre-interview is short compared to his post interview where he took a leadership, guide role with Skylar who is very reticent.
On the computer he says he likes to go to game goo. (this is a game in the computer lab) He did not mention until later his avid use at home (his parent mention it.)
He was confident in his abilities as a story writer and story teller, but gave the reason as "I just am." When pressed he said he "thinks first and then writes." He answered the same for story telling: "I think first." This is a theme his teacher hits upon in her questionnaire about him.
Choesn's pre-interview:
Chosen said he liked Dr. Suess (just heard in the library that day) He also said he liked the "monkey movie." Says he likes to write about magic school bus (an assignment in class after watching a video.)
Talked about going to centers and taking his journal to write there.
What makes him good at writing stories?
Well he writes at home (a list?) and staples them to the wall. He has to buy more staples to staple them. When pressed he said Every single day he gets better and better at writing. When he talked about telling stories he mentioned reading at home makes you get better with your voice, and that one had to read loud so the listener can really hear it.
Bryce's pre interview
In his pre-interview, Bryce was asked what kinds of stories he likes. He said liked science stories and he likes to tell make believe stories. He answered quickly without much hesitation. In fact the only hesitation in his entire interview was when he was asked about the writing he did at school. He did mention he writes about math... explaining his strategies. He said there was no show and tell and he didn't really raise his hand much to speak in class.
Bryce considers imself good at writing stories. When asked what makes a good story he said "pictures and words."
He also considered himself good at telling stories. When asked what makes that kind of story good, he said when "they figure it out. This means when the listener follows and understand events. I think this would be an issue with Bryce speaking with other children because his stories are long and often complicated and he uses interesting language.
Arianna pre-interview
Arianna, in her pre-interview says she likes all types of books when asked about her favorite book. WHen pressed, she said she liked fiction books. Asked to name a favorite, and she paused and said she doesn't remember the names of favorites. She said she likes to tell scary stories- tell scary stories to her little cousin who reacts "scary."
At school she says she likes to write about her "weekend."
Asked about opportunities to share and talk at school, she had not answer. She did say that in kindergarten she would bring her stuffed Animals for show and tell. When asked what she would say about those animals, she said that she usually gets them from sea world.
She said she is a good story writer because she "writes neatly."
She said that what makes a good story to tell "words come out of your mouth." I thought she might have meant expression, but when pressed that doesn't seem to be where she was headed.
Michael's Pre-interview
In his pre-interview he said he liked funny stories like Captain Underpants. He said he liked to tell stories like Charlotte's Web.
He said he liked to go home and tell about things he did at school. (Parents mention this as well.) He says that at school he also likes to write about what he did and where he went. I think this is the standard journal entry for his class: What'd you do this weekened?"
Like all the other students, the parents seemed unaware of any writing students did at school.
He said he was a good writer and that he was good because his sister taught him. He could not verbalize what made a good story. When pressed about what he could do to make telling a story interesting to a younger child, he could not verbalize what he might do with his voice, etc.
In the pre-interview he said he liked "reading stories" on the computer. (There is a website we used in the computer lab.) His parents said he had a computer at home and liked playing games.
Jaidyn's pre-interview
Jaidyn most talkative here! Talks about what she likes to do in the computer lab. (Gamegoo) At home she plays Nic and Sponge Bob games.
Says that she likes Arthur stories... that they are her favorites.
Says she likes to tell what happened at school at home.
Says we don't usually write much, but that they write what they did for spring break. Said she wrote about the zoo.
Says yes she is good at writing stories. The reason is because she write "the beginning and I write the ending and I write the middle." Agreed that teachers her that.. and mom.
Research Process (in case anyone cares)
My process:
First, I transcribed data and made a few notes directly after transcribing. Read and re-read data in the context of the work of
Labbo
Smitherman
Dyson
Ball
Boykin
Vygotsky
I was looking for connections/extensions of previous research.
I came up with questions. For example? Why didn’t my students’ work look more like Dyson’s (or even my own work with students making web pages?) This is much of the early blog writing about the digital stories. I also sought answers to my research questions.
For the children themselves, I pulled all the data together and organized it per child. For instance, I made a profile of Bryce by pulling together all the data sources about him into a single summary. This has been much of the later blog writing.
I then began to compile the data across the profiles (cases). I called myself doing cross case analysis ala Stark. Starting with the pre-interviews, the “teacher talk” that the kids were doing when describing why they were “good story writers” was clear as a bell to me. And since I knew that there was other data that fit (their journals, the teacher questionnaires, the parent questionnaires) I could put that together to support my hypothesis that the students were high influenced by their interactions with teachers.
Is that last too much of a leap? From what I’ve read of cross-case analysis (very little… it’s new to me) you look at the data by type (such as pre-interviews)across the cases, and look for patterns that can be confirmed by other data. This is what I did. I don’t see where there was another step in there between examining the pre-interviews across the cases, and seeing an obvious pattern that can be confirmed by other sources.
Let me know if I’m missing something.
Marva S.
First, I transcribed data and made a few notes directly after transcribing. Read and re-read data in the context of the work of
Labbo
Smitherman
Dyson
Ball
Boykin
Vygotsky
I was looking for connections/extensions of previous research.
I came up with questions. For example? Why didn’t my students’ work look more like Dyson’s (or even my own work with students making web pages?) This is much of the early blog writing about the digital stories. I also sought answers to my research questions.
For the children themselves, I pulled all the data together and organized it per child. For instance, I made a profile of Bryce by pulling together all the data sources about him into a single summary. This has been much of the later blog writing.
I then began to compile the data across the profiles (cases). I called myself doing cross case analysis ala Stark. Starting with the pre-interviews, the “teacher talk” that the kids were doing when describing why they were “good story writers” was clear as a bell to me. And since I knew that there was other data that fit (their journals, the teacher questionnaires, the parent questionnaires) I could put that together to support my hypothesis that the students were high influenced by their interactions with teachers.
Is that last too much of a leap? From what I’ve read of cross-case analysis (very little… it’s new to me) you look at the data by type (such as pre-interviews)across the cases, and look for patterns that can be confirmed by other data. This is what I did. I don’t see where there was another step in there between examining the pre-interviews across the cases, and seeing an obvious pattern that can be confirmed by other sources.
Let me know if I’m missing something.
Marva S.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Commonalities Across the Cases
Pre interviews -
What makes you a good story writer?
Journals - Teacher questionnaires, Classroom observations
teacher directed/assigned. Highly teacher centered classrooms. "structure."
descriptions with emphasis on detail, spelling, not style, number of sentences
'sharing events' - spelling based (modified -bastardize? - shared writing) Complete thoughts, complete sentences.
post interviews - audience based. "funny." Content.
What makes you a good story writer?
Journals - Teacher questionnaires, Classroom observations
teacher directed/assigned. Highly teacher centered classrooms. "structure."
descriptions with emphasis on detail, spelling, not style, number of sentences
'sharing events' - spelling based (modified -bastardize? - shared writing) Complete thoughts, complete sentences.
post interviews - audience based. "funny." Content.
What is a story?
Despite the fact that the main emphasis of my research was on “story,” I neglected to ask these children in pre-interviews what a “story” was to them.
I did ask them if they were “good” at writing and telling stories. All of them said they were. When asked what made a good story, most of their answers, if they could verbalize an answer to this question, reflected their classroom interactions with their teachers.
They were good story tellers because:
I write neatly - Arianna
I plan and then write – Trace (reflected later in his teacher’s description of him that he often goes off on tangents when writing instead of sticking to a plan.
I write every day which made you get “better and better.” - Chosen
The pictures and words – Bryce,
I just am – Trace
I have a beginning, and end and a middle – Jaidyn
Only Chosen, who likely has few positive writing interactions with his teacher in school, answered this question by sharing a home writing incident: where lists and stories he makes at home are stapled to the wall. Otherwise, their description of writing and storytelling stayed in the school realm as much as possible, even though I was able to lead Arianna into talking about telling her little cousins stories.
These students’ answers were highly contextualized. I was a “teacher” in their environment. When I interviewed them, we were sitting in the hallway outside the first grade classroom hub. So their thinking about stories and the answers to my questions were filtered through a school context as well.
Supporting this theory about their school context filter were there answers to what they liked to write about. Most of them reported that they liked to write about what they did that weekend, or what happened at recess. These of course were the assigned writing experiences that dominated the first grade curriculum at the school. Bryce was a negative case in this instance, because he talked about enjoying writing about aliens. However, I was soon to learn that Bryce was a boy with a head full of stories that he generated on his own and were just bursting to get out. He was also the one student who, without my severe attempts at leading, expressed a good story as having an audience element.
When asked in is pre-interview what made a good story, besides the previously mentioned statement, he also said, “when they get it.”
Since he has a bend toward alien stories and other fantastical realms, I can see where he may have had trouble in the past with parents and friends and his brand of storytelling.
I did ask them if they were “good” at writing and telling stories. All of them said they were. When asked what made a good story, most of their answers, if they could verbalize an answer to this question, reflected their classroom interactions with their teachers.
They were good story tellers because:
I write neatly - Arianna
I plan and then write – Trace (reflected later in his teacher’s description of him that he often goes off on tangents when writing instead of sticking to a plan.
I write every day which made you get “better and better.” - Chosen
The pictures and words – Bryce,
I just am – Trace
I have a beginning, and end and a middle – Jaidyn
Only Chosen, who likely has few positive writing interactions with his teacher in school, answered this question by sharing a home writing incident: where lists and stories he makes at home are stapled to the wall. Otherwise, their description of writing and storytelling stayed in the school realm as much as possible, even though I was able to lead Arianna into talking about telling her little cousins stories.
These students’ answers were highly contextualized. I was a “teacher” in their environment. When I interviewed them, we were sitting in the hallway outside the first grade classroom hub. So their thinking about stories and the answers to my questions were filtered through a school context as well.
Supporting this theory about their school context filter were there answers to what they liked to write about. Most of them reported that they liked to write about what they did that weekend, or what happened at recess. These of course were the assigned writing experiences that dominated the first grade curriculum at the school. Bryce was a negative case in this instance, because he talked about enjoying writing about aliens. However, I was soon to learn that Bryce was a boy with a head full of stories that he generated on his own and were just bursting to get out. He was also the one student who, without my severe attempts at leading, expressed a good story as having an audience element.
When asked in is pre-interview what made a good story, besides the previously mentioned statement, he also said, “when they get it.”
Since he has a bend toward alien stories and other fantastical realms, I can see where he may have had trouble in the past with parents and friends and his brand of storytelling.
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
This is Trace
Trace was 6 years old at the time of this research. He is in class with 2 other students who will not be fully featured in the research. At first Trace was reluctant to leave his class and come with us for the activities.
His pre-interview is short compared to his post interview where he took a leadership, guide role with Skylar who is very reticent.
On the computer he says he likes to go to game goo. (this is a game in the computer lab) He did not mention until later his avid use at home (his parent mention it.)
He was confident in his abilities as a story writer and story teller, but gave the reason as "I just am." When pressed he said he "thinks first and then writes." He answered the same for story telling: "I think first." This is a theme his teacher hits upon in her questionnaire about him.
Parent Questionnaire.
His parents think highly of his vocabulary and language skills. They are able to report that at school he has written about his pets, family vacations. When he talks at home he tells about the events of his day.
They report he plays toontown on the computer at home and academic games.
He likes stories about trains, cards, animals, "boy stuff," and fictional books.
They report an active reading and story life at home. He reads for homework, His sister reads to him, and his parents tell him stories about when they were kids.
They feel he has an advanced usage of words... uses large words and is very descriptive.
His teacher rates him as having "medium" written and spoken language skills. She reports he does use complete sentences, and has some advance vocabulary, but doesn't focus or plan his writing. He adds details as the come and kind of let them take him where ever... off into tangents.
She reports that he feels most comfortable writing about family, science, math and games he plays at home.
Trace's Journal
He has a piece where he describes himself. The structure of the piece features all sentences starting with "I have..." (pants, shirt, ... color, and mentions a spiderman shirt.) His spelling of words is conventional, though he does not seem to stretch for more exceptional vocabulary in his journal writing. Teacher has corrected some of his bs and ds (backward)
Writes another piece about his teeth and brushing habits. Again, traditional spelling. I think there may have been a word list posted for words like permanent etc. Teacher has corrected spelling for vegetables and fruits.
There is also a list of spelling words (three times each) in his journal graded with a happy face. And a story about his time at a friends house. (lacks detail other than lots of fun... had a "grate time."
Quick Research observations:
Trace was very reluctant to come at first and missed the first sessions. In fact circumstances of his first story was during his classes' period in the computer lab just to get him encouraged to come. This story is different than his final two that use stickers.
Trace's writing style might not have been best for the set up of this research. He edits afterwards it seems. This somewhat fits with is teacher's complaint that he doesn't plan first. I think his natural process is to get his ideas on paper and then edit. This is just my teacherly observations from his and his teacher's interview, and the way he tried to make changes during/after his recording particularly of his 1st story.
Trace, like Bryce spent a lot of time on his backgrounds. I think this was social acquired between both of them though I don't know which one started it. They both compared different techniques for changing backgrounds while they were working.
His middle story has a loose theme and then he assembles the pieces that fit his "bomb" motif. His last story was probably heavily influenced by me putting the camera beside him while he was working???? It is just a recitation of what is there. He asked to add music. During author's chair, seemed to not mind that his words were undecipherable under his music. Played it cool and danced along with the music and acted as if he didn't care that his voice was lost.
post interview
Still reports that what he likes best is to play on the computer. Lists Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean. What he liked best about doing this type of story? That you could do different kinds (describing or funny.) He has picked up a theme that I talked about and made it his... just like the thinking first thing in his pre-interview. This kid is a teacher pleaser and a politician. He will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. He said it was bad that he had to click around for stickers... finding stickers he wanted for what he wanted to show. This is mentioned in other research... how the graphics often limit/control what students do. This was huge with Trace.
He said that folks seeing his dvd was "embarrassing." he said because his family laughed.
I asked him about his backgrounds and he said they were important for all stories, but didn't elaborate on that. He appreciated Deseree's story the most because it was just funny that there was a duck in the street. hah.
His pre-interview is short compared to his post interview where he took a leadership, guide role with Skylar who is very reticent.
On the computer he says he likes to go to game goo. (this is a game in the computer lab) He did not mention until later his avid use at home (his parent mention it.)
He was confident in his abilities as a story writer and story teller, but gave the reason as "I just am." When pressed he said he "thinks first and then writes." He answered the same for story telling: "I think first." This is a theme his teacher hits upon in her questionnaire about him.
Parent Questionnaire.
His parents think highly of his vocabulary and language skills. They are able to report that at school he has written about his pets, family vacations. When he talks at home he tells about the events of his day.
They report he plays toontown on the computer at home and academic games.
He likes stories about trains, cards, animals, "boy stuff," and fictional books.
They report an active reading and story life at home. He reads for homework, His sister reads to him, and his parents tell him stories about when they were kids.
They feel he has an advanced usage of words... uses large words and is very descriptive.
His teacher rates him as having "medium" written and spoken language skills. She reports he does use complete sentences, and has some advance vocabulary, but doesn't focus or plan his writing. He adds details as the come and kind of let them take him where ever... off into tangents.
She reports that he feels most comfortable writing about family, science, math and games he plays at home.
Trace's Journal
He has a piece where he describes himself. The structure of the piece features all sentences starting with "I have..." (pants, shirt, ... color, and mentions a spiderman shirt.) His spelling of words is conventional, though he does not seem to stretch for more exceptional vocabulary in his journal writing. Teacher has corrected some of his bs and ds (backward)
Writes another piece about his teeth and brushing habits. Again, traditional spelling. I think there may have been a word list posted for words like permanent etc. Teacher has corrected spelling for vegetables and fruits.
There is also a list of spelling words (three times each) in his journal graded with a happy face. And a story about his time at a friends house. (lacks detail other than lots of fun... had a "grate time."
Quick Research observations:
Trace was very reluctant to come at first and missed the first sessions. In fact circumstances of his first story was during his classes' period in the computer lab just to get him encouraged to come. This story is different than his final two that use stickers.
Trace's writing style might not have been best for the set up of this research. He edits afterwards it seems. This somewhat fits with is teacher's complaint that he doesn't plan first. I think his natural process is to get his ideas on paper and then edit. This is just my teacherly observations from his and his teacher's interview, and the way he tried to make changes during/after his recording particularly of his 1st story.
Trace, like Bryce spent a lot of time on his backgrounds. I think this was social acquired between both of them though I don't know which one started it. They both compared different techniques for changing backgrounds while they were working.
His middle story has a loose theme and then he assembles the pieces that fit his "bomb" motif. His last story was probably heavily influenced by me putting the camera beside him while he was working???? It is just a recitation of what is there. He asked to add music. During author's chair, seemed to not mind that his words were undecipherable under his music. Played it cool and danced along with the music and acted as if he didn't care that his voice was lost.
post interview
Still reports that what he likes best is to play on the computer. Lists Toontown and Pirates of the Caribbean. What he liked best about doing this type of story? That you could do different kinds (describing or funny.) He has picked up a theme that I talked about and made it his... just like the thinking first thing in his pre-interview. This kid is a teacher pleaser and a politician. He will tell you what he thinks you want to hear. He said it was bad that he had to click around for stickers... finding stickers he wanted for what he wanted to show. This is mentioned in other research... how the graphics often limit/control what students do. This was huge with Trace.
He said that folks seeing his dvd was "embarrassing." he said because his family laughed.
I asked him about his backgrounds and he said they were important for all stories, but didn't elaborate on that. He appreciated Deseree's story the most because it was just funny that there was a duck in the street. hah.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Structuring Chapter 4
Several influences combined to prompt the child to create their digital stories:
A sense of audience strongly influences the child's creation.
The technology itself strongly influences the child's creation.
The child's social-cultural milieu strongly influences the child's creation.
A sense of audience strongly influences the child's creation.
The technology itself strongly influences the child's creation.
The child's social-cultural milieu strongly influences the child's creation.
This is Chosen
Chosen was probably the most eager to join this project. While he rarely returns notes, homework, field trip money, etc, etc, to school, he promptly returned his forms to participate in this project. His teacher was a little jealous, "maybe because YOU'RE an African American." she said, jokingly. (head notes)
Choesn's pre-interview:
Chosen was 6 at the beginning of this research project. He has a computer at home and frequently plays games at cartoon network and nick.com, etc.
According to his mom, Chosen enjoys being read to and enjoys bible stories and fairy tales. According to his mom, she tells folk tales at home (not events of the day, etc.)Chosen tells stories to his little brother.
His mom thinks he needs to practice reading.
Chosen's teachers rated him as a low in writing and verbal skills. He has the same teacher as Arianna, Deseree, and Michael. She says that Chosen has low alphabet recognition and is unable to write words. (This is reflected in his writing journal.) Chosen will write streams of letters or words that are in the environment. Like his parent, his teacher left school writing blank. (Teacher... what does he choose to write about (NA says the teacher.)
She says that Chosen is not very verbal, and when he was would mostly talk about things that were happening at home. The teacher says he does not speak in complete sentences. She thought he neede more language role models and was not exposed to language as much as other students and that he was below grade level.
Chosen's journal: His journal samples reflect short random lists of words as his teacher mentioned. One list of words is checked off by his teacher. I assume he is the type that required feedback to get him to accomplish anything. He also has a fairly detailed rendition of people and a cat (not stick figure) that is wordless, but stamped by the teacher. He has another piece that is probably another collection of random words he sees around the room accompanied by a smiling stick figure in prominently drawn shoes.
Post interview: Chosen has definite ideas here about his favorite thing to do on a computer: Making pictures. As for our story making he enjoyed recording. Chosen liked Bryce's story the best because of the thingy up in there that he forgot. Chosen uses imprecise language to describe favorite book his teacher read to him. "the fish story."
Choesn's pre-interview:
Chosen was 6 at the beginning of this research project. He has a computer at home and frequently plays games at cartoon network and nick.com, etc.
According to his mom, Chosen enjoys being read to and enjoys bible stories and fairy tales. According to his mom, she tells folk tales at home (not events of the day, etc.)Chosen tells stories to his little brother.
His mom thinks he needs to practice reading.
Chosen's teachers rated him as a low in writing and verbal skills. He has the same teacher as Arianna, Deseree, and Michael. She says that Chosen has low alphabet recognition and is unable to write words. (This is reflected in his writing journal.) Chosen will write streams of letters or words that are in the environment. Like his parent, his teacher left school writing blank. (Teacher... what does he choose to write about (NA says the teacher.)
She says that Chosen is not very verbal, and when he was would mostly talk about things that were happening at home. The teacher says he does not speak in complete sentences. She thought he neede more language role models and was not exposed to language as much as other students and that he was below grade level.
Chosen's journal: His journal samples reflect short random lists of words as his teacher mentioned. One list of words is checked off by his teacher. I assume he is the type that required feedback to get him to accomplish anything. He also has a fairly detailed rendition of people and a cat (not stick figure) that is wordless, but stamped by the teacher. He has another piece that is probably another collection of random words he sees around the room accompanied by a smiling stick figure in prominently drawn shoes.
Post interview: Chosen has definite ideas here about his favorite thing to do on a computer: Making pictures. As for our story making he enjoyed recording. Chosen liked Bryce's story the best because of the thingy up in there that he forgot. Chosen uses imprecise language to describe favorite book his teacher read to him. "the fish story."
This is Deseree
Deseree was 7 years old at the time of this research project. She does not have a computer at home, so they had no idea about what she liked to do with computers. In her pre-interview she mentioned games played at the computer lab at school. Her parents are pretty proud of her abilities as a reader, writer and speaker. They believe she does all those well. Deseree's parents remembered one story she'd written at school, "My Lost Kitten." a true experience story. At home she generally tells the events of the day. Her parents said she enjoys 'happy stories' but didn't elaborate on that. Her Dad reads her bedtime stories. They believe she is a good communicator overall.
Deseree's teacher agrees that she is a good communicator and says she was 'on level' by the end of the year. She claims that Deseree could write up to 5 or 6 sentences in a story. This met end of year expectations.
Deseree participated in class' Monday morning routine of writing journal writing about the events of their weekend. The teacher said the class began the year required to write 2 sentences and then ended the year expected to write 5, which Deseree could do. Deseree was often deliberate and slow in her writing, and her thoughts sometimes strayed, but she made sense, which was valued by her teacher.
During free writing, she choose to write about family and friends and also social studies topics the class was studying. Interestingly her teacher also noted that Deseree often made connections between school topics and her real world experiences. She could find patterns and could make connections to stories they read in class.
Deseree was an agile speaker, and used accentuated and appropriate expression to get her point across. Her teacher believed her to be better orally than in print.
Deseree's writing sample from her journal is unimpressive. I choose journal writing because the digital stories they created weren't closer to journal writing than highly polished and published pieces. She wrote what she did over the weekend in a simple three sentence list. I went... I went... The picture she drew showed a bit more care an interest. In another piece she wrote about getting her nails painted and then drew her hand and nails. She talked about how much she like the nails and that they looked pretty. I could assume from the writing that except for times when something exciting actually happened (the nails) she was not enthusiastic about writing about the events of the weekend. There was no elaboration. I see no grading on her writing samples. Deseree probably did not expect anyone to see or respond to these pieces.
Deseree was fairly quiet during author's chairs. She was engaged and watchful. During her own presentations she slumped in her chair and smiled with a guarded smile. She could not tell why she decided on her second story (numbers one) and said it just popped in her head. Her goal for her last story was to make "everyone laugh."
In her post interview She was the only student who mentioned that Author's Chair was her favorite part of the experience. She also talks about being nervous when people watched her story.
SHe also talks about that the parts that were funny (voice) were the parts where she was "nervous." There is no reason to be nervous during recording unless you are aware of audience which is something previous writings didn't have.
Deseree's teacher agrees that she is a good communicator and says she was 'on level' by the end of the year. She claims that Deseree could write up to 5 or 6 sentences in a story. This met end of year expectations.
Deseree participated in class' Monday morning routine of writing journal writing about the events of their weekend. The teacher said the class began the year required to write 2 sentences and then ended the year expected to write 5, which Deseree could do. Deseree was often deliberate and slow in her writing, and her thoughts sometimes strayed, but she made sense, which was valued by her teacher.
During free writing, she choose to write about family and friends and also social studies topics the class was studying. Interestingly her teacher also noted that Deseree often made connections between school topics and her real world experiences. She could find patterns and could make connections to stories they read in class.
Deseree was an agile speaker, and used accentuated and appropriate expression to get her point across. Her teacher believed her to be better orally than in print.
Deseree's writing sample from her journal is unimpressive. I choose journal writing because the digital stories they created weren't closer to journal writing than highly polished and published pieces. She wrote what she did over the weekend in a simple three sentence list. I went... I went... The picture she drew showed a bit more care an interest. In another piece she wrote about getting her nails painted and then drew her hand and nails. She talked about how much she like the nails and that they looked pretty. I could assume from the writing that except for times when something exciting actually happened (the nails) she was not enthusiastic about writing about the events of the weekend. There was no elaboration. I see no grading on her writing samples. Deseree probably did not expect anyone to see or respond to these pieces.
Deseree was fairly quiet during author's chairs. She was engaged and watchful. During her own presentations she slumped in her chair and smiled with a guarded smile. She could not tell why she decided on her second story (numbers one) and said it just popped in her head. Her goal for her last story was to make "everyone laugh."
In her post interview She was the only student who mentioned that Author's Chair was her favorite part of the experience. She also talks about being nervous when people watched her story.
SHe also talks about that the parts that were funny (voice) were the parts where she was "nervous." There is no reason to be nervous during recording unless you are aware of audience which is something previous writings didn't have.
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