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.
Monday, February 23, 2009
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.
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Theory about consideration of audience on later or last pieces
1. Bryce talks about doing a talking fish
what arms story in 2nd author
s chair
Bryce brings the card as preparation for third story. (observation)
2. Arianna comments on her story during her story. (story)
3. Chosen redos his story (less offensive to the amasses.)
4. I think Skylar wanting to say more (story)
5. Michael -
6. Trace - conversational tone (story)
6. Deseree talks of being nervous while recording in her last story. (post interview)
Why reflection? Well they knew they were going to do the third story. Also we talked about goals in the 2nd AC session.
what arms story in 2nd author
s chair
Bryce brings the card as preparation for third story. (observation)
2. Arianna comments on her story during her story. (story)
3. Chosen redos his story (less offensive to the amasses.)
4. I think Skylar wanting to say more (story)
5. Michael -
6. Trace - conversational tone (story)
6. Deseree talks of being nervous while recording in her last story. (post interview)
Why reflection? Well they knew they were going to do the third story. Also we talked about goals in the 2nd AC session.
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
This is Bryce
Bryce was 7 at the beginning of this project. He is in Ms. Pierce's class. Arianna is his cousin. He has a computer at home. He likes to play Toontown which is a subscription mmo game for kids from Disney.
Bryce is the only student who made pop culture references in his stories and journal. The teachers' activities are very directed, but Bryce "writes stories" in his head natural at home and for fun. So he knows that he can tap that well.
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.
Bryce's Mom noted that Bryce enjoys playing games on the computer. She glowingly reported that he has great vocabulary, loves to read, and reads very well in her opinion. She said he loves to be told all sorts of stories, but that she often tells him stories about his cousins and other family members.
Bryce's Writing Journal is mostly similar to the others' journals. This reflects teacher planning and collaboration across the grade level. The topics are mostly what they did that weekend. Bryce did find the opportunity to write a pirate story.
He named the characters.
He gave the story a title
He signed it by Bryce.
His story has a sense of beginning/middle and end.
In his what I did entries, he, like Michael expresses "having fun."
The pictures in his journal often reflect different
........................
I won't finish this right now, because I was working on Arianna. But the coolest thing about Bryce is that he is a writer. I was listening to the tape of the 2nd author's chair and I had them state their goals for their next piece. The other kids said stuff like make people laugh. And Chosen mentioned something he didn't remember later when he was making the third story.
Bryce SPECIFICALLY listed that he wanted to write a story about "talking fish with arms."
I knew the first story was something that had been churning inside him for a while. I could just tell by the way it spilled out of him. But it looks like he had other stories on tap and ready to go.
Post Interview:
Likes to play Toontown and Madagascar on his computer.
His favorite part of making these stories was drawing the pictures.
Of all the stories, he liked his last story the best.
Denies changing his voice for his story. (I don't know why... it's obvious that he did.)
What makes a good story: Bryce said different kinds of things... when pressed, he said, 'monsters, aliens.' so he means content makes a good story.
Bryce is the only student who made pop culture references in his stories and journal. The teachers' activities are very directed, but Bryce "writes stories" in his head natural at home and for fun. So he knows that he can tap that well.
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.
Bryce's Mom noted that Bryce enjoys playing games on the computer. She glowingly reported that he has great vocabulary, loves to read, and reads very well in her opinion. She said he loves to be told all sorts of stories, but that she often tells him stories about his cousins and other family members.
Bryce's Writing Journal is mostly similar to the others' journals. This reflects teacher planning and collaboration across the grade level. The topics are mostly what they did that weekend. Bryce did find the opportunity to write a pirate story.
He named the characters.
He gave the story a title
He signed it by Bryce.
His story has a sense of beginning/middle and end.
In his what I did entries, he, like Michael expresses "having fun."
The pictures in his journal often reflect different
........................
I won't finish this right now, because I was working on Arianna. But the coolest thing about Bryce is that he is a writer. I was listening to the tape of the 2nd author's chair and I had them state their goals for their next piece. The other kids said stuff like make people laugh. And Chosen mentioned something he didn't remember later when he was making the third story.
Bryce SPECIFICALLY listed that he wanted to write a story about "talking fish with arms."
I knew the first story was something that had been churning inside him for a while. I could just tell by the way it spilled out of him. But it looks like he had other stories on tap and ready to go.
Post Interview:
Likes to play Toontown and Madagascar on his computer.
His favorite part of making these stories was drawing the pictures.
Of all the stories, he liked his last story the best.
Denies changing his voice for his story. (I don't know why... it's obvious that he did.)
What makes a good story: Bryce said different kinds of things... when pressed, he said, 'monsters, aliens.' so he means content makes a good story.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
This is Arianna
Arianna is 7 at the time of this research project. She is in 1st grade. She is in the same class as Michael, Deseree and Chosen. She is an African American child with a Latino father. According to her parent, she speaks fluent Spanish. Bryce in this study is her cousin.
Her parents tell us she doesn't choose to use the computer much at home. When she does, it is usually starfall or educational cds. Later in her pre-interview, Arianna will say that she likes playing games on the computer, but does not know many sites. She sites a website that the librarian taught her very recently as her "favorite."
Her parents say they are not aware of much story writing she does at school. There are occasional paragraphs describing a picture. Her parents read her bed time stories. She enjoys hearing stories about her cousins. Her parents report that she enjoys hearing Junie B. Jones.
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.
Her teacher's evaluation of Arianna's language skills was pretty glowing. The teacher said she was on grade level. She classifed her as having high verbal skills. She gave clear and concise statements and complete thoughts. She claimed Arianna was medium at writing and had improved at a steady pace and she expected her to be right on track at the end of the year. She writes in complete sentences... writing flows.
Arianna chooses to write about friends and family (usually assigned topics.)
Arinna uses complete senses and can be very dramatic to get her point across. She uses correct tenses. Her teacher lists her as a strong language user.
Her Journal:
The journal samples I could get from her were pretty sparse. I tried to choose from each child a sample that was their longest from their journal. That was my criteria... as much words as possible in the three writing samples. Something they seemed to have put some energy into.
Arianna had a numbered list of what she'd done over the weekened which was a common topic in the classroom. The sentences were checked by the teacher. There was correct spelling, capitals and punctuation. There was not much elaboration, but I do not think that was expected. "I went bowling." "I swang on a swing."
She also has a piece where she copied a poem or a song. Again spelled in standard form for the most part.
She has a description of her self (what she is wearing) that other students also have.
Lastly there is a piece that is actually copied from another student. I will get to the reason for that in another post.
She has some half hearted stick figures drawn to accompany her writing.
Field Notes:
Arriana is hard on herself. She was very worried about making her first story. She is a perfectionist... but in the ways she knows...spelling... neatness.. etc. She started out using the shape tools that we learned during computer lab time, but move on to a girls and flowers theme. This was her anchor and she stuck with it. (anchor)
Arianna spoke several times (tapes during work time and 2nd author's chair) that she wanted to do things for Bryce... I am making a story for Bryce, Bryce what should I add here? She expressed interest in making Bryce laugh for her third story.
Arianna erased when the tool was a problem... instead of fixing the tool. That is she didn't really adjust the technology to her needs. She worked around it. She showed less frustration at the end and her third story reflects her working with Jaidyn. Jaidyn left and in her third panael the story is typical Arianna.
During 2nd authors chair Ariann was very critical of her own story. "I don't think mine is interesting" "It was stupid." During her third story she expresses that she hates her story during the last panel. During the 2nd author's chair she expresses that she is going to be funnier next time as her goal.
Post Interview
Arianna is very bouyant during this interview. She is making farting noises joyfully.
Arianna answered immediately that she liked to write silly stories. She said she wanted to laugh Bryces head off' She said computers were fun and that she liked to play on them, play pixie (software used to create stories.)
Said at home her cousin (bryce) helped her with describing words but that when she did these stories she had more time to do lots of stories.
Liked Trace's stories... said because he used the blender (stamps)than she did.
Was looking forward to to getting a dvd. Started making weird monkey sounds so I left her alone.
;Labbo and Arianna
Screen as canvas. She is drawing pretty pictures. The story comes from her lster. I mean I don't know if her pictures reflect deliberate story telling.
Her parents tell us she doesn't choose to use the computer much at home. When she does, it is usually starfall or educational cds. Later in her pre-interview, Arianna will say that she likes playing games on the computer, but does not know many sites. She sites a website that the librarian taught her very recently as her "favorite."
Her parents say they are not aware of much story writing she does at school. There are occasional paragraphs describing a picture. Her parents read her bed time stories. She enjoys hearing stories about her cousins. Her parents report that she enjoys hearing Junie B. Jones.
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.
Her teacher's evaluation of Arianna's language skills was pretty glowing. The teacher said she was on grade level. She classifed her as having high verbal skills. She gave clear and concise statements and complete thoughts. She claimed Arianna was medium at writing and had improved at a steady pace and she expected her to be right on track at the end of the year. She writes in complete sentences... writing flows.
Arianna chooses to write about friends and family (usually assigned topics.)
Arinna uses complete senses and can be very dramatic to get her point across. She uses correct tenses. Her teacher lists her as a strong language user.
Her Journal:
The journal samples I could get from her were pretty sparse. I tried to choose from each child a sample that was their longest from their journal. That was my criteria... as much words as possible in the three writing samples. Something they seemed to have put some energy into.
Arianna had a numbered list of what she'd done over the weekened which was a common topic in the classroom. The sentences were checked by the teacher. There was correct spelling, capitals and punctuation. There was not much elaboration, but I do not think that was expected. "I went bowling." "I swang on a swing."
She also has a piece where she copied a poem or a song. Again spelled in standard form for the most part.
She has a description of her self (what she is wearing) that other students also have.
Lastly there is a piece that is actually copied from another student. I will get to the reason for that in another post.
She has some half hearted stick figures drawn to accompany her writing.
Field Notes:
Arriana is hard on herself. She was very worried about making her first story. She is a perfectionist... but in the ways she knows...spelling... neatness.. etc. She started out using the shape tools that we learned during computer lab time, but move on to a girls and flowers theme. This was her anchor and she stuck with it. (anchor)
Arianna spoke several times (tapes during work time and 2nd author's chair) that she wanted to do things for Bryce... I am making a story for Bryce, Bryce what should I add here? She expressed interest in making Bryce laugh for her third story.
Arianna erased when the tool was a problem... instead of fixing the tool. That is she didn't really adjust the technology to her needs. She worked around it. She showed less frustration at the end and her third story reflects her working with Jaidyn. Jaidyn left and in her third panael the story is typical Arianna.
During 2nd authors chair Ariann was very critical of her own story. "I don't think mine is interesting" "It was stupid." During her third story she expresses that she hates her story during the last panel. During the 2nd author's chair she expresses that she is going to be funnier next time as her goal.
Post Interview
Arianna is very bouyant during this interview. She is making farting noises joyfully.
Arianna answered immediately that she liked to write silly stories. She said she wanted to laugh Bryces head off' She said computers were fun and that she liked to play on them, play pixie (software used to create stories.)
Said at home her cousin (bryce) helped her with describing words but that when she did these stories she had more time to do lots of stories.
Liked Trace's stories... said because he used the blender (stamps)than she did.
Was looking forward to to getting a dvd. Started making weird monkey sounds so I left her alone.
;Labbo and Arianna
Screen as canvas. She is drawing pretty pictures. The story comes from her lster. I mean I don't know if her pictures reflect deliberate story telling.
This is Michael
Michael was 7 at the time of the research project. He is an ESL learner due to the fact that his parents are from Africa (will find country.) He has an older sister who was in fifth grade last year.
Michael was in Ms. G's class. Mrs. G. agrees that she does less modeling than Ms. P so that her students had room to go off on their own a bit more in assignments. However most writing was teacher directed; prompts. Even "creative writing" assignments were directed: If they were learning about penguins they might be assigned to write facts about penguins; then as a creative writing activity it might be "what would you do if you had your own penguin. (teacher informal interview)
In class Michael is often a slow starter and seems to not to be "with us." On an observation, I came in and sat beside him during a spelling test. I was surprised to see that there were no words on his paper, just a bunch of erasings. In the lab he struck me as a sharp student. After I sat down beside him he started writing the words where the teacher was... about number 15 out of 25. The words were challenging regular words like after, and bought and he spelling them all correctly. (my observation)
His teacher considered him a high reader, but had trouble completing his thoughts. She said he spoke in wrong tenses (I goes with my mom) and broken sentences. (teacher questionaire)
In his class journal Michael wrote in a fairly standard narrative form. I have pieces from him from January of his first grade year on. By standard narrative, I mean he wrote sentences that were in linear order and grouped on the same topic. In his journal he wrote about his dog and his family. He included feelings of happy and sad. He also wrote about going to his dad's store and exchanging money. (journal samples)
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.
In his post-interview He said a good story makes people be nice, funny or mean... makes people feel something. So a good story ilicits a reaction from the audience. In his post interview he said he liked playing games and making stories on the computer. He was pretty delighted with the dvd and when reviewing his work he commented on things he thought were left out... things he meant to say.
Before the project, he wrote about the things he wanted to make a movie about:
His dog being gone (mentioned also in his journal)
Giving his mom food.
Dad being funny.
Something about a pet (handwriting indecipherable.)
I can say: Michael write about his family. Michael showed previous interest in exchanging money in his journal. His father owns a store. He tells a trickster tale (tricking dad out of money.) He tells absurd tales: giving mom a gorilla,
Every story begins with the dollar bill stamp (his anchor) and he works around that.
He is the one child who asked for specific help in manipulating the stamp so it could fit his needs. That is, bending the technology to his will rather than going with where the technology took him. He had very purposeful ideas about what he was doing with that stamp (he cried out very upset when his cut and paste covered up his picture when he was just learning how to cut and paste the dollar stamps.)
Michael was the wanderer (like a father-to-be in the waiting room) during Author's Chair sections.
Labbo Stance: Screen as paper (for storytelling) Screen as playground (for jokes) Doesn't quite translate due to the digital story nature of this project. For instance the jokes are in the vocal part not necessarily in what was created on the screen.
Awareness of audience in the last piece?
Michael's Elaboration over time. The pictures were generally the same spare drawing. Same themes. Now that I know that his dad owns a store, I don't know if he departed that far from family after all with the last one. The elaboration over time came from how he told his story. He was having such a good time with the second story that he was shouting it on the way out the door (tape recordings) the day he recorded it. Interesting how 1st story is pretty much in the pictures. Second story he goes beyond the pictures he's drawn (the pictures are place holder for the extra story he wants to tell about gorillas, and punches, etc.) The third reflects decision... what meaning will be carried in the images, what meaning parts will be carried in the vocal recordings.
Theory: The more children used the digital tools, the more they depended on the verbal to carry meaning of the story. (story, tonal pitches)
Michael giggles forcibly through the showing of his second story. Was kind of wild eyed in amazement at the first (wow really??) Third paced the floor like an expectant father. Responded seriously to teacher comments of how she will edit silence spaces or extra talk digitally.
Michael was eager to comment on the stories of others. He said things were "great" and funny.
He said he added items because he wanted to make them funny. (The gorilla) I asked him about the use of his voice (bill cosby!) and he said Well I do not know but I think so. Later you can hear him commenting on others' stories mentioning how their "voice" was funny.
Michael was in Ms. G's class. Mrs. G. agrees that she does less modeling than Ms. P so that her students had room to go off on their own a bit more in assignments. However most writing was teacher directed; prompts. Even "creative writing" assignments were directed: If they were learning about penguins they might be assigned to write facts about penguins; then as a creative writing activity it might be "what would you do if you had your own penguin. (teacher informal interview)
In class Michael is often a slow starter and seems to not to be "with us." On an observation, I came in and sat beside him during a spelling test. I was surprised to see that there were no words on his paper, just a bunch of erasings. In the lab he struck me as a sharp student. After I sat down beside him he started writing the words where the teacher was... about number 15 out of 25. The words were challenging regular words like after, and bought and he spelling them all correctly. (my observation)
His teacher considered him a high reader, but had trouble completing his thoughts. She said he spoke in wrong tenses (I goes with my mom) and broken sentences. (teacher questionaire)
In his class journal Michael wrote in a fairly standard narrative form. I have pieces from him from January of his first grade year on. By standard narrative, I mean he wrote sentences that were in linear order and grouped on the same topic. In his journal he wrote about his dog and his family. He included feelings of happy and sad. He also wrote about going to his dad's store and exchanging money. (journal samples)
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.
In his post-interview He said a good story makes people be nice, funny or mean... makes people feel something. So a good story ilicits a reaction from the audience. In his post interview he said he liked playing games and making stories on the computer. He was pretty delighted with the dvd and when reviewing his work he commented on things he thought were left out... things he meant to say.
Before the project, he wrote about the things he wanted to make a movie about:
His dog being gone (mentioned also in his journal)
Giving his mom food.
Dad being funny.
Something about a pet (handwriting indecipherable.)
I can say: Michael write about his family. Michael showed previous interest in exchanging money in his journal. His father owns a store. He tells a trickster tale (tricking dad out of money.) He tells absurd tales: giving mom a gorilla,
Every story begins with the dollar bill stamp (his anchor) and he works around that.
He is the one child who asked for specific help in manipulating the stamp so it could fit his needs. That is, bending the technology to his will rather than going with where the technology took him. He had very purposeful ideas about what he was doing with that stamp (he cried out very upset when his cut and paste covered up his picture when he was just learning how to cut and paste the dollar stamps.)
Michael was the wanderer (like a father-to-be in the waiting room) during Author's Chair sections.
Labbo Stance: Screen as paper (for storytelling) Screen as playground (for jokes) Doesn't quite translate due to the digital story nature of this project. For instance the jokes are in the vocal part not necessarily in what was created on the screen.
Awareness of audience in the last piece?
Michael's Elaboration over time. The pictures were generally the same spare drawing. Same themes. Now that I know that his dad owns a store, I don't know if he departed that far from family after all with the last one. The elaboration over time came from how he told his story. He was having such a good time with the second story that he was shouting it on the way out the door (tape recordings) the day he recorded it. Interesting how 1st story is pretty much in the pictures. Second story he goes beyond the pictures he's drawn (the pictures are place holder for the extra story he wants to tell about gorillas, and punches, etc.) The third reflects decision... what meaning will be carried in the images, what meaning parts will be carried in the vocal recordings.
Theory: The more children used the digital tools, the more they depended on the verbal to carry meaning of the story. (story, tonal pitches)
Michael giggles forcibly through the showing of his second story. Was kind of wild eyed in amazement at the first (wow really??) Third paced the floor like an expectant father. Responded seriously to teacher comments of how she will edit silence spaces or extra talk digitally.
Michael was eager to comment on the stories of others. He said things were "great" and funny.
He said he added items because he wanted to make them funny. (The gorilla) I asked him about the use of his voice (bill cosby!) and he said Well I do not know but I think so. Later you can hear him commenting on others' stories mentioning how their "voice" was funny.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Labbo
Kress might be too much for me. How about Labbo? She outlined stances the children took to the computer as they worked at the center. Now my project is a scooch more structured in that they were directed to make a story. But could the analysis be based on the stances she outlined.
;
;
Friday, January 9, 2009
looking for an analysis organizer for my stories.
Not happy with the 'structure' of labov. Looking at my old friend Kress.
Kress and Van Leeuwan (2001) have suggested that the four elements of multimodality
are discourse, design, production and distribution.
Zammitt and Downes (2002, p.25) suggest that a feature of multimodal texts is their
interconnectedness with the form, content and the possibilities of learning.
Zammit, K. and Downes, T. (2002). New learning environments and the multiliterate
individual: a framework for educators. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,25(2), 24-28
Kress and Van Leeuwan (2001) have suggested that the four elements of multimodality
are discourse, design, production and distribution.
Zammitt and Downes (2002, p.25) suggest that a feature of multimodal texts is their
interconnectedness with the form, content and the possibilities of learning.
Zammit, K. and Downes, T. (2002). New learning environments and the multiliterate
individual: a framework for educators. Australian Journal of Language and Literacy,25(2), 24-28
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