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Free Writing in an Elementary Classroom

Katherine Goodwin

The Pennsylvania State University and Park Forest Elementary School

April 15, 2011

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Table of Contents Description of Teaching Context 3 Rationale 4 Wonderings and Questions 5 Data Collection and Analysis 6 Explanation of Findings 10 Reflections and Future Practice 14 Appendix Table of Contents 15 Appendix Figures A‐M 16‐42

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Context: Located in the heart of Central Pennsylvania is an elementary school with a

mission to make a difference in the environment and through service learning.

During the 2010‐2011 school year, as an intern in the Professional Development

School, I have had the opportunity to teach fourth grade students at a privileged

school that actively makes a difference in the world.

In my fourth grade classroom, there are ten female students and twelve male

students. This group of twenty‐two students is an academically diverse group. Six of

the students are a part of the math enrichment program once a week, while two

students receive learning support for math. About eight students read above a

fourth grade level, eight students read on grade level and six, including an ELL

student, read below the fourth grade reading level. We have five students who

receive Title 1 Reading and two who receive learning support in reading. Three

students receive additional support services for speech, and three students receive

support services for occupational therapy. One student receives learning support for

writing and another receives autistic support. Two students in the class are

diagnosed with ADD/ADHD and three students have been identified on the Autism

spectrum. To support these students, there is a paraprofessional in our classroom to

support any additional needs these students may have.

Despite the differences of students in this fourth grade classroom, they are

all, in general, friendly with one another. After spending a year together in third

grade, this class has formed a solid community, now together as a “looped” fourth

grade class. Three new students joined the class this fourth grade year and have

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adjusted well and made friends easily, as one of the students has moved to a

different school in the district. There are about five social leaders in the classroom,

all considered high achievers. In general, the same students are in and out of the

classroom throughout the day for the extra support. There are two additional

students that have a significant difficulty staying on task, particularly in writing. Our

paraprofessional is a helpful resource, as these students require the Alpha smarts to

type writing pieces.

My ELL student is outgoing and eager to participate. The rest of the students

are helpful to him, making an effort to include the student and help him understand.

This student has basic writing skills and during our scheduled writing time, the

student can be hesitant to write freely without an adult prompting him.

Aside from our ELL student, differences in writing among students are

evident. Some students write creatively above a fourth grade level while other

students struggle to write one paragraph. Complete sentences and fluency are skills

that require attention in our fourth grade class. As an intern in this fourth grade

classroom, my eyes have been opened to the writing capabilities of my students and

the room for improvement for many.

Rationale: In my personal experience, writing and journaling is a means of gathering

thoughts and expressing oneself. As a writer, this “free,” boundless writing has

helped me to clear my mind when necessary and has helped me to also develop as a

writer in finding my own “voice.” I have heard that such writing, or “free writing”

has various benefits and after much research about free writing, I have learned

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more than I initially expected I would. Therefore, my inquiry about implementing

free writing is from a root of personal interest.

I realize that the students in my class all come from diverse backgrounds and

home lives, all the way from the different extremes of parent involvement. In an

effort to help students improve self‐esteem, perhaps this means of writing may be a

positive practice for students. Also, it is my hope to foster a classroom where writing

is enjoyable, not a chore. I am interested in learning whether choice is in fact a

factor. Regie Routman (2005) writes that “daily writing with lots of student choice”

can lead to stronger “endurance, confidence and writing fluency” in writing.

Routman (2005) describes how free writing promotes many of the necessary skills

that are needed to complete school assignments and mandated writing tests. With

this being said, I wanted to somehow incorporate Routman’s ideas into writing in

my classroom in the 30 minutes of daily writing from 9:00 – 9:30 AM.

After researching and learning of the various “perks” free writing may have, I

was curious to discover how free writing would affect the students in my fourth

grade classroom specifically verses prompted, more directed writing. Much of the

research says that student choice is a positive factor, so I wanted to see how that

might affect student writing and student well being.

Wonderings and Questions:

While developing my wonderings, I kept in mind that students may or may

not positively benefit from the act of freely writing often. Before my research, I

could not assume that the students in my classroom would reap the benefits of free

writing that I read about in my research. In general, I wanted to learn how both free

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writing and prompted writing exercises would personally affect the diverse group of

learners that I work with daily.

Main Wondering

o How will free writing as a means of reflection and prompted writing

exercises influence the students in my fourth grade classroom?

SubWonderings

o How will students react to the idea of free writing in the beginning and at the end of my inquiry?

o How will free writing affect students’ endurance and writing fluency?

o How often does free writing need to occur in order to see affects in writing?

o Will students better benefit from prompted free writing compared to open‐ ended free writing?

o How will “free writing” act as a way for students to release thoughts and emotions?

Data Collection and Analysis: As a class, we developed a contract as to what free writing “looks like” in our

classroom. Such guidelines included, “Keep your pencil moving for the entire time,”

and “Trust the Gush‐ write whatever comes to mind.” Three days a week, we

engaged in free writing exercises for 5‐6 minutes in the beginning of our regular

writing time. Sometimes we would draw from the jar to write to a prompt, while

other times we wrote freely,

In an effort to document the effects of free writing, I used three types of data

collection to gather a broad variety of data: artifacts, surveys and anecdotal notes.

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The artifacts were tablets belonging to each of the students in the classroom where

each student documented the date of the free write and written the response, one

on each page. I gave out the surveys after the first writing exercise in the beginning

of my inquiry and the end of my inquiry, after the final free write. In addition to

artifacts and surveys, I also took anecdotal notes to document observations of

students as students participated in the free writing exercises.

Artifacts

When analyzing my data, I needed to keep in mind my main wondering to

identify growth or change. Because I was interested in seeing how students would

use free writing as a means of reflection and expression of emotion, I decided to

group entries by content. I labeled the entries either fictional, personal/reflective or

other. The other category is comprised of a mixture of multiple genres, poetry, and

non‐fictional writing. On a chart, I visually saw the types of writing used in each free

write session (See Appendix: Figure I). This provided me with a clear sample of

what types of writing were used when, either a free choice exercise or prompted

writing exercise. I also produced a “break‐down” of the percentages of personal and

reflective writing in two separate data tables (See Appendix: Figure J). One table

displays the percents of this type of writing during exercises that were “free choice”

only, while the other table displays the percentages of the types of writing produced

from the prompted writing exercises. I calculated the averages of personal and

reflective writing in both cases (See Appendix: Figure J).

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Surveys

Much of inquiry was driven by research that free writing would positively

influence self‐esteem and self‐confidence. Therefore, in the surveys that I produced,

I incorporated questions relating to self‐esteem, the enjoyment of writing in general,

enjoyment of free writing, and future uses of the writing activities. I gave the first

survey on February 8, 2011 and the final survey on April 11, 2011. (See Appendix:

Figure A and Figure B). The students were to rate their disagreement (1) or

agreement (5) with the statements. On the final survey, a few questions had to be

altered because of verb tense (See Appendix: Figure B). A few were omitted as well,

due to the end of the inquiry project. The open responses remained the Student 13e

except for the final question, “What suggestions do you have to improve this

activity?” was omitted from the final survey issued because we did not continue

with free writing following the inquiry. With the rating section of the survey, I was

curious to see how the students’ answers changed over the course of the project. I

looked at how many students’ responses remained the same, increased, or

decreased for each question isolated. I created charts that represented these

changes out of the 19 students who took the surveys. To look at the data visually, I

created a chart with the student roster and their answers individually before and

after for questions 1 through 7. From here, I was able to identify what students’

responses increased, decreased or remained constant. In addition to the “After”

survey (Figure B), I also issued a final survey that was open answers only (See

Appendix: Figure C) to gather student opinions about the benefits and detriments of

free writing. These answered are gathered in table form in Figure H.

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To clarify, when regarding “free writing” in the questions, this refers to the

act of writing openly without a prompt provided. Although the class did engage in

writing exercises inspired from or “Writer’s Block? Not!” Jar, the questions in the

surveys refer to the free choice writing entries. For each question, I analyzed the

data for each question individually, calculating percentages of the class that

increased, decreased, etc. (See Appendix: Figure F). The latter half of the surveys

was open‐ended. In Figure G, charts display student answers before and after for

each of the four open responses.

Anecdotal Notes

In my research, it was stated that students should “see” their teacher as a

writer. Therefore, several times I wrote along with the students during the writing

exercises and later recorded my anecdotal notes from video that I took at a

stationary place in the classroom (See Appendix: Figure K). While taking notes from

the video, I looked at student behavior, noise level and student reactions to the

exercises. As a researcher on the outside looking in at the students, the student

behavior does not tell much about how students “feel” about the writing activity.

However, from the anecdotal notes, I found a few patterns and compared them to a

typical writing lesson (See Appendix: Figure K). Anecdotal data provided me with

notes about certain students who were off task and allowed me to see any trends in

student reactions or behavior during the free write exercises.

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Explanation of Findings:

Using the analyzed data from my research, I am confident in making three

claims regarding the use of free writing in an elementary classroom. Below are the

three claims and evidence supporting each.

Claim 1: A balance between free choice and prompted writing should be

implemented to attend to all students’ needs.

Evidence: Data from two sources of my research supports Claim 1. According to the

data of survey changes regarding the class as a whole, about half of the class enjoyed

free writing the Student 13e as they did in the end as they did in the beginning (See

Appendix: Figure F). However, 37% of students’ enjoyment of free writing

decreased over the course of the implementation (See Appendix: Figure F).

Evidential qualitative data states that 68% of students had a more difficult time

developing ideas and topics to write about as the semester progressed. More than

half of the class felt more “stuck” after the final free write exercise than after the

very first free write activity (See Appendix: Figure F). This claim is another way of

saying “there was too much of a good thing,” free writing, in the classroom. The

students did enjoy it at first, but learned over the course of the semester, that the

more free writing they did, enjoyment decreased and the more difficult it was for

most students to develop ideas.

Also, student responses support this claim, that students enjoy free writing,

but in small doses. In the beginning all students responded to the question, “What

did you like about this activity?” with positive answers such as “Everything!,” “I

could write whatever I wanted!” and, ”You can write anything.” However, by the

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end, students responded with, “I like picking from the jar,” “When we got ‘great’

ideas from the jar.” However, other students felt differently. Some students claimed

at the end, that they enjoy writing “whatever” and having the ability to express

oneself. Some students responded with “I like how I can write about my own stuff.”

It is evident that many students feel strongly about “pulling from the jar” or

responding to the prompted writing ideas. They are able to still write freely but with

the prompts, they have something to “spark” imagination. A balance of both will

attend to students who need an “assignment” and those who like to “run with” their

own generated ideas.

Claim 2: Both free writing and responding to prompts are avenues to promote

reflective and personal writing in the classroom.

Evidence: From the analysis of student entries, there is much evidence to support

the claim that students did use both free writing and prompted writing to reflect

about their personal lives and feelings. The first time the students engaged in free

writing, only 42% of the entries were reflective or personal. The content of the last

two “your choice” entries increased to 74% and 64% personal and reflective (See

Appendix: Figure J). The prompts gave students ideas and topics to reflect about

therefore the percent of reflection and personal writing was 65% or above. More

reflective and personal writing was done via the prompts. According to averages,

students were more likely to write fiction or other types of writing when asked to

choose a topic themselves. I had perhaps expected that students would write

fictional stories each time they were given the chance to free write, however, that

was not the case. Most students wrote about their lives, feelings or used a mixture

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with fictional writing. Ten of the nineteen students in the final open response survey

responded to the question, “How does free writing help you to express yourself and

your emotions?” with a response that related to their ability to put their feelings on

their paper, and write whatever is on their mind whether positive or negative

emotions. Three students answered the question with responses relating to their

ability to express their ideas about anything and imagination, while the rest of the

students had unrelated responses, some varying from “None,” to “I don’t write down

my emotions.” Some examples of student responses supporting the claim include:

• “I can write what’s on my mind and not have to keep them in my

head.”

• “It helps me express my feelings because I can write whatever.”

• “It helps me just write my feelings and get my anger out!”

• It helps me release my anger or sadness on someone or something.”

However, in opposition to my claim, one student had a good point. She

writes, “In writing, I know that I can pour myself onto the paper. But in free writing, I

know that I can’t because Ms. Goodwin will read over it.” Just as in my research, Elbow

writes that there is, “no need to show the words to anyone, no need to think about

spelling, grammar, and mechanics, no need even to make sense or be

understandable, and no need to stay on topic…” (1991). Both the student in my class

and Elbow suggest that free writing need not be read by another. However, this was

not possible in my inquiry project, as I needed student work as artifacts for my

research data.

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Even with this one opposing piece of evidence, my inquiry has shown that

students, in general, have used the free writing as a way to reflect and express

oneself to some degree.

Claim 3: Free writing is an avenue for communication and developing rapport

between student and teacher.

Evidence: Throughout the writing process, students either wrote entries related to

themselves, their feelings or other genres of writing such as fiction (See Appendix:

Figure I and Figure J). Through these entries, and my reading of them, students,

whether they intended to or not, communicated much about themselves. I learned

about my students’ interests, extra curricular activities, pets, dilemmas, etc. Near the

end of the inquiry, students began to become frustrated with me when I told them

we would do a “free choice” exercise instead of “drawing from the jar,” for a prompt.

Many students would complain about this and be angry with me. In their writing,

they expressed this anger and frustration. A few examples from student work

include:

• “I hate this! We like never draw from the basket. Why can’t we do it today?!

BORING!”

• “I’m mad at you Ms. G. I am so mad we can’t draw from the guessing jar.

We’ve only drawn from it like 3 times. Ms. Goodwin wants to see what we

come up with, but we like to draw from the jar. It’s been fun just writing, but I

feel it’s unfair for her not to let us vote or something….”

• “Ms. Goodwin! You never let us draw from the prompt can! We have only

drawn from it like, twice! I’m mad at you! We like your prompts! But we have

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them if we never use them? It’s a waste of paper! Next time, we need to draw

from the prompt can! If we don’t, I think we’ll go crazy. We’re frustrated!”

• “I’m disappointed. We have to do free writing. I like when we draw from the

basket better, because it’s random. With free writing you just write about

whatever. There is only one thing I like about free choice: I can complain

about stuff!”

In these examples, students are communicating to me that they feel strongly

about something and are actively trying to make a change, through writing. Even

though the students are expressing anger, they are feelings. It is okay for the

students to have anger. When I read these excerpts from student tablets, I was glad

to see that the students were utilizing the free writing to tell me things and express

themselves. If students are using the writing to express themselves about the

writing activities, then free writing may be used for other means of communication

in the classroom, for example, developing topics to discuss during a class meeting.

Reflections and Future Practice:

My first inquiry experience has come to an end, and I can confidently say that

I value the experience and the knowledge that I have learned from the process. As a

future teacher, I will be a learner myself. This year, through my inquiry, I have

learned from my students and will use this knowledge with future students. Free

writing has shown to be a method of communication between teacher and student, a

way for students to reflect and I have witnessed a need for balance between student

choice and prompts in a writing setting. Continuing the communication and

reflective writing methods will be a technique that I will keep into consideration in

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my future practice. However, in the future, I will prominently use prompts from the

jar with the occasional “free write” to allow for a certain amount of student freedom

and choice, based on what I have learned from the process. I also consider

strengthening the communication between teacher and student by writing back and

forth with my students. This would allow the students to communicate with me, not

just to me.

Although I have come away from this experience with some gained

experience in teaching writing, I also have much to learn. In future research

regarding free writing, I hope to explore the effects of free writing even further.

Stephen Marcus (1980) writes that free writing, “aids in students’ becoming more

fluent, in discovering their own writing voice, in topic selection, and in freeing them

from premature editing of ideas or expression. Free writing can constitute an

important early stage in the production of more polished and effective prose.”

Inquiring about improved fluency and voice in writing is an aspect of study that I did

not focus on in my project. Further focus on fluency and voice are features to

examine in the future when using free writing as a writing technique in my

classroom. Unfortunately, all aspects of writing and student ability could not be

pursued throughout my research. In the future, these questions are yet to be

discovered that will serve me to further my professional development as a teacher.

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Appendix Table of Contents

Figure A: “Before” Survey 17

Figure B: “After” Survey 18

Figure C: After Open Ended Survey 19

Figure D: Examples of prompts in “Writer’s Block? Not!” Jar 20

Figure E: Data Table of Student Responses to Survey Before/After 21

Figure F: Individual Tables for Closed Answer Questions 22

Figure G: Student Open Responses Before/After 24

Figure H: After Open Ended Survey Results 28

Figure I: Class Data Table of Types of Writing in Writing exercises 31

Figure J: Break down of the Types of Writing 32

Figure K: Anecdotal Notes 33

Figure L: Annotated Bibliography 37

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Figure A: Free Writing Survey‐ “Before” Directions: Circle one number for each question.

1. I enjoyed this writing activity!

1‐Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

2. I easily thought of a topic to write about.

1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

3. I love to write. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

4. I am a good writer. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

5. I feel comfortable sharing what I wrote about with my classmates!


6. This free writing activity is something I would like to do more of in 4th grade. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

7. I wrote for the entire 3 minutes. I did not get “stuck.” 1‐Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

8. Please write about any additional reactions or thoughts about this free writing activity in the space below. How did it make you feel? What did you like about this activity? What didn’t you like about this activity? What suggestions do you have to improve this activity?

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Figure B: Free Writing Survey “After” Directions: Circle one number for each question.

1. I have enjoyed this free writing!

1‐Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

2. I easily think of topics to write about.


3. I love to write. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

4. I am a good writer. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

5. I feel comfortable sharing what I wrote about with my classmates!


6. This free writing activity is something I would like to continue. 1‐ Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

7. I wrote for the entire time. I did not get “stuck.” 1‐Disagree 2 3 4 5‐ Agree

8. Please write about any additional reactions or thoughts about this free writing activity in the space below. How does free writing make you feel? What did you like about this activity? What didn’t you like about this activity?

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Figure C: Free Writing Questions

How has free writing helped you as a writer? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ In what ways has free writing not helped you? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ How does free writing help you to express yourself and your emotions? _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________

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Figure D: Examples of Prompts in the Class “Writer’s Block? Not!” Jar (Bolded prompts were drawn for writing exercises)

Write about an experience you had at the dentist. Write about someone special in your family. Write about a chore you have to do or maybe a chore you would never want to do. Write about your favorite dessert. What do you like about it so much? What stories do your hands tell? Trace your hand and fill it in with memories that are connected to your hands. What things have my hands held or experienced that remind me of stories I want to write? Write about what you were doing at 5:00 PM yesterday. Think about the first day of school. Write about all of the details you can remember. What do you want to be when you grow up? Write about the future and where you see yourself as an adult. When my brothers and I were growing up, we used to fight all the time. One time, they broke into my diary and told everyone about my secrets. Write about a time when you were really embarrassed? Your choice! Write about a sport or activity you enjoy doing or something related to an activity you enjoy. If I looked under your bed, what would I find? Make a list of all of the things you want to do one day. How would you make this world a better place to live in?

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Figure E: Student Responses to Survey Before/After

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Figure F: Individual Survey Results for Closed Answer Questions

(Rating of 1‐5, Disagree‐Agree) Before survey distributed on 2/8/11, After survey distributed on 4/11/11

Question 1: I have enjoyed the free writing activity.

How Student Answers Changed

Amount of Students (Out of 19)

Remained the Student 13e

10

Ratings Increased 2 Ratings Decreased 7

Question 2: I easily thought of a topic to write about.




5


Question 3: I love to write.




9


Question 4: I am a good writer.




8

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Question 5: I feel comfortable sharing what I wrote about with my classmates!




10


Question 6: This free writing activity is something I would like to continue.




8


Question 7: I wrote for the entire time allotted. I did not get “stuck.”




7


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Figure G: Student Open Responses Before and After

Question: How did it make you feel?

Student Before After 1 It made me feel imaginative. It makes me feel happy. 2 Funny Happy 3 Happy Good 4 Happy Happy 5 Funnier and happy we could write

anything

6 It made me feel happy. Good because I can write whatever I want.

7 Silly! Annoyed when we can’t pick out of the guessing jar.

8 I liked it because I could write anything I want.

Good, because I can write what I want.

9 Happy Happy 10 Like I could write something good Released and relaxed 11 It made me feel like I could let all

my feelings out! It makes me feel like I can’t write about something funny.

12 It made me feel like I was free to write what I wanted to.

It makes me feel so, so excited.

13 It makes me feel good. 14 Good Good 15 It made me feel happy. It makes me feel nothing really. 16 Normal Happy, angry, pleased 17 A little better about the problem I

have this weekend Frustrated because we don’t pick from the jar

18 I thought it was a funny idea Free writing makes me feel happy because I can improve on my writing, which makes me feel good.

19 It sort of made me feel like I was free. I could write what I wanted to.

I usually don’t like writing at school because it’s all nonfiction. But free writing makes me feel glad because I can write what I want.

20 Fine Good

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Question: What did you like about this activity?

Student Before After 1 I liked how we got to write our

own made up story. I like how I can write about my own stuff.

2 We could do anything I get my ideas out. 3 Everything! Everything 4 You can write anything. I like picking from the jar. 5 Everything! Without the jar, I don’t like it. With

the jar it helps. I need to reflect off of something. I need an assignment.

6 They didn’t tell you what to write. You can write whatever you want 7 I could write whatever I wanted! When we got “great” ideas from the

jar. 7 The free choice Everything! 8 You could write anything. That you could write anything 9 I could write whatever I wanted. To write anything 10 It made me feel like I could let all

my feelings out! Nothing!

11 I got to write about what I wanted to.

It let me express my feelings.

12 I like that you can express your feelings.

13 It was free write. To think what to write is good 14 I liked that we could write

whatever we want. When we draw out of the jar.

15 Writing whatever you want That we get to write whatever and express yourself

16 You could write about whatever you wanted.

I like it when we pick from the jar.

17 I liked that I could write anything I wanted to.

I like that we can practice writing so we can get better grades in writing.

18 I could write fiction, which is my favorite genre to write.

It gives me time to use my ideas since I don’t get much writing time at home.

19 Clue Story

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Question: What didn’t you like about this activity?

Student Before After 1 That we only got 3

minutes to work on it. I don’t like drawing from the jar.

2 I liked everything about this activity.

We don’t get to pick.

3 Nothing Nothing 4 Nothing Not picking from the jar. 5 Nothing! Not pulling from the jar! 6 That we only had 3

minutes We should pull from the jar.

7 Nothing! We don’t pick from the jar! Because we’re running out of ideas and the jar gives us ideas.

7 I got stuck. I don’t really know. 8 Nothing Nothing. 9 It was hard to think of a

topic. I get stuck.

10 Nothing! Everything! 11 Nothing! I liked it all! I liked it all! 12 I don’t not like it 13 Nothing Nothing 14 Nothing Nothing, except sometimes I get stuck. 15 Nothing I sometimes don’t like it when I don’t have

anything to write about. 16 We had to do a survey

after it. I don’t like it when we don’t pick from the jar.

17 My hand was a bit tired when we were done.

I love everything about this activity, but maybe every once in a while we can draw out of the box.

18 It was kind of vague. We never draw from the prompt can. Ever. 19 Test About me

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Question: What suggestions do you have to improve this activity?

Student Before Only 1 Make the time limit longer 2 None 3 30 minutes 4 Funniness! 5 We could make it 5 or 10 minutes 6 More minutes 7 More time, please. 7 None 8 Give us more time to write 9 Nothing! 10 We should do it more often. 11 12 No suggestions 13 Maybe we could have more time please? 14 Instead of 3 minutes, do 5 minutes 15 Make the time period longer 16 None 17 Maybe give us some categories, but still let us write

about what we want 18 Easy test

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Figure H: Open Ended Survey Questions Given on April 8, 2011

Related Common Responses:

1. Four students wrote that free writing helped improve aspects of writing (vocabulary, handwriting, effort, provides more practice)

2. Four students wrote that free writing allowed for Expression of emotions. 3. Eight students wrote that free writing allowed for development of ideas/use

of imagination. 4. Three students responded with “Nothing.”

* Out of 19 students responded, 8 of them felt that free writing allowed them to develop new creative ideas and to put their imagination to use.

Student How has free writing helped you as a writer? 1 Free writing is helping me with my handwriting. It is

starting to get better. 2 Helps me release my emotion 3 It has helped me write scripts for movies 4 It’s not affecting me in any way 5 When we don’t pull from the jar I hate it. You did

not even let me pull on my birthday! 6 7 I guess it’s helping me use bigger words. 7 I like writing because I can think of more ideas to

write. 8 It has helped me show my emotions. 9 By using my imagination! 10 Nothing! 11 It helps me to relate to what I feel and think of neat

ideas to write about. 12 It helps by thinking of funny stories. 13 It helped me write hard, like putting more effort into

it. 14 I can write whatever I feel like and not have to write

what the teacher says. 15 Nothing really 16 It lets me write about whatever 17 Free writing has helped me practice writing so I can

get better at writing. 18 It helps my imagination expand 19 Free writing make feeling fun and exciting.

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Related Common Responses: *There was not much of a trend in these responses, however:

1. Seven students’ responses related to “Nothing,” that there was nothing about free writing that was not helpful

2. Four students expressed that free writing was helpful (required more effort, allowed for imagination, development of vocabulary, helpful in general)

3. The other eight responses were random and had no correlation to one another.

Student In what ways has free writing not helped you? 1 I don’t always like drawing from the bucket because

I can’t get better at using my imagination as much. 2 Nothing 3 None 4 It has not affected me 5 I need assignments and that is not helping me at all! 6 7 I’m running out of ideas! 7 Nothing! 8 I don’t know 9 Not a thing! 10 Nothing! 11 I love free writing, so nothing doesn’t help me. 12 I really don’t know 13 Made me think harder to write 14 I can’t think of any ways. 15 Nothing 16 It makes me mad because she doesn’t let us pick

from the jar! 17 Free writing has never not helped. It’s always been

helpful to me. 18 In writing, I know that I can pour myself onto the

paper. But in free writing, I know that I can’t because Ms. Goodwin will read over it.

19 Free writing helps know more words

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Related Common Responses:

1. Ten students’ responses related to their ability to express themselves and put their feelings on their paper, writing whatever is on their mind whether emotions are positive or negative.

2. Three students answered the question relating to their ability to express their ideas about anything and imagination.

3. Rest of the students had unrelated responses, some varying from “None,” to “I don’t write down my emotions.”

Student How does free writing help you to express yourself and your emotions?

1 It helps me to express my imagination and express my passion (art and writing!)

2 It makes me feel happy. 3 It helps me come up with ideas for movies. 4 I don’t write down my emotions. 5 When I am mad like now! 6 7 None 7 I’m not really sure 8 You can write anything. 9 Not much, but yes. 10 Nothing! 11 It helps me to talk about a lot of things instead of having to

talk about with a friend that I might be having a problem with that friend.

12 It helps because I get to show how I feel. 13 Don’t know 14 I can write what’s on my mind and not have to keep them in

my head. 15 It helps me express my feelings because I can write whatever. 16 It helps me just write my feelings and get my anger out! 17 It helps me release my anger or sadness on someone or

something. 18 I can put my feelings onto my paper if I feel like sharing

them. 19 Free writing helps my emotions better

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Figure I: Class Data Table of Types of Writing during Writing Exercises

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Figure J: Analysis of Types of Writing for Each Free Writing Exercise:

Free Choice Exercises Only

Date of Exercise 2/8 2/17 2/22 3/2 3/21 3/25 4/8 AVG % of writing entries that

demonstrated Personal/Reflective Writing

42% 33% 19% 82% 50% 74% 65% 52%

Prompted Writing Exercises

Date of Exercise 2/18 2/23 2/25 3/4 3/14 3/23 AVG

(excluding 2/18)

% of writing entries that demonstrated

Personal/Reflective Writing

0% (Prompt was

fictional)

93% 65% 84% 82% 80% About 80%

Conclusions from these data tables: The first time the students engaged in free writing, only 42% of the entries were reflective or personal. The content of the last two “your choice” entries increased to 74% and 64% personal and reflective. None of the prompted entries on 2/18 were reflective and personal because the prompt asked the students to write a fictional story. The prompts gave students ideas and topics to reflect about therefore the percent of reflection and personal writing is all 65% or above. More reflective and personal writing was done via the prompts. According to averages, students were more likely to write fiction or other types of writing when asked to choose a topic themselves.

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Figure K: Anecdotal Notes

February 18, 2011 Prompt from the jar: Write a story about two characters named Priscilla and Eduardo. Students are laughing and giggling right away after reading this. Asked me to write the names on the board. All of the students are writing intently on their tablets. Student 14 got out of his seat to sharpen his pencil. Student 4 is thinking, but looks on task. Student 12 is whispering to Student 10 aloud. The students are all writing at this moment. 12 students raise their hands to share responses. Many students are eager to share their responses. February 23, 2011 Prompt: Write about a sport of activity you enjoy doing, or something related to an activity you enjoy doing. Student 13 is looking off and scratching his head. All students are writing at the moment, Student 13 is not looking off ahead. My mentor is talking to Student 6 about her writing. Student 13 is now talking to Student 6; Student 14 is out of his seat to get a tissue. Student 3 is erasing and now is writing again. Student 12 is smiling and giggling to herself at her writing. Student 3 is out of his seat to sharpen his pencil. Student 13 is staring off in front of him. Student 12 is talking to Student 13 quietly. March 4, 2011 Prompt: Write about your first day of school. Students ask a few questions‐ “The first day of school this year? Or any year of school?” “Do you mean the first day of kindergarten?” I say for them to decide and “trust the gush.” Whatever memory comes to mind, write about it. Students are all writing. Student 13 looks puzzled‐ like he is thinking. He is now writing. Student 7 is thinking, but looks to be on task. Student 4 is looking up, thinking. Students are all writing at the moment. Student 12 gets up to blow her nose. Student 12 sits back down and starts writing right away.

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March 21, 2011 No Prompt: Free choice 9:15‐ Student 2 is pouting, hands in her hands. Ben, Katy, Student 14, Will c are writing. Katy is looking up, thinking. Student 14 is thinking. Student 2 is still pouting; she doesn’t look like she is thinking at all about the writing task. Student 13, Student 19, Sierra, Student 16 are all writing. Sierra is writing an acrostic poem. Student 13 and Student 1 are writing silently. No one is talking at the moment. Student 9 has his hand rested on his hand but he is writing. Student 11 is erasing something. I notice Student 10 with her head rested on her arm but she is writing as she does it. All of the students are writing at the moment. No one is out of his or her seat or thinking. Student 11 and Student 10 just erased something on their paper. Student 14 just got up to sharpen his pencil. Student 11 and Student 12 are quietly whispering. Student 12 is thinking. Student 1 is looking over at her paper. Student 1, Student 13, Student 13 are all writing. Student 10 is sighing and now laying her head back down on her arm as she writes. Student 11 and Student 12 are talking, smiling. I can’t hear what they are saying. All students are writing. Student 13 is not here. Student 10 is thinking. All of the students are still writing. I have extended the writing time for a minute because the students are all on task and writing so intently. Student 2 has now been writing for a few minutes. She is playing with her hair and not continuously writing her paper. After the timer went off, a few students continued writing to finish up a sentence. Student 7 is sharing about how he is disappointed about the “Free write” not drawing from the jar. Part of Student 7’s sharing is telling about what he did this weekend. Student 19 is sharing her writing piece. She is writing about crayons and how she does not like them. March 23, 2011 Prompt: Write about what you were doing at 5’ o clock pm yesterday. Students called out‐ “ I don’t remember!” With multiple directions and prompting, students began to write. I kept having to remind the students what the question was and prompting them to write. Student 2 and Ben are on task, now whispering. Student 10 and student 4 are looking at and talking to each other. Student 19 is writing intently. She pauses to think.

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Student 2 looks up and is talking to me. Student 14 looks like he is thinking. Student 3 is thinking. Student 12 and Student 2 are still talking every once in a while. Student 9 is looking up from his paper. Student 17 and Student 7 are writing. Student 18 just yawned. I see Student 14 looking up and “thinking,” although he still looks on task. Student 14 is thinking again, fiddling wit his hair. Looks like he just got an idea and is now writing. Student 13, Student 1, Student 6 are writing. Student 4 yawned, but he has his pencil to paper again. Student 2 seems to be drawing something. Student 2 is looking up from her work. Student 3 is thinking. Student 19, student 2, student 16, student 1, student 13, Student 12 are all writing. There is no noise except for movement in chairs and paper shuffling. Student 19 is thinking, looking off at her water bottle. Student 13 is now staring off into the air, not writing. Ben is still writing, Katy. Student 13 has his hand propped on his head again. Looks around, still not writing. Student 3 has his head down but seems to be writing. Student 2 just erased something. Student 16, Student 1, Student 13, Student 13 are all writing. Student 16 looks like she is thinking. Student 3 L is itching his face. Student 3 is looking up, looks like he is thinking. Student 4 is writing intently. Student 2 is writing. Student 19 just erased something. Student 16 is now erasing something. Student 3 is stretching arms upward and stretching hand/fingers outward. March 25, 2011 No Prompt: Your Choice Student 7 is out of his seat. Student 2 is looking to her left. Student 3 and Student 5 are focused on their writing. Student 2 is still not writing. I prompted her to write about the animal she was holding for spirit day. Student 3’s eyes are wide open, looking excited to write. Student 3 is re reading what he wrote to himself by mouthing the words. Jimmy is reading to himself what he is writing. Student 13 is thinking and tapping his pencil. Student 7, Student 4, Student 1, Student 14, Student 3, Student 5, Student 12, Student 9, Student 10, Student 19, Student 2, and student 11, Student 16, Student 13 are all writing. Student 13 is thinking. Student 2 is now writing. There is no talking in the classroom. All of the students are working, with the occasional thinking. Student 4’s head is rested on her arm but she is writing still.

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I prompted Student 2 to keep her pencil moving. Student 13 was sitting back in his chair. I prompted him to sit up and keep his pencil moving. Student 3 is talking to me about his writing. Anecdotal Notes from a typical Writing lesson: April 15, 2011 Assignment: students were to use organizers to plan out a storybook including a descriptive narrative and factual information that accompanies the storyline The noise level is about medium in the classroom. Students are writing but talking to neighbors. Many students are getting out of their seats to ask questions‐ Student 7, Student 13, Student 9, Student 19 come up to me and ask questions. “Is this okay, Ms. Goodwin?” Student 13 is turned around talking to Student 7. Teacher redirects him back to his work. Student 2 is talking to Student 3 about her papers. I had to redirect class to be writing, not talking. 3 students are out of their seats. Students pause from writing to think, but I hear conversation.

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Figure L: Annotated Bibliography

Attiyeh, J. (Interviewer) & Goldberg, N. (Interviewee). (2007). Zen and the Art

of Writing – with Natalie Goldberg. [Interview audio file]. Retrieved

from ThoughtCast Web Site:

http://www.thoughtcast.org/religion/nataliegoldberg/

In this interview podcast, Natalie Goldberg, writer and spiritual philosopher, is interviewed about her research described in her best seller Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within. I found this online podcast, after I read this book, but I found the interview to be much more personal and provided me with some insight as to the importance of writing in one’s life, even for elementary students. She says that “writing could be a practice just like running or tennis” and that “you just have to do it.” She gives “them a strong spine of trust and confidence in that their experience.” She explains how she does not read her writers’ work, but rather allows the students to learn to trust their own mind and “have a relationship with yourself.” From this interview, Goldberg has influenced me to allow my students to share their writing with one another for my inquiry. Even though she suggests not reading students work, I will be using student writing as artifacts of data collection.

Belanoff, P., Elbow, P., & Fontaine, S. I. (Eds.). 1991. Nothing begins with N: New

investigations of freewriting. Carbondale and Edwardsville, IL: Southern

Illinois University Press.

Nothing Begins With N: New Investigations of Freewriting, provides a lot of

information regarding free writing in a college setting. Written from the perspectives of college professors, much of the free writing was used in different way than I will implement free writing in my elementary classroom. Elbow defines free writing as the result of removing, “all of the normal constraints involved in writing” (xii). He writes that there is, “no need to show the words to anyone, no need to think about spelling, grammar, and mechanics, no need even to make sense or be understandable, and no need to stay on topic…” I agree with all except for the first one. If I am going to be analyzing data of my students’ free writing, I will have to read their work. However, I found that it has “’moral and spiritual, and physical benefits’: that it can free students from the mundane, help relieve tension or depression, or help uncover one’s truest thoughts.” I’m interested in seeing if these advantages might affect my own students’ and their mental health.

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Fontaine, S., personal communication, February 9, 2011.

Sheryl Fontaine is one of the authors and editors of one of my other resources used in my research regarding free writing. I contacted Fontaine via email to learn more about free writing and/or any suggestions she might have to further my research in the right direction. To help direct my research she provided me with, “The names that immediately come to my mind are, Peter Elbow (of course!), Donald Graves, Ken Macrorie, and Tom Romano, all of whom have things to say about free writing and teaching.” With her suggestions, I learned of several other professionals that led me to more material about free writing. Although she was unable to directly give me free writing ideas, she supported my inquiry by leading me to research that has greatly influenced my questions and inquiry in general.

Fotinos, J. (Interviewer) & Cameron, J. (Interviewee). (2009). The Artist’s Way:

Morning Pages [Interview audio file]. Retrieved from Tarcher Talks

Penguin Group Web site:

http://us.penguingroup.com/static/pages/publishersoffice/screeningr

oom/0909/tarchertalks/julia_cameron.html#description.

This online interview with Julia Cameron allows this author of “The Artist’s Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity,” speak about one of her routines called “morning pages.” She describes her daily routine of waking up, getting a cup of cold coffee and sitting in her “writing chair” to write in her morning pages journal. She describes how she allows her writing to reflect a “stream of consciousness” to get all that she has on her mind, on paper. Cameron briefly explains to Joel Fotinos, that with regularity of this morning writing, one can find their path to personal spirituality and creativity. I find this interview to be beneficial and relative to my inquiry about free writing. My students will be doing their writing exercises in the morning after they get to school. Cameron suggests that “morning pages” be done in the morning, as opposed to later on in the day or before bed. I will allow my students to write freely, and allow their “stream of consciousness” onto their writing tablets. I will try to influence my students to write about their thoughts and feelings as opposed to writing fictional stories. I had checked out Cameron’s book from the library as well, but I found hearing her talk about her research aloud to be effective in helping me to understand her ideas. Graves, D. H. (2003). Writing: Teachers and children at work. Portsmouth, NH:

Heinemann.

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One section from Graves book that I found particularly interesting was a section titled, “What Do Teachers Do?” The subtitle was Know the Children. In one of his workshops for teachers, Graves asked the teachers to write the number of children in their rooms in the upper right column and then list all of the students in their class, with associated experiences and interests for each. He writes about how difficult this was for teachers the first time around, but over a three‐week period, the example given, the teacher greatly improved. Graves describes how this activity was intended just to get the teachers thinking about the students. As I read this, I thought about my own class. In my head I was doing the activity and found myself struggling to complete the list. Later on in Graves book, he describes ways of teaching writing in the classroom, but constantly refers to knowing the children. My inquiry, I believe, may help me to learn more about the children in my classroom. Students will write about themselves and their lives, and I will read about these things and perhaps develop a stronger rapport with them. Graves, D. H., & Kittle, P. (2005). My quick writes for inside writing.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

In Graves’ journal style resource, he offers various quick write prompts that

can be used to generate ideas. The 30 prompts given are all different, ranging from silly topics, to deeper, personal questions, poetry ideas, and to practice in writing different points of view. At the end of the journal, there is a whole section designated to quick writes for children specifically. These are written in a more “kid friendly” manner, but the other 30 writes could be easily adapted for my fourth graders. I will absolutely draw prompts and ideas from this resource in developing specific free writing activities for my students. I may write all of these prompt ideas on sheets of paper and put them in a “hat” that we will draw from each time we free write. Drawing from a hat might allow the free writing to feel very spontaneous and not planned by me especially if I will be writing along with the students. Graves stresses how students constantly see teachers reading on a daily basis, however, “What they’ve been missing for years is seeing their teachers write” (85). He writes that students, “need to see you wrestle with a piece you care about: delete and rethink and add details…They need to see you craft your writing so they can develop a vision for how to craft their own” (85). Although I will need to record and take data during the free writes, I am considering writing along with my students, so they don’t see “free writing” as an assignment; so they see it more as something they want to do. Goldberg, N. (2005). Writing down the bones: Freeing the writer within. Boston,

MA: Shambhala.

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After thorough research online, I came across the writer and spiritual philosopher Natalie Goldberg. In Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones: Freeing the Writer Within, I found that it greatly relates to my inquiry on free writing. To sum up, she writes that writing from the heart is a way for one to become more “in touch” with the self. Part of the book is a writing guide, part is on her Zen philosophy, and the other is partly a personal diary. Through this, I found several points that I can apply to my inquiry with elementary students. On page 8, she describes several rules of free writing that allow the writer to “burn through to first thoughts, to the place where energy is unobstructed by social politeness or the internal censor, to the place where you are writing what your mind actually sees and feels, not what it thinks it should see or feel.” With this resource, I have applied this to my inquiry, now having the intent for free writing to be a source of reflection and exploration of internal voice for my students. Marcus, Stephen. (1980). "Any teacher a writing teacher? The value of "Free

Writing"" Improving College and University Teaching, (28)1, 1012.

Retrieved from, http://www.jstor.org/stable/27565338

In this article, Stephen Marcus suggests various strategies and optional

techniques for implementing free writing in a classroom. Free writing in the beginning of a class session, free writing at the end of a class, writing three words of personal importance and then choosing one to write about, and sharing and responding to a peer’s free writing are a few of the suggested activities Marcus writes. This brief article provides succinct definitions of free writing including the rule, which is, “Get it down, don’t get it ‘right.’” In addition to Marcus’ suggestions for implementing free writing in the classroom, he describes a few of the technique’s advantageous effects. “It aids in students’ becoming more fluent, in discovering their own writing voice, in topic selection, and in freeing them from premature editing of ideas or expression. Free writing can constitute an important early stage in the production of more polished and effective prose.” From this article, I have gathered several ideas that I will implement in my own classroom. I have taken his suggested activities and will experiment with them in my class. I hope to see the Student 13e changes and benefits that he describes, in the writing of my fourth graders.

Romano, T. (1995). Writing with passion: Life stories, multiple genres.

Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

From my email interview with Sheryl Fontaine, I was recommended to read about Tom Romano and his work with free writing. At the library, I was fortunate to come across Writing with Passion: Life stories, multiple genres. In this book, Romano writes a novel that radiates his passion for writing and learning. This is not

Free Writing 41

a book defining free writing; it is an example of what free writing can do for writers. Paired with a memoir of his life and examples of writing from his own students, Romano suggests that teachers encourage students to explore their world that they know and are familiar with, through language. I did not read the entire novel, but I read parts and pieces, all of which were rich of Romano’s passion for writing. While reading, I was inspired to help my students find their voice and write about their world with passion just as Romano and his students did in the book. From this book, I will take this use of language to encourage my students to write about their lives and experiences with passion through free writing. Routman, R. (2005). Writing essentials: Raising expectations and results while

simplifying teaching. Portsman, NH: Heinemann.

Throughout Routman’s “Writing Essentials,” she repeatedly stresses that “enjoyable writing needs to become central to the everyday life of the classroom” (4). One of the techniques to foster a classroom where writing is enjoyable, not a chore, is to incorporate free writing and student choice. She writes that “daily writing with lots of student choice” can lead to stronger “endurance, confidence and writing fluency” in writing. She describes how free writing promotes many of the necessary skills that are needed to complete school assignments and mandated writing tests. From this resource, I have learned that daily free writing can lead to test scores increasing. As I begin my inquiry, I have taken into account the skills that have been proven to improve as a result of free writing. Endurance, confidence and writing fluency are three aspects of writing that I am interested in inquiring about in my sub wonderings. The main idea that I got from Routman is that, “Students who are excellent writers write a lot.” If I want to see any improvement, I will have to get my students writing more frequently, and with greater student choice.

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