Taylor Rae Sugimoto

September 30, 2013

ITE 314
Student Survey: Thoughts about Writing in the Third Grade
This semester, I am placed in Mrs. Fujiis third grade class at Ewa Elementary School.
The class consists of twenty-six students from the ages eight to nine years old. Most of the
students are from Filipino descent, but other ethnicities include Hawaiian, Japanese, Chinese,
Caucasian, Samoan, African American, and Micronesian. There are no students who are in
special education in the classroom, but there are two ELL students. These two students are in
ELL due to speaking Filipino and Spanish in their households. Three students are in special
writing programs that are assessed by Mrs. Fujii and myself. Every week, I pull those three
students to the side and help them with spelling awareness and phonics identification. The range
of writing and reading comprehension in the classroom spans from kindergarten to fifth grade
levels.
The curriculum program that Ewa Elementary uses is called Good Habits, Great Readers
(GHGR). This program is not a basil program, but it is mostly based on guided reading. It is very
heavy on reading and writing conferences, small group assessments, and aligning with the big
ideas that are included in the Common Core Standards. My teacher also emphasizes formative
assessments by grading all writing assignments and prompts. Each Wednesday, the class has
about half an hour to respond to a writing prompt in preparation for the HSA testing and as a
form of assessment. My teacher also tries to have a reading and writing conference with each
student at least once a week. Right now, she and the other third grade teachers are working on
coming up with a grade level criteria that hits all of the common core standards.

On September 12, I gave Mrs. Fujiis students a written survey called Getting to Know
You. The survey consisted of twenty statements. Students circled either never, sometimes, or
always, depending on how they felt about that specific statement. Each statement belonged to
one of the four different categories: attitude, interest, learning style, or work habits. These are the
overall results:
Attitudes
I+like+to+write+in+class
I+like+to+write+at+home
I+think+writing+is+fun
I+think+writing+is+boring
I+like+to+read
I+am+a+good+writer

Never+
1
5
3
12
1
4

Sometimes Always+
14
14
12
10
4
16

10
5
10
3
20
5

Interests+
I+like+to+write+about+made+up+stories
I+like+to+write+about+myself+
I+like+to+write+about+book's+I've+read
I+like+to+share+what+I+write+to+my+family+and+friends
Listening+to+people+read+their+stories+is+fun

1
6
3
3
1

6
13
14
7
7

18
6
7
14
17

Learning+Style+
Thinking+of+something+to+write+about+is+easy
I+need+help+with+writing+stories+and+essays
I+read+what+I+write+before+I+give+my+paper+to+Mrs.+Fujii
I+check+for+corrections+after+I+write+my+paper+
I+think+learning+ihow+to+write+is+important+

8
4
3
2
0

14
19
12
13
6

7
1
9
9
18

Work+Habits
Writing+takes+a+long+time
I+like+to+take+my+time+writing+in+class+and+at+home
I+want+to+learn+how+to+become+a+better+writer
At+home,+I+write+and+do+homework+in+the+same+place+

1
1
1
2

16
15
11
14

7
8
12
8

I will now discuss each category in detail and how I analyzed each statement.
The first category displayed how students felt about writing and their perception of how
well they write:

Attitudes Toward Reading and Writing

20
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Never
Sometimes
Always

I like to I like to I think I think I like to I am a

write in write at writing writing read
good
class home is fun
is
writer
boring

Based on the results from the bar graph above, many children are unsure about their
degree of writing enjoyment and capabilities. For most of the statements pertaining to how much
they enjoy writing, their answers were that they only sometimes think that writing is fun. They
also think of themselves only sometimes as good writers. However, more than half the class
agreed the writing is never boring. That leads me to think that even though most students believe
that writing is never boring, they dont think it always fun because of their lack of belief in their
writing capabilities and successes. Another thing to think about is that the results show all but
five students in the classroom enjoy reading. Would students enjoy writing if it were connected
to reading? Could connecting reading and writing bring more enjoyment and confidence to their
writing beliefs?
The second category showed the different types of writing interests:

Writing Interests
18
16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Never
Sometimes
I like to
write
about
made up
stories

I like to
write
about
myself

I like to I like to
write
share
about
what I
book's
write to
I've read my family
and
friends

Listening
to people
read their
stories is
fun

Always

The most staggering results show that almost twenty children enjoy writing about madeup stories, and seventeen children enjoy listening to stories that are read to them. This could be
relatable to the connection I made in the attitudes section. Students enjoy reading stories and
writing about stories that they can create on their own. This could infer that the third graders
enjoy the creativity of books and would rather write essays that are similar the books they have
been reading (the data shows that most students are on the fence when writing about books they
have read). If students were offered to write a made-up story, it would also allow them to explore
their own creativity and write about a topic they find interesting while using the books they have
read as a crutch or scaffold. I think a lesson that suits the interests of students will be much more
worthwhile and memorable than writing to a prompt that is not relatable.
The third category is about the different types of learning styles that students preferred
and disliked:

Learning Styles
20
18
16
14
12
10

Never

Sometimes

Always

4
2
0
Thinking of I need help I read what I check for
I think
something with writing I write
corrections learning
to write stories and before I give after I write how to
about is
essays
my paper to my paper
write is
easy
Mrs. Fujii
important

The data on this graph shows that children know writing is important, but they are unsure about
many different aspects of writing. Many students feel that they are unsure about writing stories
and essays, and most never think that starting an essay is an easy task. Knowing that most
children always think that learning how to write is important, but are not capable of going
through the writing process, could be because the learning styles taught at school is not engaging
or relatable to the students. This data could be shown to other teachers as a way to promote new
ways to teach writing to students. As what was said in the paragraph above, students will be
more interested in writing if it was taught in a way that is relatable to their own personal learning
styles. Change in learning styles might lead to greater confidence and academic success in not
only writing, but in also all subjects that involve writing and reading comprehension.
The fourth and final category consisted of statements that related to their work habits in
and out of the classroom:

Work Habits

16
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0

Never
Sometimes
Always
Writing
takes a long
time

I like to
I want to At home, I
take my learn how write and
time
to become a
do
writing in
better
homework
class and at writer in the same
home
place

About half of the class wants to learn how to become better writer, and the other half
sometimes wants to become a better writer. That is a large positive sign for teachers who believe
in the importance of writing. Part of the reason as to why it seems difficult to get students to
enjoy writing is maybe because of the amount of time it takes to write. About two-thirds of the
class believes that sometimes writing takes a long time. Two-thirds of the class also takes their
time to write in class and at home. At least the students are taking their time to write, which
gives them the chance to produce a higher quality of work.
Based on the data collected from this survey, I would like to share my information with
Mrs. Fujii and discuss ways for improvement. The insight from this survey would help to create
a new implementation plan for teaching writing in the classroom. The first main concept I would
like to change is the writing to a prompt. The third grade is currently learning how to write
different types of essays, such as persuasive, descriptive, and personal narratives. Instead of
writing to a given prompt every Wednesday, the class could collaborate and create a prompt that
is relatable to what they previously learned. Students would most likely work harder and more

diligently when it comes to writing about something enjoyable. Based on the data, I found that
the problem is not that the students do not want to write, it is that they find it hard to write about
something they do not enjoy.
Another aspect that could be changed is to integrate more reading activities with writing.
Students seem to enjoy reading much more than writing, so integrating the two subjects would
help to make writing seem enjoyable. Plus, reading and writing would be taught at the same
time.
Instead of spending thirty minutes every Wednesday writing to a prompt, some of that
time could be dedicated to learning writing concepts. It seems that students need help knowing
how to start and write an essay. I dont think its beneficial to tell children to write essays if they
do not know what to do. Spending more time learning writing concepts will help students feel
more comfortable with their writing abilities. Soon they will have the confidence to write to a
prompt and find more enjoyment in writing.
This project has opened my eyes to how school is seen through the eyes of a third grader.
It has taught me that in order to be a great teacher, you always have to be open to learning about
how students learn the best. This has given me great insight, and I will remember to use this
method when I get a classroom of my own.