Action Research Plan

Observed Issue:
Issue in my classroom: my students are between 10 and 12 years old and they are still unable to
demonstrate writing fluency as well as proper age appropriate spelling techniques.
Question: How can I help my students improve their writing strategies using short daily activities?

Subject:

Grade:

ENGLISH

YEAR 6

Language:

Class:

Variables/Factors:

Interventions: What could I implement in my

classroom?

YEAR 5

ADHD students
Students with dyslexia
Low socioeconomic status
Poor parents collaboration and support
Diverse background of learners.

ENGLISH
YEAR 6

Spread enthusiasm for all sorts of reading and

writing,
Provide the students with a wide range of quality
reading, including: non-fiction, stories, poetry,
play scripts, narrative, letters
Praise the students reading habits and
encourage them to create a daily reading time
both at home and in the school (using our
classrooms reading corner).
Short daily written activity during the morning
assembly, usually based on reading
comprehension.
Writer of the week every Monday (composition
every Friday as homework for the weekend).
Create frequent opportunities to publish writing
(class blog).
Weekly writing workshops to engage the
students in collaborative written work
(compositions, poems, letters, stories,
descriptions).

Literature
Review:
I have chosen
articles and
studies related to
the four main
topics that I would
like to work on
with my students:
- SPELLING (for the
spelling tests),
- CREATIVE
WRITING
(for the writer of
the week activity),
- PUBLISHING
WRITING (to learn
about publishing
the students
projects and
composition),
- COLLABORATIVE
WRITING (to
engage my
students in
collaborative
work).

Article/Study 1:
CREATIVE
WRITING:
Wiley, T. (2012).
Writing 2.0:
Creative Writing
Through Creative
Use of Technology.
In P. Resta (Ed.),
Proceedings of
Society for
Information
Technology &
Teacher Education
International
Conference 2012
(pp. 4317-4321).
Chesapeake, VA:
Association for the
Advancement of
Computing in
Education (AACE).

Data Collection Techniques &Tools:

KWL chart completed individually

using posted notes (K: what I know,
W: what I want to learn, L: what I
have learnt).

Continue working on the pen-pals project (letters,

presentations, pictures, songs exchange with a
British School in Liverpool).

Article/Study
2:
COLLABORATIVE
WRITING:
Smith, K.L.
(1990).
Collaborative
and Interactive
Writing for
Increasing
Communication
Skills. Hispania,
73(1), 77-87.

Initial:
KWL chart
about every
unit and
completed
individually
using posted
notes (K:
what I know).

Article/Study 3:

Article/Study 4:

SPELLING AND
PHONICS:
Strehlow, U.,
Haffner, J.,
Bischof, J.,
Gratzka, V.,
Parzer, P., &
Resch, F. (2006).
Does successful
training of
temporal
processing of
sound and
phoneme stimuli
improve reading
and spelling?.
European Child
and Adolescent
Psychiatry, 15,
1929.

PUBLISHING
WRITING:
Kehus, M. J.
(2000).
Opportunites for
teenagers to
share their
writing online.
Journal Of
Adolescent &
Adult Literacy,
44(2), 130.

Ongoing:
KWL chart
completed
individually
using posted
notes (W:
what I want to
learn).

Final:
KWL chart
completed
individually
using posted
notes (L: what
I have learnt).

Reading

Reading comprehension written

questions based on the texts we
read together every day during the
morning assembly.

Spelling tests presented as

interactive and dynamic
competitions (10 words every day).

Writer of the week every Monday:

individual composition every Friday
as part of their homework
assignments for the weekend.

Weekly writing workshops to engage

the students in collaborative written
work (compositions, poems, letters,
stories, descriptions).

Reading
comprehensi
on questions
completed
all together
in the smart
board.
Groups
spelling tests
presented as
interactive
and dynamic
competitions
(10 words
every day).
Writer of the
week every
Monday:
individual
composition
every Friday
as part of
their
homework
assignments
for the
weekend
(easy topics).
Weekly
writing
workshops to
engage the
students in
collaborative
written work
(composition
s, poems,
letters,
stories,
descriptions
).

comprehensio
n questions
completed
individually.

Reading
comprehensio
n questions
completed in
groups.

Pairs spelling
tests
presented as
interactive
and dynamic
competitions
(10 words
every day).

Writer of the
week every
Monday:
individual
composition
every Friday
as part of
their
homework
assignments
for the
weekend (free
topics).

Weekly
writing
workshops to
engage the
students in
collaborative
written work
(compositions
, poems,
letters,
stories,
descriptions
).

Individual
spelling tests
presented as
interactive
and dynamic
competitions
(10 words
every day).

Writer of the
week every
Monday:
individual
composition
every Friday
as part of
their
homework
assignments
for the
weekend
(challenging
topics).

Weekly writing
workshops to
engage the
students in
collaborative
written work
(compositions,
poems,
letters,
stories,
descriptions
).

Timeline: Outline how long the action plan will take.

The action plan will take place throughout the whole school year: September 2015 to June 2016,
but I wouldnt like it to be stopped there, because I would like to implement it every year, with the
changes and adaptations that I (as well as my colleagues) might have during our critical
reflection practices.
Implement Intervention: What will I do and how will it work?

To spread enthusiasm for all sorts of reading and writing I would speak about the numerous
advantages of learning and being able to efficiently and effectively use written skills (make
the students aware of the importance of reading and writing by showing a presentation
with some attractive activities and games the students could only do if they learn reading
and writing).
To provide the students with a wide range of quality reading (including: non-fiction, stories,
poetry, play scripts, narrative, letters), I would organize the classrooms reading corner
and the school library making sure there are enough books to fit every students needs and
interests, as well as every type of reading I want them to learn.
To praise the students reading habits and encourage them to create a daily reading time
both at home and in the school (using our classrooms reading corner), I would talk to the
families to make sure every student reads a little bit every day at home and motivate my
students by handing out stickers and using reading charts.
To develop short daily written activities, I would take 5 minutes at the end of the morning
assembly (see action plan implemented in the whole school) to help my students answer
some reading comprehension questions individually about the text that we always read
during the assembly.
To put into practice the writer of the week activity every Monday, I would ask my
students to write a composition every Friday as part of their homework assignments for the
weekend.
To create frequent opportunities to publish writing, I would use the class blog that I have
created last year for my students, where I usually post daily information for my students to
be able to check the homework from home, watch educational videos, play some online
games to practice the content and the language learnt, visit some interesting websites,
read some writing projects from their classmates (http://luciaabalos.blogspot.com/).
To engage my students in a weekly writing workshop, I would use collaborative written
work techniques, such as pair work, groups work, think-pair-share, bubble drop so the
students can do compositions, poems, letters, stories, descriptions...
To carry on working with the pen-pals project (British School in Liverpool), I would get my
students to answer the last letters that we have received in the summer, send pictures,
sing songs, work on presentations about our country, our traditions, our school, our
hobbies

Data Interpretation: What do the data tell you

Evaluate Action Research Plan: What worked and didnt and why?

Reflection: Why did I select this topic? What have I learned from this process?
I have chosen this topic because one of the main issues in my classroom that concerns me the
most is that my students are between 10 and 12 years old and they are still unable to
demonstrate writing fluency as well as proper age appropriate spelling techniques.
As I havent implement it yet, I am still not sure about the results, but I strongly believe that it can
make a big change in the students level of writing fluency.

Original template by Arayna Yearwood, 2011. Updated by Bonnie Corretjer & Maria Katradis, 2012. Updated by Maria
Katradis & Kelley Webb, 2015.