RM Winter 2017

the different types of entries they read, the reading and writing ability of their pen pal, and their responses. The analysis consisted of: categorizing the content of their pen pal’s response (when they asked questions, summarized, predicted, identified story elements, made a personal reflection, referred to the author’s purpose, etc.); indicating whether or not their pen pal made any text-to- text, text-to-self, or text-to-world connections in their response (providing specific evidence from the entry); selecting one of the six traits of writing (providing a detailed description of the use of the trait or need in that area); and finally, describing how they would decide what to write about next based on their analysis. The analysis forms were housed in a separate OneNote notebook (organized in the same way as the pen pal responses), and each tab was password protected. Only the preservice teachers and university professors had access to the analysis to provide the security that the preservice teachers were free to critique writing without the possibility of other preservice teachers, the third grader, or classroom teacher, seeing what he or she said. Figure 3. Student Writing Analysis form. Pen pal book study figures 4 Figure 3 Analyzing Student Writing Your student will respond to you once each week. At the end of the week, please analyze your student’s responses and complete the following: Part 1: How would you categorize the content of the student’s responses? Mark (x) all that apply. ___ Asking Questions - If yes, the questions were literal ___ inferential ___ ___ Summarizing ___ Story Elements ___ Personal Reflection ___ Predicting ___ Author’s Purpose ___ Other: ____________________________ Part 2: Did your student make any of these connections? If you mark (x) in the Used in Responses column, please provide evidence from the student’s response. Type of Response Used in Responses? Evidence from entries (if used): Text to Text

the preservice teacher working with the specific student, and classroom teacher). When entries were posted, they would instantly sync with all devices logged in the OneNote notebook. Figure 2. Pen pal book study figures. Pen pal book study figures 3 Figure 2.

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For clarity of the project, we designed the same procedures for each week, ensuring that third graders and preservice teachers knew the expectations. During the week, third graders and preservice teachers read one chapter independently. On Fridays, third graders would respond to the corresponding chapter in OneNote. The preservice teachers would read their pen pal’s entry and respond in OneNote by the following Monday morning. Then third graders would read their pen pal’s entry and type a “quick write” response by Tuesday. We wanted the correspondence to feel more like a conversation, so we gave the third graders both formal (hand-written chapter responses) and informal (typed quick write responses) opportunities to interact with the preservice teachers. Participants and Preparing for the Book Study Project Preservice teacher participants were members of Winthrop University’s IRA Student Council and successfully completed the undergraduate Children’s Literature course. We wanted preservice teachers who were active in promoting literacy and who had experience examining children’s literature, learning about the benefits of children’s literature, and exploring the different ways children can respond to literature. Prior to the start of the book study, we delivered a one-hour training to the preservice teachers to go over the procedures for the project and review key content covered during the Children’s Literature course (e.g., characteristics of children’s literature, ways to respond to literature). We wanted to provide preservice teachers flexibility in terms of how they could engage with their pen pal, but we also wanted to encourage them to make thoughtful decisions about their responses. We asked students to analyze their partner’s writing each week using the Student Writing Analysis form (see Figure 3). We wanted preservice teachers to think critically about

Text to Self

Text to World

Part 3: Select one of the Six Traits of Writing (i.e., Ideas, Organization, Word Choice, Voice, Conventions, Sentence fluency) and provide a description of your student’s use of the trait or need in that area .

Trait

Description

Part 4: Briefly describe how you will decide what to write about next.

To make the project more authentic and personable, we started with brief video introductions. The classroom teacher individually filmed each of her students introducing themselves to their pen pal and sharing information about their favorite book. She uploaded each video in the corresponding tab in OneNote. In return, preservice teachers viewed and filmed their responses to these introductions. Following the exchange of videos, the book study began. When the pen pals finished the book, the preservice teachers visited the elementary school to meet their pen pals in person and celebrate the project. The preservice teachers brought

Reading Matters | Volume 16 • Winter 2016 | scira.org | 31 |

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