Creating authentic experiences: Using collaborative writing teams in a service-learning composition classroom

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Creating authentic experiences
Usingcollaborative writing teams in a
service-learning composition classroom

• Adam Webb

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Introduction

• Two types of instruction in the
• composition classroom
• Individual and textual
• Collaborative and social

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Traditional-textual instruction vs.
transitional-social instruction
Traditional-textual instruction Pedagogy Cognitive-individual development Expectation Individual-textual proficiency Outcome Academic essay
Transitional-social instruction Pedagogy Constructionist-collaborative development Expectation Collaborative-multi-textual proficiency Outcome Academic/non-academic essay
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Four instructional models

• The four main instructional models in many
  composition
• classrooms that I will focus on in this action
  research study
• are
• Apprenticeship instructional model (usually
  limited to textual-discipline specific
  engagement)
• Activist instructional model (usually limited to
  textual-political-social engagement)
• Student-learner instructional model (usually
  limited to textual-political-social engagement)
• Participator instructional model (textual and
  actual engagement in the political-social-discipli
  nary spheres of discourse)

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The participator instructional model

• Service-learning in the composition
• classroom
• Involves volunteering at a local non-profit
  organization (LNPO)
• Collaborative research and writing teams
• Field-research
• Reflective writing
• Self and peer assessments

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What is service-learning?

• What is service-learning? Service-learning is a
  method that
• connects teaching and learning goals with
  community
• service, usually in the form of volunteering.
  Service-
• learning helps students participate within local
• communitiespromoting civic engagement and
• responsibilitythus building important
  connections and a
• greater understanding of those communities
  diverse needs.
• The educational component of service-learning
  comes in
• the form of having students reflect on their
  experiences.
• Service-learnings connection to freshmen
  composition is
• relatively recent, starting in the
  mid-nineteen-eighties.

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Sigmons (1979) three principles

• The first step would be to list the important
  principles and
• factors that go into incorporating
  service-learning into the
• classroom. Robert Sigmon (1979) lists three
  principles for
• service-learning
• Those being served control the service(s)
  provided
• Those being served become better able to serve
  and be served by their own actions
• Those who serve also are learners and have
  significant control over what is expected to be
  learned (Sigmon, p. 10).

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Herzbergs (2000) four possibilities

• While Sigmon establishes the foundational
  principles for
• using service-learning in the classroom, Bruce
  Herzberg
• (2000) claims that service-learning should be
  used within
• the composition classroom because
• Current issues are more appealing to students
• Issues and problems within the public community
  helps students understand audience and genre
  constraints
• Establishes a social consciousness that might
  to social action
• Encourages civic leadership (Herzberg, pp.
  467-68)

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Dubinskys (2001) three factors

• Also building on Sigmons three main principles,
  James
• M. Dubinsky (2001) lists three important factors
  in
• service-learning
• Learning (with clearly defined goals)
• Serving (ones community)
• Reflecting (on the service aspect) (Dubinsky, p.
  3)
• Sigmon, Herzberg, and Dubinsky provide
  theoretical and pedagogical realms of
  consideration when incorporating service-learning
  into the classroom.

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Three approaches

• Linda Adler-Kassner (2000) suggests Thomas Deans
  three
• approaches of how service-learning can be
  connected to
• the teaching of composition
• Writing for community Students create
  documents specifically based on that communitys
  needs
• Writing about community Students reflect on
  their experiences working within a certain
  community
• Writing with community Students work more
  collaboratively together with individuals in a
  certain community in order to meet a need
  (Adler-Kassner, p. 28)

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Purpose of this study

• The purpose of this action research is to
  determine if
• collaborative writing teams in a service-learning
  
• composition classroom help students become better
  
• writers. The independent variables for this
• study are the collaborative writing teams and the
  
• local non-profit organizations. The dependent
• variables in the study are the students writing
  and
• their overall sense of achievement.

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Research questions

• The questions that I will answer with this action
  research
• are
• Will the participator instructional model create
  more opportunities for collaborative writing
  projects in service-learning composition
  classrooms?
• What will the structure of a service-learning
  composition classroom look like?
• What types of activities and assignments will
  students engage in a service-learning composition
  classroom?
• How will student writing be assessed in a
  service-learning composition classroom?

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Process

• Setting
• A university in South Texas (a Hispanic Serving
  Institution)
• Investigators
• Composition Instructor 1
• Composition Instructor 2
• Population
• College level freshmen students in their second
  semester of
• English composition 1302
• Instruments
• Attendance rubric
• Portfolio-project rubric
• Presentation rubric
• Self peer evaluations
• Survey (one for subjects one for all other
  students)

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Goals for composition 1302

• Develop cross-cultural understanding and respect
• Use writing, reading, and academic inquiry to
  critically engage increasingly complex open-ended
  questions and ill-defined problems
• Write, read, and speak for a variety of
  real-world purposes and for various audiences
  (Writing Programs Staff Manual, Goals and
  Objectives 1302, 2009)

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Objectives for composition 1302

• Explore diverse perspectives on issues
• Locate and evaluate appropriate primary and
  secondary sources in terms of credibility,
  context, author, purpose and audience
• Synthesize appropriate primary and secondary
  sources
• Construct arguments that are ethically
  responsible and rhetorically effective
• Use conventions (i.e. APA)
• Use computer technology to research, generate
  texts,
• and communicate across disciplinary contexts
• Generate a research portfolio
• Self-assess research process and product (Writing
  Programs Staff Manual, Goals and Objectives
  1302, 2009)

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The structure

• Writing teams (WTs)
• Collaborative research and writing
• Local non-profit organizations
• One large portfolio-project

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Classroom description

• Composition Instructor 1 Three composition
  courses (25 students per course)
• Composition Instructor 2 One composition course
  (27 students)
• Meeting time per week Tuesday and Thursday, one
  hour and twenty minutes each day

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Local non-profit organizations

• Charlies Place Rehabilitation Center, for
  substance abuse, counseling, and recovery
  (http//charliesplaceonline.com/media/news.html)
• The Wenholz House, also for substance abuse,
  counseling, and recovery (http//ccsafeplace.com/)
  
• The Salvation Army of South Texas
• The YWCA of South Texas
• The Food Bank of Corpus Christi
  (http//www.foodbankofcorpuschristi.org)
• P.A.L.s Animal Shelter (http//www.palscc.org/)

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LNPOs continued

• Planned Parenthood of South Texas
• USS Lexington, a retired aircraft carrier now a
  museum on the bay (http//www.usslexington.com/)
• The Texas State Aquarium (http//www.texasstateaqu
  arium.org/)
• Communities in Schools (C.I.S.), a public school
  mentoring program
• Special Olympics of South Texas
• The Womens Shelter of South Texas
  (http//www.thewomensshelter.org/)
• Boys and Girls Club of Corpus Christi
  (http//www.bgccorpuschristi.org/)

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The assignment sequence

• Instruments to measure writing and collaboration
  
• Attendance
• First four weeks (two meetings times per week)
• Five checkpoints (over two-and-a-half months)
• Portfolio-project
• 1 collaborative document
• 1 final reflection from each team member
• Presentation
• Collaborative, formal, multimedia
• Self and peer evaluations

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Portfolio-project
Description Part or section
Proposal (75-100 words) (third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Abstract (25-50 words) (third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Introduction history of non-profit (first part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
State federal laws of non-profit (second part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Interviews volunteering (second part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Recommendations and conclusions (third part of the essay in the portfolio-project)
Sources (references both primary and secondary)
Final document (parts one through three in one document)
Final presentation (formal, multimedia)
Final reflections from writing teams (one per group member)
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Writing about and with

• The project document addresses two of
• Thomas Deans (2000) approaches
• Writing about community
• Writing with community

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5 main objectives

• Developing collaborative writing teams
• Using PM Wiki to post their research and writing
• Developing a portfolio based on a
  service-learning project
• Creating a formal multimedia presentation
• Conducting self and individual peer evaluations

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Set of guidelines for WTs

• Writing teams will consist of three-five members.
  Students will collaborate in their research,
  reading, and writing for the course of the
  semester
• Writing teams will be decided at the beginning of
  the semester, but may change after that. Once the
  research/writing for the portfolio-project
  begins, the groups will remain the same, unless
  there are MAJOR differences among group members
• In the instance of MAJOR differences, the writing
  team and I will decide what needs to happen in
  order for all group members to be happy
• Writing teams will decide on a socially
  acceptable group name
• All researching, reading, and writing is shared
  equally among all writing team members

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Set of guidelines continued

• There will be no dumping on one or two members
  because of laziness. There will also be no
  invisible team members who pop in from time to
  time to lay a claim to all the hard work that
  their writing team is doing
• Collaborative writing is a team effort and all
  responsibilities for the portfolio-project will
  be shared equally, creatively, and respectfully
• The actual writing of the final paper may be the
  hardest part for your writing team however, this
  is a challenge that you will have to work through
  together with your group members
• During the course of the semester, I will check
  with each group constantly to see where your team
  is at and how things are going. If an individual
  in a writing team has a question or something to
  discuss that they do not wish to share with their
  group members, we will deal with this type of
  situation on a case-by-case basis

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Selection of four writing teams

• All four writing teams volunteered at the same
  LNPO (P.A.L.S Animal Shelter)
• Shared experience with the same LNPO
• Composition Instructor 1 had three writing teams
• Composition Instructor 2 had one writing team

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Findings
Figure 1.1 Grades for writing team 1
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Findings continued
Figure 1.2 Grades for writing team 2
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Findings continued
Figure 1.3 Grades for writing team 3
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Findings continued
Figure 1.4 Grades for writing team 4
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Survey questions

• 1. Collaborative writing was very useful to me in
  this class
• 2. My writing teams non-profit organization was
  useful to our writing as a source of
• knowledge
• 3. My teammates contributed equally
• 4. This composition class was well-structured
  around our writing teams
• 5. My composition instructor's input was
  beneficial to the outcome of the entire portfolio
• project (Presentations, emails, interviews,
  volunteering, writing of the essay, etc.)
• 6. This composition class has provided the
  opportunity to look at writing and researching
• from another perspective
• 7. I took advantage of the one-on-one workshops
  with my composition instructor throughout
• the semester
• 8. Please select which letter grade you think you
  have earned A, B, C, D, F

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Survey findings
Figure 1.5 Survey findings
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Survey findings continued
Figure 1.6 Survey findings
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Times visited
Figure 1.7 Number of visits or times volunteered
at P.A.L.S.
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Overall survey findings
Figure 1.8 Survey findings for all other writing
teams within the four composition classes
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Survey findings continued
Figure 1.9 Survey findings for all other writing
teams within the four composition classes
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Student response

• I really liked the purpose of the Service
  learning
• project, but I think this project would work a
  lot
• better with students who are further on in their
• education. I think this because Freshmen students
  
• are not as serious as a Junior or a Senior. I did
  
• learn how to work with a group and correspond
• with someone and I actually learned how to
• volunteer and the process, and I will most likely
  
• give my time to another organization that I have
• interest in

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Student responses continued

• Learn to work with other people, which may sound
  easy but trust me, it is not always, what you
  think it will be
• Take responsibility for your actions. Other
  people are counting on you
• Be a leader. If no one in your group is
  responsible enough to share the work equally,
  figure out how to make them do the work, or how
  to make up for their lack of work
• Make sure that you are committed to the project.
  This project is hard, takes a lot of time and
  effort, and requires a lot of planning. If you
  want a good grade, you need to be able to be on
  top of things no matter what

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Findings in the writing and learning

• Difference between strong and weak
  collaboration in WTs final documents (Elbow,
  1999)
• Visible growth as learners
• Resistance existed between students not wanting
  to work in groups (not in volunteering)
• Challenges in writing collaboratively
• Students gave constructive and critical feedback
  in their self and peer evaluations

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Sample portfolio-project

• This is a sample portfolio-project from the
• writing team, The Chinchillas, from
• Composition Instructor 1s class
• Sample portfolio-project
• P.A.L.S Animal Shelter PowerPoint Presentation

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Conclusions

• Improved grades
• Differences between collaboration cooperation
• Develop roles earlier in the semester (i.e.
  researcher, organizer, planner, etc.)
• Because of the dynamic nature of service-learning
  and writing, it is difficult to create a
  classroom structure or assignments that fit
  goals and objectives of traditional curriculum
  (more than just a component in the classroom)

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Limitations

• Scope of the study (only looks at 4 composition
  courses)
• Time (duration of collecting and evaluating
  student writing for this study)
• Structure of classroom and grading rubrics (first
  time used)
• Shared survey between instructors (different
  teaching styles)
• Learning community atmospherehad other
  assignments and test preparations

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Further research

• Using service-learning in multiple composition
  classrooms
• Keep using service-learning as more than just a
  component in the classroom (different methods
  approaches)
• Continuing the conversation in composition and
  writing research

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Questions?