The writing of first-grade students in writers\u27 workshop and traditional environments

The primary purpose of this research was to study the writing of first grade children receiving writing instruction in a holistic environment (process writing) and those receiving instruction in a conventional, teacher-directed environment (product writing). This study utilized both qualitative and quantitative research designs. Qualitative data were collected from the analysis of classroom observations, student interviews, parent surveys, and an ongoing field journal kept by the researcher. Quantitative data were collected from the analysis of the rated writing samples collected during classroom visits. This study has significance for classroom teachers, curriculum directors, and school districts implementing curricular changes toward integrated reading-writing classrooms. Conclusions drawn from this study include: student ownership of their writing is an important component of writing instruction, often missing in the traditional writing program; parents of writers\u27 workshop students are more aware of their children\u27s writing progress; and direct writing instruction and writing formats which include sentence starters or copying from the board yield higher scores on rated writing samples. One major implication from this study is that a writing program blending the strengths of both instructional programs would provide students with the basic tools of writing when they were developmentally ready to apply these skills and generate student ownership of their writing, thus motivating them to write for real purposes