UF student-teachers help schoolchildren develop, improve their writing skills

UF student-teachers help schoolchildren
develop, improve their writing skills

When Rodney, now 9, was in second grade at Newberry Elementary, he hated school. He was a year behind his classmates and reading below his grade level. Writing proved particularly frustrating.

Instead of working at it, he misbehaved or cried. When he had to write, he just scribbled.

But University of Florida student-intern Tiffany Molynue, whose academic focus is in literacy instruction, never gave up on Rodney and continually worked with him to improve his reading. He started a self-monitoring check-sheet. She encouraged him to write on topics that interested him, such as friends and basketball.

“He became one of the best students, a real leader in the classroom,” Molynue said. “I was so proud of him, and it was great to see that he was proud of himself.”

College of Education professors and 13 prospective teachers, including Molynue, have been teaming up with the Newberry school faculty over the past year to implement a schoolwide writing program for nearly 550 students in kindergarten through fifth grade. The initiative helps students develop better writing skills and strategies. At the same time, the UF student-teachers get to work alongside their mentor teachers and gain the real-life classroom experience they can’t get from their college textbooks and classes.

Professor Danling Fu of the College of Education’s School of Teaching and Learning was invited by Principal Lacy Redd to work with the teachers to apply the program, called “Wild about Writing,” in the hopes that it would help raise the school’s FCAT writing scores and improve the development of the students’ writing competency and skills.  Fu works with a group of Newberry Elementary teachers on a writing committee to discuss and explore ideas in writing instruction.

 “Writing develops and demonstrates all the language skills: reading, writing, speaking, listening and thinking,” Fu said.

Although Newberry Elementary has been graded as an “A” school, it continues to work on improving its academic programs, especially in the writing area. The school’s FCAT scores showed improvement in students’ reading, but not in writing.

The teachers hope the program will help Newberry Elementary exceed its school-improvement goals, which includes increasing the percentage of students scoring 3.5 and above on the FACT writing assessment. “Wild about Writing” will provide additional resources in the form of more UF student interns to work with groups or individual children.
Since the beginning of this school year, teachers, student interns and Fu have set different goals each month, such as having students write every day, write longer and with greater focus, and learn how to edit their copy and improve on quality of writing. The first strategy they have successfully applied is the daily practice of writing. Many teachers execute journal writing and other writing activities in all subject areas, Redd said.

“Writing is like playing instruments or sports,” Fu said. “We need to practice every day from early age on in order to write well, and there is no end to its practice and development.”
Work this spring will focus on the instruction of writing.

Newberry is among 10 Alachua County elementary schools involved with the College of Education’s professional development communities (PDC) program. Other PDC schools are P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School (UF’s lab school), Alachua Elementary, High Springs Community School and, in Gainesville: Williams Elementary, Littlewood Elementary, Stephen Foster Elementary, Norton Elementary, One Room School House and Terwilliger Elementary.

UF partners with the PDC schools to form a network of school- and university-based teacher educators committed to “inclusive” education—preparing the next generation of elementary teachers to teach diverse learners—while pursuing ongoing school improvement.
Prospective teachers in the program can apply the knowledge gained from their college courses to real-life situations with real students. Meanwhile, the elementary school’s improvement goals are pursued.

“The prospective teachers will experience the challenges and celebrations that occur within the classroom as schools begin to undertake change efforts,” said Angela Gregory, a UF doctoral education student who supervises the Newberry student-interns.

For Molynue, the biggest challenge was teaching in a classroom that wasn’t hers.
“Although there is freedom to try new things, you must still respect the rules and expectations of the classroom teacher,” she said.

The children, though, were Molynue’s biggest supporters.

“It was so rewarding to watch students try and see the moment when they understood,” she said. “The children drew pictures and wrote, ‘I am so glad you are my teacher.’”

“I didn’t write lesson plans and put so much time and effort into the internship just to gain experience or impress my advisors,” said Molynue, who completed her internship last fall and will receive her master’s degree in May. “I love the students and wanted to help them learn. Their presence was encouragement enough.”

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Writer
Chan Tran, ctran@ufl.edu, (352) 392-0726, ext. 246