A Process Approach to Reading and Writing:
Ten Students' Journeys

Tim Caleval & Ted Green

Above: Tim Caleval works with students

We all lead storied lives. This was the focus that permeated a year-long study on the Reader's and Writer's Workshop. Tim Caleval, the teacher-researcher, wanted to write a story about a group of northern middle year student's journeys through language in one year. His purpose was to find out how a process approach to Language Arts changed students' perception towards reading and writing. He also wanted to learn what worked and what didn't work in the Reader's and Writer's Workshop approach to teaching Language Arts.

The study group consisted of twenty students from Churchill School in La Ronge. These students reflected the cultural and socioeconomic diversity of the community they lived in. Most of the students in class were of Aboriginal or of Metis ancestry. About one quarter were from various cultural backgrounds, whose families had moved to the North one or two generations earlier. Because of the unique situation where the town and the reserve share a boundary, the range of income is extreme, from welfare to wealthy.

In order to find out how students' perceptions changed throughout the year, a number of data gathering instruments were used. The student participants were interviewed at the beginning, during, and end of the school year. Parents also provided input through two informal phone interviews and one written interview at year end.

During the year, there was writing done specific to the research project. The students kept a learning journal in which they reflected on what they were learning in reading and writing on a weekly basis. The teacher's personal reflective journal and daily planner were used as a framework to analyze the impact of the Reader's and Writer's Workshop on students' perceptions. Once a week, Ted Green, the other researcher, came in to observe and informally interview students while the Reader's and Writer's Workshop was underway. As an outside observer, Ted would come in to look for changes in students' attitudes by what they did and said to their peers and himself.

All the writing that students did in both workshops was kept to show growth and change throughout the year. Students kept reading response journals which were a continuous dialogue between the students and the teacher about books they read. All students in the class also kept a writing folder that contained all the writing that they did in class (brainstorming and prewriting, all drafts, teacher conferences, peer conferences, self conferences and personal dictionaries).

In reviewing the year with individuals, the whole class and parents, the teacher came to realize there were some significant changes in students' perceptions to reading and writing. Here is David's story:

David was one of the participants in the study. He had met with little success in school. David was kept back in grade two, so subsequently he was a year older and a head taller than most of his classmates. Because of David's previous experience with school, he was easily frustrated and discouraged and would often say, "I'm so stupid."

Through the Reader's and Writer's Workshop, David was given three things: time, ownership and response.

He was given time to read and write everyday, as well as the opportunity to choose his own books and topics for writing. David was given constant feedback about his reading from his peers and the teacher in group stories and in his response journal. Through the writing process, feedback was given by teacher conferences, peer conferences and author's chair. Most importantly, the writing he did had a purpose - he had a reason to sit and write. David contributed to the town's local newspaper and he was also published in a book of writing from the school division.

David's parents noticed the changes in their son:

During the past year David has changed his attitude towards school. He really enjoys school. He even comes to school an hour early every morning. At the beginning of the year he wasn't into reading and writing and writing. As time went on, his attitude toward it changed tremendously. He now likes to read while we are travelling and when he goes to bed. We have seen his work and it is done very well. We are pleased with his work.

At the end of the year, the teacher asked the class to reflect on what they had learned in the Reader's and Writer's Workshop in their journals. This is how David replied:

What I do differently is I read more often, and I also love writing. I think that it's great to do these things because it improves the way you do your work. Before I never used to read or write. In fact, I used to dread the thought of having to read or write because it was something I had trouble trying to grasp. Now I enjoy reading books and writing out stories. I can read easier and write stories with more creativity. I think reading and writing should be taken more seriously and used effectively, because if you don't do all these things, you will have problems trying to understand. Do all these things and you'll find your marks will go up and it will definitely benefit you in the end. Now I use it to do better work and improve in all my studies that I do at school.

The teacher-researcher concludes:

Being part of a research project that validates students' voices, like David's, in research is gratifying. David and his parents make some astute reflections on how a process approach to reading and writing has changed not only his attitude to language, but to learning in general. I believe that doing action research has made me more of a reflective practitioner in my classroom. I, along with my students, had to continuously rethink and evaluate the process we were going through. By doing this, not only was our class more effective in working within the reading and writing process, but we had created a place where students were in control of their own destinies.