Improving Persuasive Writing With SRSD

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Running head: IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 1

Improving Persuasive Writing in Grades 1-3 with Self-Regulated Strategy Development


Bethany J. Batson
University of New England
April 18, 2014












IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 2
Table of Contents
Introduction..3
Problem Statement...4
Research Questions..5
Hypothesis5
Literature Review.6
Key Terms6
Writing Motivation..7
Writing Process8
Strategy Instruction..8
Summary..9
Methodology..10
Research Design.11
Data Collection Plan..14
Data Analysis.15
Sample Selection17
Action Plan.17
References..20
Appendix A22
Appendix B23
Appendix C24


IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 3
Improving Persuasive Writing in Grades 1-3 with Self-Regulated Strategy Development
Persuasive writing can be a difficult task for elementary students. The process of
supporting an opinion with strong reasons takes time and practice. Because of the level of
difficulty and multiple steps involved, many young writers lack motivation to write and self-
regulation skills to keep themselves on task. This study will examine the effect of Self-Regulated
Strategy Development (SRSD) on the participants persuasive writing achievement, confidence
as writers, and motivation to write. The study will take place in a kindergarten through third
grade multi-grade classroom. There are twelve students in the class, ages six to nine, but only ten
students (those in first, second, and third grades) will participate in the study. This is the teacher
researchers second year teaching and first year in this private school. The teacher researcher has
observed a need for more detailed instruction and practice with writing in general, and with
persuasive writing in particular.
Based on a pre-intervention survey found in Appendix A, five out of ten students claimed
they really enjoy persuasive writing assignments, two out of ten students claimed they sometimes
enjoy persuasive writing assignments, and three students claimed they do not enjoy persuasive
writing assignments. Seven out of ten students claimed they are very motivated to write well,
while three students stated they are slightly motivated to write well. None of the students
reported that they are not motivated to write well.
In order to understand their self-concepts as writers, the students were asked, Do you
think you are a good writer? Five students reported that they do think they are good writers,
four reported that they sometimes think they are good writers, and one reported No. The final
survey item stated, I can plan, write, revise, and proofread my writing without the teachers
help. Two students reported Always, seven claimed Sometimes, and one claimed Never.
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 4
According to the teachers observations, students rush through the planning, drafting, and
revising stages of the writing process in order to finish their assignment quickly, even if they
have not answered the question completely. The teacher also noted that students might not
believe in their ability as writers to communicate ideas clearly even though the survey results
were mostly positive.
The teacher researcher also conducted curriculum based measurement writing
assessments (CBM-W) in January to use as baseline data. The students had one minute to think
about the writing prompt and three minutes to write. The teacher researcher analyzed their
written responses and scored them based on correct word sequences (CWS). The first grade
students scored 0 CWS, 0 CWS, 4 CWS, 5 CWS, and 7 CWS. The second grade students scored
15 CWS and 19 CWS. The third grade students scored 5 CWS, 20 CWS, and 49 CWS.
Research showed that giving students the opportunity to write for a real audience and an
authentic task maintained or improved students motivation to write (Hansen, 2012; Magnifico,
2010; Zumbrunn & Krause, 2012). Research also highlighted the need for teachers to explicitly
teach the writing process because young writers struggle with planning, composing, and revising
their written work (Chakraborty & Stone, 2008; Hough, Hixson, Decker, & Bradley-Johnson,
2012; Mason, Harris, & Graham, 2011). Additionally, research showed that strategy instruction
is an important component of writing instruction (Harris, Graham, & Mason, 2002; Hough et al.,
2012; Mason et al., 2011; Winstead, 2004).
Problem Statement
First, second, and third grade students in a multi-grade class struggle with planning,
composing, and revising persuasive writing. These students rely heavily on help from the teacher
and available graphic organizers to plan and write persuasive pieces that include reasons to
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 5
support their opinion. The teachers observations noted that a lack of motivation to write and a
lack of self-regulation skills appear to be part of the problem. Pre-intervention survey data and
CBM-W data show a need for writing improvement among most of the participants.
Research Questions
The teacher researcher found a writing strategy called Self-Regulated Strategy
Development (SRSD). Self-regulation development involves explicitly teaching and guiding
students to set goals, monitor performance, self-instruct, and self-reinforce (Mason, Harris, &
Graham, 2011, p. 22). There are six repeating stages used in SRSD: Develop background
knowledge about a strategy, discuss the strategies students can use with a particular genre of
writing, model the strategies, memorize the strategies, support the use of writing and self-
regulation strategies, and independent performance. Will the use of SRSD help students in
grades 1-3 answer questions completely in persuasive writing? Additionally, will students gain
confidence in their ability as writers and increase their motivation to write as a result of the
implementation of SRSD? Finally, will students be able to transfer their knowledge from SRSD
instruction to other genres of writing?
Hypothesis
Given instruction with Self-Regulated Strategy Development; first, second, and third
grade students in a multi-grade classroom will improve persuasive writing to include three or
more reasons to support their opinion. By the end of the study, these students will be able to
plan, compose, and revise a persuasive piece without assistance from the teacher or planning
materials. Additionally, these students will gain confidence and motivation as writers as
indicated by survey responses. Their writing in other genres will also improve as a result of
SRSD POW Plus TREE writing instruction.
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 6
Literature Review
A search for relevant literature of the related topics of persuasive writing strategies,
writing motivation, the writing process, self-regulation, and Self-Regulated Strategy
Development resulted in many studies, opinions from experts in the field of writing instruction,
and meta-analyses of writing studies. Leading researchers in the development of SRSD, Graham
and Harris, have conducted many studies and meta-analyses and have co-authored much of the
literature that is most influential in this study. Researchers not connected with SRSD have also
contributed valuable information.
Key Terms: Strategy Instruction, Persuasive Writing Instruction, Writing Motivation, Self-
Regulation, Self-Regulated Strategy Development
Mason, Harris, and Graham (2011) defined Self-Regulated Strategy Development as six
repeating stages of instruction that are used to develop general writing strategies as well as
writing strategies for different genres. The six stages are to develop background knowledge,
discuss the strategy, model it, memorize it, support it, and provide independent practice. The
steps can be repeated as necessary, for students should be comfortable with one step before
moving on to the next. Additionally, Lessons are intended to be differentiated to meet the needs
of both the teacher and the students (p. 23). Research for this model began in the 1980s with the
belief that students who struggle to write, including students with disabilities, would benefit
from an integrated approach to intervention that directly addressed their affective, behavioral,
and cognitive characteristics, strengths, and needs (Harris, Graham, & Mason, 2002).
In order to better understand SRSD, it is necessary to define the term self-regulation.
According to Pintrich (2000b), it is an active, constructive process whereby learners set goals
for their learning then attempt to monitor, regulate, and control their cognition, motivation, and
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 7
behavior, guided and constrained by their goals and the contextual features in the environment
(p. 453, as cited in Schunk, 2005, p. 85).
Writing Motivation
According to Chakraborty and Stone (2008), Motivation for writing begins when you
mix students interests with opportunities for creativity. Stir in your own excitement and
commitment to engaging students in the writing process, and you have a recipe for writing
success (p. 158-J). Schunk and Zimmerman (2007) explored how modeling can strengthen
childrens self-efficacy and self-regulation as writers. How does this relate to writing
motivation? According to Schunk and Zimmerman (2007), when learners observe a successful
model, perform the same actions, and see their own learning progress their self-efficacy is
strengthened. Thereby, students motivation to learn is preserved.
Magnifico (2010) addressed the topic of writing motivation in her discussion of how
audience can tie cognitive and sociocultural views of writing together. The researcher cited
studies that showed that writing tasks that serve a real purpose and have an authentic audience
motivate children to write more than typical classroom writing tasks. Hansen (2012) echoed this
claim in his account of teaching his third grade students persuasive writing. His students were
motivated to write persuasive essays on topics that they chose because they wanted to make a
difference. Before approaching their writing tasks, Hansen helped his students discover people
and situations that have influenced them. He then encouraged his students to tackle a big issue
they wanted to change. Before writing persuasive essays on their chosen topics of interest, the
students created pre-write posters to organize and express their thinking. Because the students
were engaged in an authentic task, they were motivated to write and even revise persuasive
pieces.
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 8
Based on interviews with experts in the field of writing instruction, Zumbrunn and
Krause (2012) noted that one of the main principles of effective writing instruction is that it
encourages student motivation and engagement. The experts focused their comments on the need
for students to write for authentic audiences and purposes. They also found, To cultivate student
writing motivation and engagement, the leaders encouraged teachers to set the stage by
recognizing student interests and experiences and creating a context in which students are
excited to write in meaningful ways (Zumbrunn & Krause, 2012, p. 349).
Writing Process
Several researchers emphasized the importance of explicitly teaching the writing process
because young writers often struggle with planning, composing, and revising their written pieces
(Chakraborty & Stone, 2008; Hough, Hixson, Decker, & Bradley-Johnson, 2012; Mason, et al.,
2011). Chakraborty and Stone (2008) asserted the necessity of modeling and scaffolding the
writing process for each genre of writing. They also claimed that peer and teacher conferences
should be included in the revising and editing steps of the writing process. Johnson (2012)
focused his research on the topic of how teachers feedback affects students. He claimed that
feedback that turns students attention to the writing process is more effective than feedback that
is focused on students effort.
Strategy Instruction
In her discussion of the cognitive approach to teaching and learning, Winstead (2004)
claimed, Teachers must use strategies that help students become engaged in the learning
process. Examples of these strategies include cooperative learning, jigsaws, problem-solving,
and mnemonics (p. 31). With SRSD, a strategy instruction model, teachers and students rely
heavily on mnemonics as an engagement and memory tool. In stage 2, Discuss It, the strategy is
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 9
described and discussed. The teacher may also introduce mnemonics associated with the
strategy. Mnemonic devices can include rhymes, acronyms, and other memory aids (Helsel &
Greenburg, 2007, p. 754). For example, in order for students to remember the steps for planning,
composing, and revising a persuasive piece, the mnemonic POW Plus TREE is used (Harris, et
al., 2002; Mason et al., 2011). POW is a strategy that can be used with many genres, which
stands for pick my idea, organize my notes, and write and say more (Mason et al., 2011). When
combined with the mnemonic TREE (Topic Sentence, Reasons, Explain Reasons, Ending),
students can learn how to write effective persuasive pieces (Harris et al., 2002; Mason et al.,
2011).
Another example of writing strategy instruction was discussed in a study with six second-
grade students. The researchers showed that individualized explicit instruction with the
Quickwrite strategy yielded positive results in story writing (Hough et al., 2012). Unlike other
strategy instruction writing programs, Quickwrite requires that students complete each stage of
the writing process within a time limit (p. 172). The positive effects of this study were
maintained four weeks later on a post-intervention test.
Summary
Students self-efficacy as writers and instances of success affect their writing motivation.
Explicitly teaching the writing process to young writers along with genre-specific and general
writing strategies can help young students improve as writers and increase their motivation to
write. Opportunities to write for an authentic audience are often more motivating for students
than typical classroom writing assignments. Additionally, teaching students to self-regulate their
learning through goal setting, self-monitoring, self-instructions, and self-reinforcement can
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 10
translate to improved writing, even for struggling writers and students with learning disabilities
(Harris et al., 2002).
Numerous studies showed the positive effects of SRSD as an intervention for struggling
writers and students with learning disabilities (Graham, McKeown, Kiuhara, & Harris, 2012;
Harris et al., 2002; Helsel & Greenburg, 2007; Macarthur & Philippakos, 2010; Mason et al.,
2011). However, more research is needed to explore SRSD as a primary method of writing
instruction for a whole class. More research is also needed for effective writing instruction in
multi-grade primary classes. Given instruction with SRSD, including the POW Plus TREE
mnemonic for persuasive writing; first, second, and third grade students in a multi-grade
classroom will improve persuasive writing to include three or more reasons to support their
opinion. By the end of the study, these students will be able to plan, compose, and revise a
persuasive piece without assistance from the teacher or planning materials. Additionally, these
students will gain confidence and motivation as writers and will be able to apply their new
writing skills to other genres.
Methodology
Students in first, second, and third grade have difficulty with persuasive writing tasks.
They often require a lot of aid from the teacher and planning resources in order to organize,
write, and revise a persuasive piece. Will the use of Self-Regulated Strategy Development
(SRSD) help these students answer questions completely in persuasive writing? Additionally,
will students gain confidence in their ability as writers and increase their motivation to write as a
result of the implementation of SRSD? Finally, will SRSD instruction with the persuasive
writing strategy of pick my idea, organize my notes, write and say more (POW) plus topic
sentence, reasons, explain reasons, ending (TREE) result in general writing improvement in
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 11
other genres? It is anticipated that first, second, and third grade students in a multi-grade
classroom will improve persuasive writing to include three or more reasons to support their
opinion following instruction with SRSD and the POW Plus TREE model. By the end of the
study, these students will be able to plan, compose, and revise a persuasive piece without
assistance from the teacher or planning materials. Additionally, these students will gain
confidence and motivation as writers, which will also be evident in other forms of writing.
Research Design
This study will include mixed-method research in order to gather the most comprehensive
and conclusive data. The teacher researcher will gather and analyze qualitative data in the form
of pre-intervention and post-intervention surveys along with anecdotal notes from student-
teacher writing conferences and observations throughout the study. The quantitative data will
come from the curriculum-based measurement writing assessments (CBM-W) administered
before and after the study and rubric scores for persuasive writing samples. Each student will
respond to a persuasive writing prompt before and after instruction with SRSD and POW Plus
TREE. Both sets of writing will be scored on the rubric for comparison.
The study will consist of ten lessons focused on POW Plus TREE and the six stages of
SRSD. These lessons were written and published online for use in grades 1-3. The lessons
include adaptations for use with a whole class (TREE classwide lessons, 2009). The first lesson
is an introduction to the POW and TREE mnemonics. In this initial lesson, the teacher introduces
the class to POW, encourages the students to develop background knowledge about writing to
persuade, and then introduces the students to TREE. Together, the class identifies the parts of
TREE in a persuasive essay sample. At the conclusion of the lesson, students are asked to work
on memorizing the mnemonics for the next session.
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 12
The second lesson is focused on further discussing the POW and TREE mnemonics. To
begin the lesson, the students take either an ungraded oral or written quiz so the teacher can
assess their progress with memorizing the mnemonics. Next, the whole class practices finding
TREE in an essay, and the teacher models making notes on a graphic organizer. Finally, in order
for the students to understand how this strategy transfers to other writing tasks, the whole class
brainstorms a list of writing tasks where the students can use POW Plus TREE. The third lesson
is very similar to the second. However, when the whole class analyzes a persuasive essay sample
in this lesson, they think of other reasons that make more sense than the reasons given in the
sample essay. Like lesson two, the teacher models making these notes on a graphic organizer.
The fourth lesson recaps the main ideas learned in the previous lessons. When viewing a
sample essay, the class will think of better reasons and note them on a graphic organizer as in
lesson three, and they will also look for transition words used in the essay. In this lesson, the
teacher also introduces self-statements, which are a strategy for students to self-regulate their
learning. The teacher will model using self-statements for P in POW. Next, the whole class
will discuss the O, organize my notes, and will practice writing their ideas on a blank TREE
graphic organizer. Then, the teacher will model W, write and say more, by writing a
persuasive essay using POW and TREE. After the teacher models the process of writing a
persuasive essay, the class will add self-statements for TREE to their self-statements lists. Each
student should add one or two statements to get started, one or two statements to use while they
are working, and one or two statements they can use when theyre finished writing. To conclude
the lesson, the teacher will introduce the graphing sheet that students will use when they finish a
persuasive essay to ensure they included all of the important parts in their essays.
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 13
The focus of the next lesson is collaborative writing. The teacher will allow the students
to lead the writing process as much as possible to write a group essay. They will respond to the
prompt: Should students have to go to school in the summer? The teacher will help guide the
groups writing by referring to their self-statements for each step of planning and writing. The
focus of the sixth lesson is for students to examine their prior writing performance and compare
it to their current writing behavior. To accomplish this, the teacher will give the students their
pretests. The teacher should remind them that they wrote those essays before they knew the
POW and TREE tricks for good persuasive writing. The students will identify which parts they
included in their essays and which parts are missing. Finally, they will set writing goals for
writing better persuasive essays. In the seventh lesson, the class will return to collaborative
writing. This time, the students will take an even greater lead in the process. They will respond to
the prompt: Should students your age have to do chores at home?
During the eighth lesson, the class will review POW and TREE. Also, each student will
respond individually to a writing prompt. They will have the support of the teacher and a graphic
organizer. When they finish writing, they will graph their essays to make sure they included
every part. In the ninth lesson, the whole class will review POW and TREE. The teacher will
help them wean off the graphic organizer by showing them how to make their own on a blank
piece of paper by writing POW across the top and TREE down the left side leaving space to add
notes. The students will respond to this prompt individually: Do you think children your age
should get allowance? The teacher will guide students as necessary with the goal of each child
planning and writing independently and self-regulating. This lesson should be repeated as many
times as necessary with each student that needs additional support to reach the goal of
independent planning and writing. The final lesson in the series is independent performance. In
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 14
this lesson, students take a practice test. They are given a persuasive writing prompt and two
blank pieces of paper. One piece is for planning and the other is for writing. They must plan and
write independently.
Data Collection Plan
Table 1 shows a Triangulation Matrix that was created to ensure the confirmability of the
data sources for each research question. Using multiple data sources for each research question
adds to the dependability of the data.
Table 1


Triangulation Matrix

Data Source

Research Question 1

2 3
1. Will SRSD help
students answer
questions completely
in persuasive writing?

Pretest Persuasive
Essay
Posttest Persuasive
Essay
Anecdotal Notes
2. Gain confidence?


Pre-intervention
Survey
Post-intervention
Survey
Anecdotal Notes
3. Increase writing
motivation?

Pre-intervention
Survey
Post-intervention
Survey
Anecdotal Notes
4. General writing
improvement?

CBM-W Pretest CBM-W Posttest Anecdotal Notes

Surveys and CBM-W assessments were administered to the sample population in
January. The anonymous surveys were comprised of questions that asked students about their
attitude toward persuasive writing tasks and their self-concept as writers. The same survey will
be administered post-intervention in order to compare the students pre-intervention and post-
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 15
intervention responses (see Appendix A for the survey). The CBM-W assessments were scored
on the number of correct word sequences (CWS). All mistakes in spelling, grammar, and
punctuation interrupt a CWS. With a CBM-W assessment, students have one minute to think
about the writing prompt and three minutes to write. This is a story prompt rather than a
persuasive writing prompt. Following SRSD instruction, students will take another CBM-W
assessment to see if their persuasive writing skills transfer to a different genre of writing.
The teacher researcher will take anecdotal notes throughout the intervention to track the
learning of each student and to help answer the research questions (see Appendix B for the
anecdotal note form). During student-teacher writing conferences, the teacher researcher will use
the anecdotal form to track each students progress. The teacher will note if the student uses all
of the parts of POW Plus TREE including a topic sentence, three or more reasons to support the
writers opinion, appropriate transition words with each reason, and an ending to conclude the
essay. The teacher researcher will also note if the student is using self-statements in order to stay
on-task and motivated. In order to protect the validity of the data, the teacher researcher will
record anecdotal notes accurately, fully, and candidly.
The final data collection tool is a rubric to score the persuasive writing pretest and
posttest. Before teaching the first lesson in the study, the teacher researcher will administer a
persuasive writing pretest, during which participants will answer a persuasive writing prompt.
The teacher researcher will score the pretest essays using the Persuasive Writing Rubric for
Grades 1-3 (see Appendix C). Following the final lesson of SRSD POW Plus TREE instruction,
each student will answer a persuasive writing prompt on a posttest. These essays will be scored
using the same rubric.
Data Analysis
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 16
After collecting the qualitative data, the teacher researcher will analyze the data by
identifying themes in the anecdotal notes and survey responses. In order to put the data in
context, the teacher researcher will describe the setting, participants, and activity during the data
collection. Finally, the researcher will categorize the qualitative data into the identified themes.
The researcher will protect the confidentiality of the participants by reporting the general themes
rather than relaying the exact statements and actions of each student.
After collecting the quantitative data from CBM-W pretests and posttests and rubric
scores for pretest and posttest persuasive essays, the teacher researcher will organize, display,
and analyze the data. In order to protect the confidentiality of the participants, the researcher will
randomly assign each student a number. The researcher will display the mean pretest and posttest
CBM-W data for each grade with a bar graph. The graph will show the mean pretest score for
each grade next to its respective posttest score. The graph should clearly show if the students
score higher on the posttest than they did on the pretest. The researcher will use the same method
to display the mean rubric scores for the persuasive essay pretest and posttest. In order to see
individual students improvement, the researcher will also create a bar graph to report each
students pretest and posttest CBM-W and rubric scores. The researcher will identify each
students scores using the students assigned confidential number. The individual bar graphs will
show the impact of the intervention on each student.
The teacher researcher will then analyze the qualitative and quantitative data to see if the
data answers all of the research questions and supports the hypothesis. The researcher will be
able to see if the students scores improve from the pretests to the posttests. The qualitative data
will help the researcher note trends in students attitudes and feelings about their writing. The
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 17
data may also show if SRSD POW Plus TREE instruction is more effective with the older
students than with the younger students.
Sample Selection
The teacher researcher teaches a K-3 class in a private school in Washington. The teacher
selected the first, second, and third grade students to participate in the study. The kindergarten
students were not included in the sample as they are not academically ready for the instruction in
this study. The teacher was skeptical of including the first grade students, also. They have a wide
range of writing skills. The teacher researcher decided to include the first grade students for a
larger population size and to see how effective SRSD POW Plus TREE is with first grade
students. The sample population consists of five boys and five girls. Three boys are in first grade,
one is in second grade, and one is in third grade. Two girls are in first grade, one is in second
grade, and two are in third grade. The second and third grade students have more experience with
this genre of writing than the first graders, but none of the students in the sample has had
extended instruction with persuasive writing. Additionally, none of the students has participated
in SRSD instruction prior to this study.
Action Plan
The researcher received verbal approval from the school administrator to conduct the
action research project in the multi-grade classroom in place of the regular English curriculum.
The private school where the action research project will take place does not have a formal
approval process for action research. Table 2 shows a timeline for approval, implementation, and
completion of the study.
Table 2


Action Plan Timeline

IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 18
Recommended Action Who is responsible?

Timeline Resources
Seek approval to
conduct action
research
Teacher researcher
and administrator
Approval Granted None

Implement study-
conduct POW Plus
TREE lessons


Teacher researcher

April 28- May 14

Lesson materials
printed and copied for
each student
Post-intervention
survey and
assessments

Teacher researcher May 15- May 16 Post-intervention
surveys, posttest
persuasive essay
prompt, CBM-W
Posttest
Share findings with
administrator and
teachers

Teacher researcher May 28, 2014 Completed action
research report

The teacher researcher believes the data will support the three hypotheses. First, students
will include three or more reasons to support their opinions on the persuasive writing posttest.
Second, students will plan, compose, and revise their persuasive essays on the posttest without
aid from the teacher or planning materials. Third, students will gain confidence in their ability as
writers and increase their motivation to write as a result of the implementation of SRSD. The
participants will also show improvement with other genres of writing as a result of SRSD
instruction. However, the researcher does feel that some of the first grade participants may
struggle to attain the independent writing suggested by the second hypothesis. It is possible that
some students may not yet feel confident to plan, write, and compose a persuasive essay without
help from the teacher or planning materials after only thirteen days of the intervention.
If the hypotheses are supported by the data, the teacher researcher will continue the use of
SRSD lessons for the remainder of the school year. Furthermore, the researcher will recommend
the continuation of the intervention for the following school year. Additionally, the teacher will
IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 19
research SRSD strategies to use with other genres of writing. If this action research yields
positive results, SRSD writing instruction could potentially replace the schools current
elementary writing curriculum.
If the data does not support the hypotheses, the researcher will first examine why the
intervention was unsuccessful. Then the researcher will conduct further research on persuasive
writing strategies. In addition, the researcher may conduct a new action research study that
focuses on explicitly teaching self-regulation strategies before combining them with writing
strategies. This approach would give young students more time and practice developing their
self-regulation skills.














IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 20
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IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 22
Appendix A
Grades 1-3 Writing Survey






IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 23
Appendix B
Anecdotal Record Form

name: ______________________________ Crade: ___________________

uaLe: ___________________ CommenLs: ______________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________________________

Check all LhaL apply:
o 1oplc senLence LhaL Lells oplnlon
o 3 or more reasons Lo supporL Lhe oplnlon
o uses approprlaLe LranslLlon words
o Pas an endlng senLence
o uslng self-sLaLemenLs Lo geL sLarLed, keep golng, and when flnlshed

8aLe sLudenL's moLlvaLlon and confldence wlLh wrlLlng skllls (4 ls hlghesL)
MoLlvaLlon: 4 3 2 1
Confldence: 4 3 2 1

IMPROVING PERSUASIVE WRITING 24
Appendix C
TREE Rubric for Persuasive Writing in Grades 1-3

4 3 2 1



Topic Sentence
The topic
sentence clearly
tells the reader
the opinion of
the writer.
The topic
sentence tells the
opinion of the
writer.
The topic
sentence is
vague or does
not express the
opinion of the
writer.
There is no topic
sentence.



Reasons
The writer gives
at least 3
relevant reasons
to support the
topic sentence.
The writer gives
2 reasons to
support the topic
sentence.
The writer gives
1 reason to
support the topic
sentence.
The writer does
not give any
reasons to
support the topic
sentence.


Transition
Words
The writer uses
at least 3
transition words
to explain the
reasons in order.
The writer uses
at least 2
transition words
to explain the
reasons in order.
The writer uses 1
transition word,
or transition
words are not
used in the
correct order.
The writer does
not use transition
words.



Ending
There is an
ending sentence
to conclude the
essay.



-



-
The essay does
not have an
ending sentence.



Conventions
All sentences are
complete with
very few (0-3)
mistakes in
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammar.
Most sentences
are complete
with some (4-7)
mistakes in
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammar.
Some sentences
are complete
with repeated
mistakes in
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammar.
Many sentences
are incomplete
with many
mistakes in
spelling,
punctuation, or
grammar making
it difficult to
read.

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