Needs Analysis

 

Needs Analysis:     

        American education has been increasingly under attack for not meeting the standards set by the rest of the developed world.  “The effectiveness of America's education system in providing the necessary education needed to compete in today's world has been in question for some time now.  The fear of America lagging behind continually forces us to re-examine our educational system, but yet once again, a solution is not implemented.” (Kim, 1995).  America’s solution has always been to develop and implement more tests.  This hasn’t helped in the past and there is little reason to expect it will help our students now or in the future. 

          There is a present shift within the educational community. 

A hands-on approach requires students to become active participants instead of passive learners who listen to lectures or watch films. Laboratory and field activities are traditional methods of giving students hands-on experiences. With the advent of classroom technology, students can now participate in a non- traditional form of hands-on education through the use of computers. This technology extends hands-on learning to include minds-on skills. Carol J. Stadum, The Planetary Society, Pasadena, CA.   

       Instruction of grammar and language at Naples Elementary School has not moved away from the traditional textbook and worksheet format.  Whole language advocates recommend that we teach grammar entirely within the context of the student's writing.  They suggest that students become familiar with correct grammar by using it during reading and conversation, and work on areas of difficulty through the writing process, (Holden, 1994; Weaver, 1991).    The Writer’s Workshop advocates state that any and all grammar studies should be addressed through mini-lessons and practiced during individual writing times. 

       The Uintah School District Board of Education has been concerned with the low Language Arts CORE Test scores in the district.  Every year teachers are presented with their past year’s class scores, the school’s average score, the district average score, and comparison to the state and national averages.  We are invariably below the national average.  The Utah State Office of Education is, at this time, revising the Language Arts CORE Test to include more testing of writing skills, following the whole language advocates recommendations that students use writing to demonstrate their learning.  

       The Uintah School District has recently adopted the Writer’s Workshop program as our Language Arts instructional tool in anticipation of the new CORE test.  The directive states that all language arts skills should be taught during the mini-lessons of Writer’s Workshop.  The students practice these skills during rough draft, revision, editing, and publication stages of the writing process. 

       Children have, for the past few years, become extremely interested in computer and video games of all kinds.   It is believed that because of this, many children have a fascination with technology.  Yet, in the classroom, many teachers are opting to teach using old styles of teaching and ignoring the benefits of technology.

        The need to develop instruction for teaching fourth grade students how to publish their writing workshop stories was determined by several methods as described below:

    Informal observations of fourth grade students faced with a writing assignment. This quickly becomes a frustrating experience since they appear disinterested in writing.

    Informal observations of students indicate they do not see the relevance for doing the writing.  Therefore, their motivation levels are low.

    Informal discussions with students indicated that the students like to write stories but do not like to go through the steps of editing and revising.

    Informal discussions with students indicate that they do not understand why they need to do all of the steps in the writing process.

    Our School, Naples Elementary, is now in the process of writing a technology plan that focuses on using the computer lab time more effectively.

 

References

Holden, M. Effectiveness of Two Approaches to Teaching Writing in Improving Students’ Knowledge of English Grammar. Dover, DE: Delaware State University, 1994.

 

Kim, James, 1995, Japanese Education vs. Amerecan Edukashun- Comparative Account of Literary Education Between Two Cultures - http://eserver.org/courses/fall95/76- 100g/papers/kim/default.html

 

 Stadum Carol J., The Planetary Society, Pasadena, CA.  David L. Haury and Peter Rillero, 1994