The Young Adult Writing Project (YAWP)

Six-Trait Model

Grammar Practice Sheets

Fees Middle School Writing Center

Information for Student Teachers

Young Adult Literature

ASU English Education
PO Box 870302
Tempe, AZ 85287-0302
Phone: 480.965.3105
Fax: 480.965.0605
Language & Literature Building Rm 215

The Fire Writers logo design (upper right) was the winning entry in a contest among the 26 participating Fees Middle School Students.

Photos (below): Wendy Kelleher

The Fees Fire Writers' Writing Club:
A University/Middle School Partnership
2000-2004

Project Director: James Blasingame, ASU
Site Supervisor: Wendy Kelleher, ASU
Fees Coordinators: Mickie Munoz, Melissa Reid, Fees Middle School
Service Learning Coordinator: Jan Kelly, ASU

• The Project
• The Purpose
• The Student Writers
• The Operational Procedure
• A Few Success Stories
• The Fiery Dispatch: An Online Literary Magazine for Fees Middle School students

The Project

The Fees Fire Writers' Writing Club was an after-school writing center for students at Fees Middle School in Tempe, Arizona. The Writing Center was operated by Arizona State University (ASU) English students enrolled in ENG 480: Methods of Teaching Composition and ENG 484: Internship in English (through ASU Service Learning) under the supervision of the ASU English Department. The ASU students led sixth, seventh and eighth graders through a variety of writing projects, including a school newspaper. Assistance with writing assignments (homework) was provided, as well.

The project was developed and operated through collaboration among the ASU English and Service Learning Departments and Tempe School District #3. Planning began in 2000, and the center opened in 2001-2002 with funding and technological support from an ASU/Motorola Great Communities Seed Grant, in 2002-2003 was served by a 21st Century Learning grant, and in 2003-2004 partnered with the FIPSE Writing Coalition.

The name "Fees Fire Writers' Writing Club" and the logo design were the winning entry in a contest among the 26 participating Fees Middle School Students. The students did not think of the project as a writing center, or a remedial writing class, but rather as an after-school club (a fact that is reflected in their surveys at the end of each semester). The Motorola Corporation digitized the "Fire Writers" image and created a large vinyl banner that hangs from the wall in the writing lab.

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The Purpose

The purpose of the project was to accomplish the following:

• Improve Fees Middle School students' writing skills and attitudes about writing
• Assist Fees teachers with students who would benefit from additional writing experience (remediation and/or enrichment)
• Provide a laboratory for effective writing instruction techniques
• Use a writing workshop approach:
  • Using the Six-trait Model for writing instruction
  • Inventing and piloting new writing activities
  • Investigating effects on diverse student learning styles and abilities
• Enhance teacher preparation at ASU by:
  • Providing a guided experience in writing instruction and assessment techniques, especially the Six-trait model and writing workshop
  • Providing real-world experience in a supervised part-time setting
  • Raising ASU students' awareness of the educational needs and performance level of the typical public school students they will serve
  • Connecting pre-service teachers to the community
• Assess the mutual benefits of a university/public school partnership
• Provide FMS and ASU access to each other's resources

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The Student Writers

Sixth, seventh and eighth grade students were recommended into the Fire Writers either because they enjoyed writing or because they were struggling with writing in English class. After a short time students didn't appear to notice or care who was there for remediation and who was there for enrichment. By the end of each semester, there was little noticeable difference among them. Many reluctant writers became confident authors; some of them even published works in a national magazine, and all of them had articles in the school newspaper, a paper that goes to every student and every student's parent/guardian.

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The Operational Procedure

Each week the ASU tutors presented a new writing activity. All of the Fees students observed and participated as the ASU tutor or tutors took about ten minutes to introduce the new writing activity they had prepared. Once the new activity was introduced, the middle school students had the following choices: (1) They may try the new activity, (2) they may work on a writing assignment from English class, (3) they may work on an article or column for the school paper or (4) they may turn to the portfolio of poems, fiction, personal narratives and other works they have created so far and continue work on a previous piece of writing. Each semester every student submitted one poem, story or personal narrative to the Writer's Slate magazine, a national publication. Three students had their work published.

As the young student writers made their way through the writing process, the ASU tutors provided individual attention to every student, assisting them through the writing process and helping them to self-assess and polish their work using a Six-trait checklist adapted from the NWREL Student Friendly Rubric. Students' work was often shared spontaneously during the session and group sharing often ended a session. On the last day of each semester students had a read-around pizza party or "junk-food buffet" in which they chose their favorite piece to share with the other students in a semi-practiced performance.

In the first semester of operation a few students began work on a first-ever Fees Middle School newspaper, which they christened The Fiery Dispatch. By the second edition every student had joined in somehow, and by the end of the project every student wrote at least one article for the paper. The newspaper is delivered to all Fees Middle School students in homeroom and went out with the school newsletter to all school patrons. The students used a Six-trait checklist to assess and revise the paper and checked for errors in conventions over and over until the tutors, ASU supervisor, and Fees teachers convinced them that it was ready for publication.

The site supervisor not only played an important role in execution of the operational plan, but he/she also collected data and focused the learning experience of the ASU tutors. During operation the site supervisor sometimes modeled effective interaction with student writers, but more often took field notes and made audio recordings of interactions between ASU tutors and the Fees student writers. In addition, he/she conducted an asynchronous discussion on the ASU English WebBoard based on a weekly topic that he/she posted.

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A Few Success Stories

After six semesters of the project, we experienced nothing but success, and continued to find surprises almost every day with the Fees students and our ASU tutors. Michelle Munoz, Fees Middle School Sixth grade English teacher, stated, "The kids participating in the writing center are all showing improvement in their in-class writing assignments." In addition, the writing center participants were able to use poems, stories, personal narratives, essays and other work that they did in the writing center to fulfill assignments in Mrs. Munoz's class. A few items from the end of the semester survey that the Fees students completed revealed their thoughts and feelings about their time in the writing center, or as they named it (and Motorola created a banner), "The Fees Fire Writers Writing Club." Two items especially stand out from our list of statements to which the students were to mark strongly agree, agree, undecided, disagree or strongly disagree. To the item "Writing is boring" all but one student marked disagree or strongly disagree, and to the item "I enjoy my time in the writing center" every student but one marked strongly agree or agree.

According to ASU tutors who completed anonymous surveys about their experiences:

My limited preparations to be a teacher had never before involved actual students. So a large part of what I have learned from this project is what real students are capable of. Many of the intangible fears of teaching I had prior to this semester have been dispelled. I can do this, and my desire to do so has only strengthened. (Student A)

Working in the writing workshop has been a learning experience for me. It enabled me to see strategies in teaching writing that I have studied in college classes actually work in a classroom setting. It was exciting to watch students who were uninterested and apprehensive about writing blossom into eager writers as the semester came to an end. (Student B)

The Fees Fire Writers' Writing Club ended after spring semester 2004 due to a lack of funding. Plans to re-start the project are pending; funding availability will determine when and if the writing center is able to re-open.

--Text: Professor Jim Blasingame, Jr.

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