A Pictures Worth a Thousand Words Katie Lambeth
A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words Katie Lambeth Brann 2 nd Grade Walkertown Elementary School Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools
Introduction • My classroom library does not have any wordless picture books. • Read picture books • unit themes • to build vocabulary • Wordless picture books would be a new experience for my students. • Is there instructional value? Can they develop writing skills?
Related Research • Story Development Using Wordless Picture Books – develop sense of story – use higher level thinking – develop writing – longer sentences – more descriptive – used conversations
What are wordless picture books? Books that do not have text Stories that are sequenced through pictures Picture alone tells the story
Research Question v What effects do wordless picture books have on the writing process for second grade students? • Are students able to write a clear story with sequencing by using this transition from oral to written language? • Will their writing be more descriptive?
Method Ø Nineteen 2 nd grade students ages 7 -8 years old Ø Level 1, 2, and 3 Writers Ø Study was conducted from roughly 8: 15 -9: 00 in a regular classroom Ø Writing took place Monday through Friday for five weeks Ø Collected anecdotal notes during lesson Ø Used teacher made rubric to assess writing
Intervention/Instruction Window by Jeannie Baker • Took a picture walk as a class Week 2 Sidewalk Circus By Paul Fleischman and Kevin Hawkes • Review follow-up sentences • Mini-lesson on transition words • Picture walk as a whole class • Students sit knee to knee back to back- orally tell the story to their partner (4 pages at a time) then students go back to their seats to write • Teacher holds up the pages the students discussed • Book was written over the course of a week • Each pair of students were given a wordless picture book • Students took turns orally reading the story • A confident writer was paired with an EC student • Teacher posted a list of transition words • Students were given a questionnaire Week 3 School Hug The Ring Peep The Snowman Anno’s Journey The Christmas Gift Four Hungry Kittens Week 1 • Discussed what the students saw on a page • Mini-lesson follow-up sentences • Teacher held book up for students to individually write about the page
Week 4 Week 5 Picture from Hooway for Wodney Wat • Whole class activity • Teacher label a picture (nouns, verbs, adjectives) from students’ brainstorming • Students wrote individually from the perspective of one of the characters Construction paper, crayons, paper books • Teacher led a discussion about what students have seen in wordless picture books i. e. setting, character, problem • Students worked with the same partner as in Week 3 to plan and create a wordless picture book Teacher provided planning sheet Students brainstormed on Monday, illustrated on Tuesday and Wednesday, and wrote on Thursday and Friday Each week I asked questions and provided positive feedback.
Data Collection • Student survey • Anecdotal Notes • Teacher Created rubric assessing number of words, thought units, vocabulary, punctuation/mechanic errors, and descriptive words
Data Analysis • I organize my anecdotal notes in a chart format. • Individually looked at student data from the rubrics to compare the effects wordless picture books had on their writing
Results • • Allows more small group work more confidence organization The use of w. p. b. helped spark some students imagination which helped them use more descriptive language. • Work Samples
Wordless Picture books don’t: • Allow students to hear good literature to build writing skills • Give students complete choice about what to write about
Discussion • Had more one-on-one and small group instruction • I understand that for some students you have to show them they can write more than five sentences. • Using the picture books can spark imaginations and provide experiences. • Using wordless picture books is only one tool to help with follow-up sentences and sequencing.
Future Direction • What are the reasons for using wordless picture books with ESL students? – Look at: predicting, determining the main idea, drawing conclusions, cause and effect, dictating sentences, self-confidence Can tape recording the students orally reading a picture book help them to transfer the conversations between the characters when writing the story on paper?
References Adams, D. (200). Retrieved 06 05, 2003, from Writing Techniques Web site: http: //www. tesltimes. com/writing. html. Andrea De. Bruin-Parecki. (2005). Helping your child become a reader. 3 rd ed. Jessup, MD: US Department of Education. Matulka, D. I. (2005). Wordless picture books. Retrieved September 23, 2005, from http: //picturingbooks. imaginarylands. org/resources/wordless/html. Reese, C. (1996). Story development using wordless picture books. The Reading Teacher, 50(2), 172 -173. Williams, B. O. (1994). Every picture tells a story: the magic of wordless books. . School Library Journal, 40(8), 38 -39.
Resources Wordless Picture Books used with research Anno, M. (1977). Anno’s journey. 1 st ed. Cleveland, NY: Collins. Baker, J. (1991). Window. 1 st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books. Briggs, R. (1978). The snowman. 1 st ed. New York: Random House. Fleischman, P. , & Hawkes, K. (2004). Sidewalk circus. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick. Luthardt, K. (2003). Peep!. 1 st ed. Atlanta, GA: Peachtree. Maizlish, L. (1996). The ring. 1 st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books. Mc. Cully, E. (2001). Four hungry kittens. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers. Mc. Cully, E. (1987). School. 1 st ed. New York: Harper and Row. Mc. Cully, E. (1988). The Christmas gift. 1 st ed. New York: Harper and Row. Schories, P. (2004). Breakfast for jack. 1 st ed. Asheville, NC: Front Street. Tafuri, N. (1983). Early morning in the barn. 1 st ed. New York: Greenwillow Books.
Other wordless picture books that were not used in research Do You Want to Be My Friend? by Eric Carle Pancakes for Breakfast by Tomie de. Paula A Boy, A Dog, and a Frog by Mayer Mercer Tuesday by David Wiesner
• Thank you for listening to my action research! • Are there any questions?
Week 2 • Some students listed things on the page while other students orally read follow-up sentences. • Students asked each other questions
Week 3
Week 5
Emily *Story sentences matched the pictures *Used punctuation correctly *Personalized books by naming the characters
Summer • • • Built self-confidence and creativity Has slowed down and looks at the detail in the pictures Gets excited when reading a book and notices details in a picture Does not consistently write follow-up sentences, sometimes lists events on a page Can write a sequential story
Nick • He has difficulty getting started on writing activities. • With wordless picture books he did not sit as long looking at his blank paper. • More willing to revise on Week 5 than Week 1
Will • Confident writing point of view • Writes follow -up sentences • Good imagination • Logically sequenced sentences
Anecdotal Notes Week 1 Ss are writing more than they have so far Up till now many students thought they were finished if they wrote half a page Showed excitement about writing two pages Week 2 Ss are listing what they see on the page Emily and Will tell the story from the girls point of view Hard for ss to write point of view Week 3 N&D, S&S list what they see on the page rather than writing follow-up sentences E&D take turns making the story-thoughts were organized and so was writing, E uses trasition words, D has sequential oral story telling-overuses “then” S&S used adjective and follow up sentences, also noted setting changes Summer makes text to text connection; Will makes self to text connection Week 4 Writing is not as long Some ss are more comfortable writing point of view than others S&S show excitement in oral reading In a 2 min. time Summer asked Savannah four questions. More confident will discussing the book Week 5 Ss are brainstorming and talking B&A have trouble sequencing when creating picture book “Here is a title page. ” Hear discussions of character, setting, and problem Asked N&D to retell wpb-story didn’t match the pictures they created
Student Survey (during week 3) • Do you like to write? “I love to write. ” “Yes bekos I love to write. ” “Sometimes I most of the time I get a camp in my nocols. ” “I like to write sometimes. But if it is a story I will write a lot. ” • Do you like being an author and writing a story for the wordless picture books? “I love to right, publish books very much. ” “It is fun to da it aefeday it is os fun. ” “Cindfo I love to do nee to nee. ” “Yes because I like writing story’s without the word’s”
cont. student survey • What did you find in the wordless picture books? “It seems like they show a helpful setting. ” “It is showing happy, sad, crying, and excitement. ” “I fond a plan and a lote of mise. ” “They show action. If somethin hapins they change they smile. ” • If you created a wordless picture book what would you need to put in it? “If I created a book I would add setting to it. I would also add some caritores. ” “Love. ” “The setting. The people. The beginning. The end. The middle. ” “A nice ending the best beeing. ”
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