Ways I Can Support and Motivate Students Who Struggle With Writing: A Self-Study

Abstract

This self-study is my attempt to determine how I can support and motivate students who struggle with the writing process. I conducted this self-study while substitute teaching in several elementary classrooms in a large urban school district in western New York. During the twenty five day study, I taught the reading and writing lesson plans the classroom teachers left for me, and then at the end of each day, I reflected on my instruction using a series of prompts. The findings indicate that my use of strategies such as modifying the Common Core State Standard modules and domains to include opportunities for writing, providing individualized instruction and word of encouragement and personalizing the writing tasks supported and motivated all students but particularly those who struggle with writing.