Abstract:
Teachers have always been faced with the challenging task of teaching a diverse
group of learners in mixed-ability classrooms. Most teachers relied on the one-size-fitsall
approach, which ignored students' academic diversity in favor of standardization.
Similarly, students in today's classrooms are certainly diverse as they reflect differing
academic readiness, interests, and learning profiles. Therefore, teachers continue to
wonder how to divide their time and energy in order to provide adequate learning
experiences that are meaningful to each student in the classroom.
Thus, differentiation of instruction has been proposed as an educational approach
that centers on teaching and learning, which is distant from other approaches that
standardize instruction. In schools, differentiation promises the possibility of establishing
classrooms where student variance in academic readiness, interests, and learning profiles
are addressed and become a reality. This qualitative action research study analyzed the manner in which writing
instruction was differentiated through implementing the Writing Workshop approach in
an attempt to help students demonstrate improved writing skills. In addition, the study
examined the effects of second graders' participation in the Writing Workshop and
discussed the success factors that enabled students to develop their writing skills. The
study also analyzed the manner in which portfolios have been used as an assessment tool
to measure students' writing progress and growth.
The results ofthe data revealed that differentiating writing instruction, through
implementing the Writing Workshop approach, created a powerful and motivating tool
that allowed students to grow to love writing. Additionally, students' writing skills have
greatly improved and that was reflected in their progression of text, expansion of ideas,
and development in conventional writing.
