University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 1988 Types of worlds: Writing and reading genres in a first grade process classroom Brenda Anne Miller University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Miller, Brenda Anne, "Types of worlds: Writing and reading genres in a first grade process classroom" (1988). Doctoral Dissertations. 1540. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/1540 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. 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Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. 35 mm slides or 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. lilUMIAccessing the World's Information since 1938 300 North Zeeb Road. Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA Order Number 8816695 Types of worlds: Writing and reading genres in a first grade process classroom Miller, Brenda Anne, Ph.D. University of New Hampshire, 1988 UMI 300 N. Zeeb Rd. Ann Arbor, MI 48106 PLEASE NOTE: In all cases this material has been filmed in the best possible way from the available copy. Problems encountered with this document have been identified here with a check mark V . 1. Glossy photographs or pages______ 2. Colored illustrations, paper or print _______ 3. Photographs with dark background / 4. Illustrations are poor copy ^ 5. Pages with black marks, not original copy_______ 6. Print shows through as there is text on both sides of page ____ 7. Indistinct, broken or small print on several pages t S 8. Print exceeds margin requirements ______ 9. Tightly bound copy with print lost in spine ________ 10. Computer printout pages with indistinct print _______ 11. Page(s)___________ lacking when material received, and not available from school or author. 12. Page(s)___________ seem to be missing in numbering only as text follows. 13. Two pages numbered ______ . Text follows. 14. Curling and wrinkled pages _______ 15. Dissertation contains pages with print at a slant, filmed as received _ 16. Other ____________________________ UMI TYPES OP WORLDS: WRITING AND READING GENRES IN A FIRST GRADE PROCESS CLASSROOM BY Brenda Anne Miller B. A.. Michigan State University. 1982 M. A., Michigan State University. 1985 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Reading and Writing Instruction May. 1988 This dissertation has been examined and approved. t - t S Dissertation Director: Dr. Jane Hansen Associate Professor, University of .Tew Hampshire Education Department Dr. Donald Graves Professor, University of N e w Hampshire Education Department Dr. Deborah Stone Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire Education Department * Dr. Douglas Fricke Instructor, Milton Academy (Massachusetts) ! ^ 'l't3 A) Dr. Thomas Newkirk Associate Professor, University of New Hampshire English Denartment I L< - ' I S Ms. P a tr ic ia McLure F ir st Grade Teacher, Mast Way School (Lee, New Hampshire) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Someone once said there are two things you should never watch while they are being made—laws and sausages. 1 suspect if that anonymous someone ever wrote a dissertation, she would add it to that short list of messy processes. I'm thankful to the many people who helped me with this project during those limes when the work wasn't pretty. My family back home in New York throughout graduate school has helped sustain me with their version of the "4 C's”: calls, cards, compassion and care packages. My committee (jane Hansen, Tom Newkirk, Donald Graves, Deborah Stone, Douglas Fricke, and Patricia McLure) gave me nothing but support and encouragement throughout the project. I'm grateful that they applauded my risk-taking and tactfully overlooked some of my failures. I can t imagine having the freedom to do this kind of work anywhere else. A long train of teachers near and far continues to inspire me. My own first grade teacher, the late Connie Lopez, miied warm hugs with recommended books. In high school, Gerald Wild wrote poems right alongside me and other students in our exuberant little poetry workshop. In college and my master's program, Marilyn Wilson always found the time to listen to my questions and musings about research. And here in New Hampshire, Donald Murray has helped me find a voice as a teacher, researcher and writer. The patience and hard work of these teachers goes far beyond these pages in influencing what I value in education. What I value includes schools like Mast Way Elementary School in Lee, New Hampshire. For three years, Mast Way has been a safe haven down a long country road. I will miss everyone there. But I will especially miss i i i Kindergarten teacher Florence Damon's sense of humor, Librarian Marcia Taft s warm enthusiasm, and Principal John Lowys unwavering support of my research. The terms "community" and "collaboration" are almost cliches in educational research, but they have come alive for me through my work with the doctoral students here. These students" voices are a part of me after three years of coffee and chatter in and out of seminars during many long afternoons. As 1 worked alone at the computer writing this dissertation, I could see Peggy Murray scrunching her forehead in confusion when I tried to toss off a theory too glibly. I could hear Elizabeth Strater exhorting me to "cut out the mush" when I got too poetic and removed from the data. Writing a dissertation can be lonely, and the doctoral community encouraged me, providing real and imagined audiences for chapters. The hardest people to acknowledge adequately are dear friends Ruth Hubbard and Patricia McLure. Pat has made a place in her room and life for me for three years. One of Pat’s best qualities is her ability to follow the lead of students. I have been her student for three years, and her ability to become excited about my research agenda continues to amaze me. Her keen insights have shaped the way I work with students. Ruth Hubbard's insights have shaped the way I look at students and my data. She has been a confidante, colleague, and mentor. Ruth isn't afraid to firmly point me in a new direction when I'm about to pin the tail on the wrong end of the donkey while analyzing data, and I'm grateful for those challenges. Finally, I need to thank the young students in this first grade class who so eagerly shared their hearts, minds and literacies with me. 1 am honored by their trust and willingness to teach me. iv Somewhere between one booh end mother a child's passive acceptance had slipped away from me also. I could no longer see the world's array as a backdrop to my private play, a dull neutral backdrop about which / had learned all I needed to know. I had been chipping at the world idiy, and had by accident uncovered vast and labyrinthine further worlds within it. J peered in one day, stepped in the next, and soon wandered in deep over my head. This was the enthusiasm of a child, like that of a field - working scientist. .One took note; one took notes. The subject of the study was the world’s things: things to sort into physical categories, and things to break down into physical structures. Annie Dillard (from Ad American Childhood, pp. 157) TABLE OF CONTENTS page Forew ord ................................................................................................ v SECTION Introduction ................. ......................................................................... 1 I. METHODOLOGY AND CLASSROOM PROCEDURES 5 Research Site................................................................. 5 Data Collection Period ................................................ 6 Establishing a Qassroom Role................................... 8 Data Collection Procedures ....................................... 10 Data Analysis ................................................................. 14 Writing the Final Report .............................................. 18 Classroom Structure ....................................................... 21 II. TYPES. ESSENCES AND SPECIES: INTRODUCTION TO GENRE STUDIES..................................................................................