All students in all three years, increased their scores from the pretest to the post-test. Each year students started off with slightly higher pretest scores but were able to increase their post-test scores by an even greater percentage. The second year this strategy was taught using the same traditional intervention and students increased their scores by an average of 2%. In the third year, a digital, modernized intervention model was implemented and students were able to increase their scores by 4% from the previous class. The results of the action research study found that integrating digital elements and modernized applications helped students more effectively learn the paragraph writing strategy. While all students improved their writing scores, students who were exposed to the newly designed intervention strategy achieved improved scores at a higher percentage increase. Anecdotally, students seemed more interested and engaged in the learning process.
In the future, it would be an interesting possibility to teach this strategy to students at younger grade levels and to reinforce it throughout their school careers. It could be valuable to study if teachers utilized a consistent vocabulary and structure throughout time if students would make greater progress. After learning the paragraph writing strategy, the theme essay strategy is the next in the SIM writing sequence which teaches students how to put together multi-paragraph essays. Another potential project would be to revitalize the theme strategy to include digital elements and modern application to determine if this would help students continue to grow as even better and stronger writers.
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