Hadiqa Akhter is the first teacher in Pakistan to bring SRSD to her country. It’s always interesting when you find patient zero. From her discovery of SRSD last fall to her final implementation in March of 2018, Hadiqa has been ecstatic about the process and the results. She teaches primary grade ESL and was having a hard time getting her students to perform well while writing in English. Then she took our online course, Writing to Learn, introduced SRSD to the children and it was a game changer. So much so, that she is now looking to bring SRSD everywhere in her country while using her expertise to advance her career.
This is her story as told by Hadiqa:
First, I would like to thank you for sharing Steve Graham and Karen R. Harris’ work on improving writing skills, Improving learning disabled students’ skills at composing essays: Self-instructional strategy training. I am the first person from my country of Pakistan to come in contact with your organization. So, after taking time to learn SRSD with your online curriculum I tried using SRSD with my primary grade students.
As I worked with grade one students I used TREE and POW strategies, which worked very well. Next I did Qualitative Action Research in my Class and made my own strategy for improving their sentence writing skills. I named my strategy 3W referring to the three questions WHO, WHAT and WHERE. My students used this strategy to stretch the sentence. In a very short time they made complex sentences very successfully. These are very effective and easy to use strategies for any class with any grade level of students.
I would like to share another achievement that I accomplished through the SRSD Online course: today my students wrote on two topics (My Favorite Place and Break Time Is Good). Using the Opinion Genre helped my young students and now they have become so much the expert that they are writing frequently in whatever topic they choose, thanks to the strategy TREE and SRSD.
Finally, from the classroom today was the last day for my students because the final exams are going to start Monday. They wrote about another topic “I Want To Be“. This day they wrote freely and happily as they are now experts on writing. They also added more adjectives and variety in their writing using the TREE strategy. I am very pleased to share their final work with you. Now they will go on to grade two and I wish them all the best of luck for their future writings.
Please note that my task and responsibilities are not yet finished. I will be working with other students and making them good writers like my previous students. Thank you to SRSD Online for changing my life and making me a better writing teacher.
Epilogue
After completion of my online course, Writing to Learn, and bringing it to my Grade One students, I was able to show the results to my organization. My whole Action Research was very successful. I presented at the regional level and all the members appreciated my work and they admired this SRSD strategy. The good results will encourage my colleagues and peers to seek SRSD on their own while I encourage and mentor them.
The videos and tools provided in this course are enough to help my school implement SRSD in all our grades. The SRSD support team is amazing and they helped me in every query.
I will continue and use more and more SRSD strategies in my class to make my students better writers. I will implement and modify each and every plan available in the course. The course provides the framework to work in accordance with the SRSD theme.
Accolade
I just had to write and say thank you; SRSD Online changed my life. From the very beginning I worked upon students and they gave me remarkable results. Thank you, also, for having faith in me and supporting my research work, taking it to another level. During this time, I was implementing the TREE strategy with grade one students. Now they are becoming good writers.
Before SRSD, my students were making simple, one sentence paragraphs. After the SRSD approach they are writing freely and confidently on their own favorite topic. Additionally, they are now openly sharing their writing and putting them into words on their paper. This makes me so proud that finally I have helped make them good writers.
Finally, the SRSD support team is amazing and they helped me in every query. I am so happy to be part of the SRSD family and so thankful!