Supporting Literacy and Social Connectedness in a Pandemic Through the “Autobiographical R/W/L/S” Method

Introduction

A well-known literary genre, autobiographical writing is a form of literary expression of self which elicits literary description (Drewniak, 2020). This chapter discusses the field collaboration of a 4th-grade teacher and an associate professor in childhood education who sought to use computer mediated communication (CMC) to support the development of literacy skills in young children amid intermittent school closures during a pandemic. A collaboration between the 4th-grade teacher and associate professor resulted in an intervention called the Autobiographical Reading/Writing/Listening/Speaking (R/W/L/S) project. Autobiographical R/W/L/S is loosely based on All About Me activities which are highly common to develop classroom communities in early learning settings in the United States. Therefore, an Autobiographical R/W/L/S curriculum was deployed with eleven 4th-graders, aged between 9 and 10 years old, all of whom had Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) for technically diagnosed needs. It was delivered entirely through a synchronous video link.

The impetus to develop Autobiographical R/W/L/S came from a concern that writing goals for all eleven IEP students were at risk of not being met during the COVID-19 pandemic. A decline in the quantity and quality of their writing compared to that of previous cohorts was especially apparent after classroom instruction was cut down from five days to four due to social distancing mandates. As they age, most children are able to develop, strengthen and preserve the complex set of thinking processes involved in writing. However, any technically diagnosed needs (TDN), commonly known in society as ‘disabilities’, in writing can and do exist among children, which researchers have linked to a variety of causes, such as developmental TDN, low incident neurogenetic disorders, congenital brain disorders, acquired brain injuries, or specific learning TDN in otherwise neurotypical individuals (Beers, Mickail, Abbott & Berninger, 2017). Moreover, in a time of persistent stress like the year-long, COVID-19 pandemic, child development might be more adversely affected than usual with emotional and behavioral challenges (Pisano et al., 2020; Orgilés et al., 2020; Xie et al., 2020). This suggests that, to advance literacy development in children in a period of stress, it is warranted to address their socio-emotional learning (SEL) needs as well as academic goals. Finally, teachers might find themselves relying on synchronous video teaching in emergency situations like a pandemic. If learning interventions have not been adequately designed for use via video conferencing, literacy development may be compromised.

During the first phase of work, the associate professor and 4th-grade teacher engaged in formative design conversations. They recognized the need to devise a classroom exercise that could tackle many things at once, given their observation that disruptions from COVID-19 seemed to impact not just the children’s literacy skills, but other aspects of their mental, physical, and SEL development as well. Their decision to focus on autobiographical writing was informed by the current understanding of the benefits of autobiographical literacy on multiple aspects of child development. The segment on cognitive benefits of autobiographical writing in the background section reviews relevant literature on ways in which autobiographical information may assist children.