Post your responses to the following questions by Nov. 28: What did you learn from the reading about teaching writing that matters most to you? Why? What is one question you have about teaching students with disabilities how to write?
First I would like to say that it has been a privilege to know that I have been a part of an audience that allows my pen pal to improve her writing skill and encourage her writing interests.
There were several things that I found that mean a lot to me and are things I will definitely consider when teaching. It was interesting to learn that some children with disabilities learn to read by writing, some learn to speak by writing, and some learn to solve problems by writing.
I learned that as an educator I will need to discover the “conditions’ that will encourage my students to write. I may use music to encourage increasingly longer periods of writing time.
I learned that finding an alternative pencil or pen may eliminate physical demands and allow the writer to focus on what they want to write. I may need to consider various “pencils” such as a labeler, keyboards, letter stamps, keyboards with key guards, or typing with a joystick on an on-screen keyboard.
I learned that revision for most beginning writers is just a simple way to add more ideas to what is already written. Transitioning short sentences into longer sentences with just the use of the word ‘and’ gives students a way to write more complex sentences by using their own ideas.
I found these suggestions particularly useful; pencil grips, a tennis ball with a pencil poked through it, a nose shaped pencil sharpener, pens/pencils shaped like interesting objects, typewriters, Magna-Doodle, vibrating pens, and the list goes on. Technology is awesome and provides so many extended opportunities. Some ideas allow students to write for real audiences that go beyond the classroom.
Again, I have to say that it is a privilege to be a part of an audience that allows a student to improve writing skills and/or become more interested in writing. Thank you Dr. K.
This is Mary Law. My question is:As we develop and learn what encourages our students to write how do you suggest we keep them interested? How do we proceed without backing off? It seems like a long process for some children. I definitely do not want to cause frustration for the writer that will become a discouragement.
Components of the Writing Block: The Writing Block begins with a 10 minute mini lesson. After the mini-lesson, children work on their own writing. Some compose together with a talking word processor. Others take earlier paper drafts from their writing folders to revise. Since children with disabilites vary widely in their abilites and independence, the teacher makes sure that individuals, pairs of students, and small groups are all working smoothly before she begins conferencing individually with a few children each day. During the writing conference, the teacher often helps the children with disabilites in learning a particular aspect of their "pencil", guides them in focusing on a singe point of revision prior to publication, and explores possible writing topics and forms for future writings. The teacher has coached parents to respond to the content and not the form of writings the children take home. The Author's Chair completes the Block. A few students read parts of drafts in progress. At times, an aide will help a child quickly import a draft into a multimedia program or talking word processor so that a nonspeaking child can read a text aloud, or for a child with reading or writing difficulites who is more willing to share drafts in progress. Often, one child's good idea gets translated into multiple poems, stories, and other writing projects by other children in the class. All the children's finished writings are published and added to the classroom collection in a wide variety of forms ranging from paper to multimedia CDs to online hypertexts. The teacher has found these many forms of publication motivating for students, more accessible to many families, and an inexpensive way to augment her classroom library. The primary purposes of the Writing Block are to develop the skill and will of writing. My question is: Does teaching students with disabilites about multimedia design and having them develop their own multimedia project enable them to better organize their ideas in traditional text writing?
One thing that I learned that mattered most to me was that we as teachers have to understand how our students educational abilities will vary. In knowing this we can offer variations in our instruction to introduce and help our students explore different ways of writing or the use of different writing tools, so that they can be successful in their writing. This may include simple adaptations such as the introduction of pencil grips or more complicated adaptations with the use of technology. For example, Micheal had difficulties in spelling conventionally so his teacher gave him a mini-lesson on how to use Co:Writer during writing activities which allowed Micheal to then spell words correctly in his writing. This matters most to me because I feel that the key to being a succesful teacher lies within our understanding of our students abilities or disabilities. We need to know the various ways of how to meet these deficites and this reading helped me to understand how and when we can use the many advanced tools for writing beyond the conventional pencil and paper.
When a teacher has found a device or software which would benifit the majority of the students in the classroom, do they have mini-lessons addressing the entire class hoping that all will be able to use it or do they divide the class and only teach the mini-lesson to those who will benefit from the particular device or software.
I found it amazing that research says that 60% of children can learn to read first from their own writing! Writing provides the greatest opportunity for children to apply their own phonetic understanding. They must first go through the process of encoding-matching letters to the sounds they wish to write-to get words on paper. Then, they must also decode-take the words off the paper by matching sounds and symbols. Such a complicated process!
I feel from reading this that when teachers model something about writing that they want their students to learn, they put this instruction in the context of "real" writing,-sometimes something about their new dog; sometimes something about a ball game they went to; sometimes they write about school things-science content, the field trip, holiday plans, etc. Clever Four Blocks teachers learn to integrate their mini-lessons-grammar, mechanics, writing process, and everything students need to know about writing-naturally into their writing. That's where students see the power of these lessons-how they make writing better and clearer.
My question is: When conferencing on an individual basis with students, how do you keep the other students in the class focused and staying on task, especially those with attention problems?
After reading this chapter the thing that I feel is most important is to have the children write about their previous experiences. I realize and understand that some of our students will not have as many or as varied experiences as other students. In that case you help create or adjust their experiences.An example of this is when the teacher brought in different items that were a particular color to help the student with an assignment related to favorite color. A strategy that I like was Structured Reciprocal Response using this is a good way provide feedback while teaching the student what an audience may be looking for in a particular style of writing. I also like the concept of Author's Chair in that the student can ask for ideas or suggestions from classmates in the direction that the student's writing should follow. My question is concerning the level of support given to each student. What are we looking for in determining the amount of support given by the teacher or the teacher's assistant.
Making sure that all the students are started with their work in pairs, groups, and with their technologies before beginning individual conferences. I've seen this work in a classroom, and I've seen a teacher begin conferencing before everyone got started. Making sure everyone is on board is always a good idea before leaving dock. Coaching parents to respond to the content of what they write at school, and not the form is a great idea. I also like the idea of publishing all the childrens' finished writings. The "write" stuff has some good ideas ... labeling machines, keyboards, letter stamps, accepting oral reponse to questions to unmask what a student really knows,and typing with a joystick. In this section the use of the wordwall was also mentioned. This will be a great tool in the classroom. I really appreciate all the specific information on programs, such as Co:writer, and WriteOut:Loud. I was just wondering how much most of the programs that are mentioned in the reading cost? ~Laura Chrisco
I found two things that really mattered to me after reading this section. The first thing was that as a teacher I need to help my students find a "working pencil." These pencils will vary from student to student. Some examples that I found interesting were the label maker and the pencil through the tennis ball. The other idea that caught my attention was how much assistive technology can do to support a student in their writing and in their ability to share their writing. I was amazed at all that is available and how integrating them into the writing block can help a writer increase their independence. These ideas mattered to me because writing is an important step in reading, especially for children with disabilities. If my students are to be successful, then I need to have a variety of tools available to help them write. My question is how does a teacher get access to all of the assistive technology available for use and are there any members of support staff who are trained in helping teachers with the technology?
The most useful tool that I found was getting students interested and writing about the things they know or that interest them. Interesting things to everyone makes the task easier. Once we as teachers can peak the interest of our students in any subject the sooner they will buy into what we are trying to teach. Students with o r without disabilities are no different than anyone else, we don't read the "Wall Street Journal" for fun, we need a purpose.Once we get their interest then we can find ways to help them compose their written work. Technology is so vast that anyone can be adapted with a writing tool. The question that I have is; How do we get the parents on board with adaptive technology if they aren't technically oriented? We have many parents who don't know the first thing about technical devices and are somewhat afraid of them.
What I have learned by reading the pages assigned about Writing Block, and through experience, is that some students write the conventional way while some have alternative ways of writing. The lesson-they are both equally writing!! Sometimes a pen or a pencil is just not the answer for a particular student. I have one student in particular that just hates to write ANYTHING with a pencil and paper. He will write on a whiteboard, because he loves to erase. He also types, and he is pretty good at typing. One device they talked about in the chapter was (what we call an Alpha Smart) the device that gives you choices as to how to finish your sentence. This particular student has just started with this device. I also agree with some of the above statements that a child needs to be interested in what they are writing. I have also learned through this entire course that sometimes students learn to read by writing. BUT I do believe that it is essential as a Special Education Teacher, to know that writing can be in many different forms. My question, and one that is very close to home-Do you give up on pencil and paper when you find another alternative??
I learned a great deal about the reading on teaching writing, much of which I plan to use in my own classroom, but the one thing that stood out and mattered the most to me was that ALL students can be taught to write. The overall message of 'not lowering expectations but instead getting to know your students and their disabilites - then finding the appropriate curricular modifications or assistive technologies that help them write more successfully' was a powerful one. I am sure that over the years countless students have been 'skipped over' when adults decided FOR THEM that they weren't capable of writing. Now that we have more resources out there to teach us about student's needs, as well as an enormous amount of assistive technologies, there is no excuse. Another thing that really struck me was the vastness of technology resources to help children. Being new to the field of education in general, it is amazing to me to see what is available now.
My question is: Now that we, as Special Educators, know that there is a vast offering of assistive technologies available to help our students - how do we know how to prioritize what is out there and how do we get funding for them?
There were several things in the reading that were inspiring. Several examples that have me looking forward to having a classroom and trying some of these tools myself with my students. The one thing that stood out to me was the statement that "because of their differences, children with disabilities often come to school with fewer, or different, experiences than nondisabled peers. They often have spent more time in hospitals and clinics and offices,less time playing outside or visiting friends' houses, less time exploring print or being read with." That inspired me to create experiences in our class so that we're all writing on the same page, so to speak. I thought of several people I know who could come into my classroom and provide an experience for the kids to write about. As we share our thoughts regarding the guest and we experience their visit together, we would become closer to one another as well. I have a friend who does magic, another who creates balloon sculptures, another who is a cave diver, one who is a Hapkido teachers and several who are public safety officers. I know that sometimes families don't have time to expose their students with disabilities to these types of things because the care of the student takes tons of time, and all their money. So I would have these folks come in and share their talents or maybe even just read to my students and we could use that as a catalyst to all kinds of writing experiences. I know that it wouldn't be feasible to do this daily, but I would do it on a regular basis if I was allowed by administration. The question I had was the same as a lot of my classmates'. The technology sounds great and I know it would benefit my students, but in Burke County all we hear is all budget cuts all the time. Practically speaking, what is the liklihood that I could actually end up having some of these things to use in my classroom, like Co:Writer?
I liked all of the ideas for teaching reading in the book. I really thought the Intellitalk, talking word proccessor was interesting. The child in the book had Down syndrome and did not like to talk because the other students did not understand him during Author's chair. When he used Intellitalk he could participate and be proud of his self. This made him more confident in reading and he wanted to do it more often. It was amazing to me all of the different ways we can help children no matter what their disability, to learn to read. That was what I understood from the reading, that you have to find a way to make students like reading and to help them to feel confident in reading so they will want to do it, and not feel like it is a chore. I feel that many of the students at the high school where I am interning can, and would have benefited from these technologies. I do not see them being used, and wonder like others if we will have these tools available in my classroom? If you have a student that can not vocalize text, should you have the entire class use something like Tarheel reader to write a book and it read aloud so that one student does not feel different from the other students at first?
I have worked with my children with disabilities. The most difficult one I have found that I have taught how to write is the child that I work with whose is deaf/blind. I have to do sign language with that child and make modifications so that he can see this. How can I get a child like that to be interested in reading and writing when he/she does show any interests.
Co-founder and former director of the Center for Literacy and Disability Studies at UNC-Chapel Hill. Currently professor in Language, Reading, and Exceptionalities Dept. at Appalachian State University.
This is Mary Law.
ReplyDeleteFirst I would like to say that it has been a privilege to know that I have been a part of an audience that allows my pen pal to improve her writing skill and encourage her writing interests.
There were several things that I found that mean a lot to me and are things I will definitely consider when teaching. It was interesting to learn that some children with disabilities learn to read by writing, some learn to speak by writing, and some learn to solve problems by writing.
I learned that as an educator I will need to discover the “conditions’ that will encourage my students to write. I may use music to encourage increasingly longer periods of writing time.
I learned that finding an alternative pencil or pen may eliminate physical demands and allow the writer to focus on what they want to write. I may need to consider various “pencils” such as a labeler, keyboards, letter stamps, keyboards with key guards, or typing with a joystick on an on-screen keyboard.
I learned that revision for most beginning writers is just a simple way to add more ideas to what is already written. Transitioning short sentences into longer sentences with just the use of the word ‘and’ gives students a way to write more complex sentences by using their own ideas.
I found these suggestions particularly useful; pencil grips, a tennis ball with a pencil poked through it, a nose shaped pencil sharpener, pens/pencils shaped like interesting objects, typewriters, Magna-Doodle, vibrating pens, and the list goes on. Technology is awesome and provides so many extended opportunities. Some ideas allow students to write for real audiences that go beyond the classroom.
Again, I have to say that it is a privilege to be a part of an audience that allows a student to improve writing skills and/or become more interested in writing. Thank you Dr. K.
This is Mary Law. My question is:As we develop and learn what encourages our students to write how do you suggest we keep them interested? How do we proceed without backing off? It seems like a long process for some children. I definitely do not want to cause frustration for the writer that will become a discouragement.
ReplyDeleteComponents of the Writing Block:
ReplyDeleteThe Writing Block begins with a 10 minute mini lesson. After the mini-lesson, children work on their own writing. Some compose together with a talking word processor. Others take earlier paper drafts from their writing folders to revise. Since children with disabilites vary widely in their abilites and independence, the teacher makes sure that individuals, pairs of students, and small groups are all working smoothly before she begins conferencing individually with a few children each day. During the writing conference, the teacher often helps the children with disabilites in learning a particular aspect of their "pencil", guides them in focusing on a singe point of revision prior to publication, and explores possible writing topics and forms for future writings. The teacher has coached parents to respond to the content and not the form of writings the children take home. The Author's Chair completes the Block. A few students read parts of drafts in progress. At times, an aide will help a child quickly import a draft into a multimedia program or talking word processor so that a nonspeaking child can read a text aloud, or for a child with reading or writing difficulites who is more willing to share drafts in progress. Often, one child's good idea gets translated into multiple poems, stories, and other writing projects by other children in the class. All the children's finished writings are published and added to the classroom collection in a wide variety of forms ranging from paper to multimedia CDs to online hypertexts. The teacher has found these many forms of publication motivating for students, more accessible to many families, and an inexpensive way to augment her classroom library. The primary purposes of the Writing Block are to develop the skill and will of writing.
My question is: Does teaching students with disabilites about multimedia design and having them develop their own multimedia project enable them to better organize their ideas in traditional text writing?
One thing that I learned that mattered most to me was that we as teachers have to understand how our students educational abilities will vary. In knowing this we can offer variations in our instruction to introduce and help our students explore different ways of writing or the use of different writing tools, so that they can be successful in their writing. This may include simple adaptations such as the introduction of pencil grips or more complicated adaptations with the use of technology. For example, Micheal had difficulties in spelling conventionally so his teacher gave him a mini-lesson on how to use Co:Writer during writing activities which allowed Micheal to then spell words correctly in his writing.
ReplyDeleteThis matters most to me because I feel that the key to being a succesful teacher lies within our understanding of our students abilities or disabilities. We need to know the various ways of how to meet these deficites and this reading helped me to understand how and when we can use the many advanced tools for writing beyond the conventional pencil and paper.
When a teacher has found a device or software which would benifit the majority of the students in the classroom, do they have mini-lessons addressing the entire class hoping that all will be able to use it or do they divide the class and only teach the mini-lesson to those who will benefit from the particular device or software.
I found it amazing that research says that 60% of children can learn to read first from their own writing! Writing provides the greatest opportunity for children to apply their own phonetic understanding. They must first go through the process of encoding-matching letters to the sounds they wish to write-to get words on paper. Then, they must also decode-take the words off the paper by matching sounds and symbols. Such a complicated process!
ReplyDeleteI feel from reading this that when teachers model something about writing that they want their students to learn, they put this instruction in the context of "real" writing,-sometimes something about their new dog; sometimes something about a ball game they went to; sometimes they write about school things-science content, the field trip, holiday plans, etc. Clever Four Blocks teachers learn to integrate their mini-lessons-grammar, mechanics, writing process, and everything students need to know about writing-naturally into their writing. That's where students see the power of these lessons-how they make writing better and clearer.
My question is: When conferencing on an individual basis with students, how do you keep the other students in the class focused and staying on task, especially those with attention problems?
After reading this chapter the thing that I feel is most important is to have the children write about their previous experiences. I realize and understand that some of our students will not have as many or as varied experiences as other students. In that case you help create or adjust their experiences.An example of this is when the teacher brought in different items that were a particular color to help the student with an assignment related to favorite color. A strategy that I like was Structured Reciprocal Response using this is a good way provide feedback while teaching the student what an audience may be looking for in a particular style of writing. I also like the concept of Author's Chair in that the student can ask for ideas or suggestions from classmates in the direction that the student's writing should follow.
ReplyDeleteMy question is concerning the level of support given to each student. What are we looking for in determining the amount of support given by the teacher or the teacher's assistant.
Allen Sigmon
Making sure that all the students are started with their work in pairs, groups, and with their technologies before beginning individual conferences. I've seen this work in a classroom, and I've seen a teacher begin conferencing before everyone got started. Making sure everyone is on board is always a good idea before leaving dock.
ReplyDeleteCoaching parents to respond to the content of what they write at school, and not the form is a great idea. I also like the idea of publishing all the childrens' finished writings. The "write" stuff has some good ideas ... labeling machines, keyboards, letter stamps, accepting oral reponse to questions to unmask what a student really knows,and typing with a joystick. In this section the use of the wordwall was also mentioned. This will be a great tool in the classroom. I really appreciate all the specific information on programs, such as Co:writer, and WriteOut:Loud.
I was just wondering how much most of the programs that are mentioned in the reading cost?
~Laura Chrisco
I found two things that really mattered to me after reading this section. The first thing was that as a teacher I need to help my students find a "working pencil." These pencils will vary from student to student. Some examples that I found interesting were the label maker and the pencil through the tennis ball. The other idea that caught my attention was how much assistive technology can do to support a student in their writing and in their ability to share their writing. I was amazed at all that is available and how integrating them into the writing block can help a writer increase their independence. These ideas mattered to me because writing is an important step in reading, especially for children with disabilities. If my students are to be successful, then I need to have a variety of tools available to help them write. My question is how does a teacher get access to all of the assistive technology available for use and are there any members of support staff who are trained in helping teachers with the technology?
ReplyDeleteThe most useful tool that I found was getting students interested and writing about the things they know or that interest them. Interesting things to everyone makes the task easier. Once we as teachers can peak the interest of our students in any subject the sooner they will buy into what we are trying to teach. Students with o r without disabilities are no different than anyone else, we don't read the "Wall Street Journal" for fun, we need a purpose.Once we get their interest then we can find ways to help them compose their written work. Technology is so vast that anyone can be adapted with a writing tool.
ReplyDeleteThe question that I have is; How do we get the parents on board with adaptive technology if they aren't technically oriented? We have many parents who don't know the first thing about technical devices and are somewhat afraid of them.
What I have learned by reading the pages assigned about Writing Block, and through experience, is that some students write the conventional way while some have alternative ways of writing. The lesson-they are both equally writing!! Sometimes a pen or a pencil is just not the answer for a particular student. I have one student in particular that just hates to write ANYTHING with a pencil and paper. He will write on a whiteboard, because he loves to erase. He also types, and he is pretty good at typing. One device they talked about in the chapter was (what we call an Alpha Smart) the device that gives you choices as to how to finish your sentence. This particular student has just started with this device. I also agree with some of the above statements that a child needs to be interested in what they are writing. I have also learned through this entire course that sometimes students learn to read by writing. BUT I do believe that it is essential as a Special Education Teacher, to know that writing can be in many different forms. My question, and one that is very close to home-Do you give up on pencil and paper when you find another alternative??
ReplyDeleteI learned a great deal about the reading on teaching writing, much of which I plan to use in my own classroom, but the one thing that stood out and mattered the most to me was that ALL students can be taught to write. The overall message of 'not lowering expectations but instead getting to know your students and their disabilites - then finding the appropriate curricular modifications or assistive technologies that help them write more successfully' was a powerful one. I am sure that over the years countless students have been 'skipped over' when adults decided FOR THEM that they weren't capable of writing. Now that we have more resources out there to teach us about student's needs, as well as an enormous amount of assistive technologies, there is no excuse. Another thing that really struck me was the vastness of technology resources to help children. Being new to the field of education in general, it is amazing to me to see what is available now.
ReplyDeleteMy question is: Now that we, as Special Educators, know that there is a vast offering of assistive technologies available to help our students - how do we know how to prioritize what is out there and how do we get funding for them?
There were several things in the reading that were inspiring. Several examples that have me looking forward to having a classroom and trying some of these tools myself with my students. The one thing that stood out to me was the statement that "because of their differences, children with disabilities often come to school with fewer, or different, experiences than nondisabled peers. They often have spent more time in hospitals and clinics and offices,less time playing outside or visiting friends' houses, less time exploring print or being read with." That inspired me to create experiences in our class so that we're all writing on the same page, so to speak. I thought of several people I know who could come into my classroom and provide an experience for the kids to write about. As we share our thoughts regarding the guest and we experience their visit together, we would become closer to one another as well. I have a friend who does magic, another who creates balloon sculptures, another who is a cave diver, one who is a Hapkido teachers and several who are public safety officers. I know that sometimes families don't have time to expose their students with disabilities to these types of things because the care of the student takes tons of time, and all their money. So I would have these folks come in and share their talents or maybe even just read to my students and we could use that as a catalyst to all kinds of writing experiences. I know that it wouldn't be feasible to do this daily, but I would do it on a regular basis if I was allowed by administration. The question I had was the same as a lot of my classmates'. The technology sounds great and I know it would benefit my students, but in Burke County all we hear is all budget cuts all the time. Practically speaking, what is the liklihood that I could actually end up having some of these things to use in my classroom, like Co:Writer?
ReplyDeleteI liked all of the ideas for teaching reading in the book. I really thought the Intellitalk, talking word proccessor was interesting. The child in the book had Down syndrome and did not like to talk because the other students did not understand him during Author's chair. When he used Intellitalk he could participate and be proud of his self. This made him more confident in reading and he wanted to do it more often. It was amazing to me all of the different ways we can help children no matter what their disability, to learn to read. That was what I understood from the reading, that you have to find a way to make students like reading and to help them to feel confident in reading so they will want to do it, and not feel like it is a chore. I feel that many of the students at the high school where I am interning can, and would have benefited from these technologies. I do not see them being used, and wonder like others if we will have these tools available in my classroom? If you have a student that can not vocalize text, should you have the entire class use something like Tarheel reader to write a book and it read aloud so that one student does not feel different from the other students at first?
ReplyDeleteI have worked with my children with disabilities. The most difficult one I have found that I have taught how to write is the child that I work with whose is deaf/blind. I have to do sign language with that child and make modifications so that he can see this. How can I get a child like that to be interested in reading and writing when he/she does show any interests.
ReplyDelete