This section offers a number of ideas and resources . This is another great article on differentiated instruction. The rule of thumb in DI language programs is 85% group responses followed by 15% individual responses. Learn how to improve your writing with online writing webinars & tutorials. WHAT DID WE DO LAST LESSON. In some classrooms, students are taught by exemplary educators who blend process-embedded skill and strategy instruction with writing workshop elements such as mini-lessons, sustained writing, conferencing, and sharing (e.
, lots of space or a quiet area to work). , Earth science, history, politics), extensive teacher modeling, and guided practice with feedback before being asked to independently produce writing that reflects a particular disciplinary perspective. Saying, “Everybody, what punctuation do you use when you ask a question. Effective writing instruction is a scaffolded collaboration between teachers and students. , Bridge, Compton-Hall, & Cantrell, 1997; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, in preparation; Wray, Medwell, Fox, & Poulson, 2000). Best writing classes & courses online; join a writing webinar today. Implementing ‘compacting’ in writing should go well when conferencing with small groups. Approaches to the writing process vary, but many approaches describe an initial prewriting stage, during which children develop ideas and plan content; a composing stage, in which a draft is written; a revision stage, which involves making improvements in content, such as clarifying ideas or elaborating relevant details; and an editing stage, which involves correcting errors in mechanics such as spelling and punctuation.
That is, students are provided initial instructional prompts; these prompts are faded over time as students demonstrate proficiency of the skill. K-12 Writing – Instruction Oregon K-12 Literacy Framework—Writing (Writing Framework) Writing instruction requires time; attention to the development of student. Assessment for reading and writing intervention: A three-tier model for prevention and remediation. In addition to error corrections, teachers should also be liberal in their amount of praise or verification statements provided. For example, “Spell fresh, Sandy” should be used as compared to “Sandy, spell fresh.
Anyone who thinks that every child learns the same way and at the same pace obviously doesn’t know much about teaching. Elementary school teachers must explicitly teach spelling and handwriting to their students (this is not to say that secondary educators do not address these, but they do so to a much lesser extent). Teachers often feel that devoting ample time to writing instruction is problematic given the voluminous content area information that must be covered in the typical curriculum (Troia & Maddox, 2004). If teachers do not have access to DI writing and spelling programs, they may use scripts such as these to ensure consistency in the delivery of instruction in the classroom. Teachers incorporate different instructional strategies based on the assessed needs of their students. For my other students I might ask that they provide four paragraphs on only one topic researched.
What these students need is considerably more intensive, individualized, and explicit teaching of transcription skills and composing strategies that incorporates effective adaptations to task demands, response formats, student supports, and teacher practices (Troia & Graham, 2003). Expressive Writing 1 and 2 are typically geared toward students in grades 4-8 who have third-fourth grade reading levels. From the earliest grades, instruction in basic writing skills should occur in the context of a more comprehensive writing program that encourages children to express their thoughts in writing and to write for enjoyment. Use of technology—including but not limited to word processing, spell-checking, and grammar-checking programs—can help to make the process of writing and especially revision less burdensome. All of these attributes must be in place to form a comprehensive writing program for students.
Two excellent resources that describe this research and give advice on how to teach the many available strategies are, “Writing better: Effective strategies for teaching students with learning difficulties,” (Graham & Harris, 2005) and “Making the writing process work: Strategies for composition and self-regulation” (Harris & Graham, 1996). Buy Best Practices in Writing Instruction, Second Edition on Amazon. I found this article to be very interesting. Throughout a unit of study, teachers should assess students on a regular basis. 11/28/2010 · 6 Traits Writing Instruction & Assessment 1. Students are shown what to do by the teacher, have opportunities to practice writing and spelling with frequent feedback opportunities, and engage in multiple opportunities to perform skills on their own over time to ensure skill maintenance.
I plan to be using some of those in my classroom. Instructional assistants, parent volunteers, and tutors would benefit from having clearly defined instructions to provide to students. For example, to demonstrate understanding of a geometric concept, one student may solve a problem set, while another builds a model. It has been adapted and excerpted from Because Writing Matters, a book the National Writing Project coauthored with journalist Carl Nagin on the status of writing instruction in America. However, the process of learning to write often seems mysterious.
Main thesis about writing instruction
Teachers incorporate different instructional strategies based on the assessed needs of their students. The following persons have been designated to handle inquiries regarding the nondiscrimination policies and are the Title IX coordinators for their respective campuses: Executive Director of the Office of Institutional Opportunity & Access, IOA@ku. I love the idea of having the class write on the same topic, just applying different skills/ strategies to complete the assignment. The chart below highlights differences that occur when writing is simply assigned and when writing is authentically taught. I also provide modified assignments and/or test for some of my students. A typical proofreading strategy might involve having children reread a draft several times, each time focusing on one specific category of possible errors, such as mistakes in spelling, capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure.
Several times I’ve expected my more advanced writers to compose several paragraphs on several topics on a researched paper. Following choral (unison) responses, teachers should ask for individual turns. The academic emphasis is increasingly on content aspects of writing, with content demands growing much more sophisticated, and good written expression becomes important to success in many different subjects. Because older students frequently lack motivation to write as a consequence of years of failure, techniques for building motivation can be very helpful; these techniques include emphasizing the roles of effort and persistence in developing good writing, and, when possible, providing choices in writing tasks. Writing is harder for me because I mainly do this whole group. This section offers a number of ideas and resources . Further, as teachers provide instruction in the classroom, they can assess key aspects of the lesson to determine if further instruction is needed or if they can proceed to the next lesson. Students can be skilled grouped based on their performance on the placement test. Choral (unison) responding and signals. Buy Best Practices in Writing Instruction, Second Edition on Amazon. However, it is vital for children in general—and youngsters with learning disabilities in particular—to understand that good writing involves considerable planning and rewriting.
” If the student still did not find/fix the mistake, the teacher could complete the error correction: “You need to begin each sentence with a capital letter. This article did a great job explaining each differentiated strategy through example. I would encourage the editors/authors to revise this article so that it is based on evidence rather than unsupported beliefs about how students learn. Thus, a common goal of content area instruction and writing instruction is to help students acquire proficiency in disciplinary writing. Clear teacher scripts specify what teachers say (typically noted in color) and do (noted in regular print) and what students say or do (noted in italics). I found this article to be very interesting. Students are shown what to do by the teacher, have opportunities to practice writing and spelling with frequent feedback opportunities, and engage in multiple opportunities to perform skills on their own over time to ensure skill maintenance. Whether teaching spelling or handwriting, certain curriculum considerations should be addressed, including sequencing skills or grouping elements (words or letters) in developmentally and instructionally appropriate ways, providing students opportunities to generalize spelling and handwriting skills to text composition, and using activities that promote independence. Following choral (unison) responses, teachers should ask for individual turns. Simple spelling strategies such as learning letter-sound correspondences for regular words are taught before more complex strategies (base words, prefixes, suffixes). About LD OnLine | Contact Us | LD Basics | ADHD Basics | Questions + Answers | Glossary | LD Topics
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LearningStore | IDEA 2004 | Contributors | First Person | Newsletters | Calendar | En Español | Forums | How to Advertise. I have incorporated this in dialogue journals during intervention groups. There were many great ideas on how to differentiate in writing. Early intervention with struggling writers during these years is critical, so that children develop the foundation of writing skills they will need for the much more complex writing demands of the later grades. For example, if the teacher said, “Listen.
As can be seen, the error correction includes a teacher model, an opportunity for students to perform the task with the teacher, an opportunity for the students to perform the task on their own, and a review of the item (called delayed test or starting over). ES UR AT FE NG E ITI TH R FY N W TI O EN CTI ID U : TO STRLO F IN O 2. Finally, students need to develop an understanding of the valued aspects or traits of good writing and the capacity to incorporate these traits into their writing. In DI writing programs, teachers often refer to built-in edit checks in the form of questions. , Earth science, history, politics), extensive teacher modeling, and guided practice with feedback before being asked to independently produce writing that reflects a particular disciplinary perspective. WHAT DID WE DO LAST LESSON. , are said louder by the teacher or are said after a pause to stress the word). The following example from Lesson 106 of Spelling Mastery Level B illustrates the use of individual turns (noted at the bottom of the format).
Direct Instruction: Writing and Spelling. WHAT DID WE DO LAST LESSON. I always did well on essay tests. I plan to be using some of those in my classroom. I love the idea of having the class write on the same topic, just applying different skills/ strategies to complete the assignment. At middle and secondary grade levels, students have greater independence in using these processes and are less reliant on guidance from adults than at the elementary level. , lots of space or a quiet area to work). Writing with the Common Core: Considerations for ELLs (Part 1) Writing "Just Right" Research Questions:. Further, as teachers provide instruction in the classroom, they can assess key aspects of the lesson to determine if further instruction is needed or if they can proceed to the next lesson. However, it is vital for children in general—and youngsters with learning disabilities in particular—to understand that good writing involves considerable planning and rewriting. These closely resemble the dimensions on which many state-mandated accountability measures assess writing achievement (i. The use of the writing process is complementary to, not a substitute for, direct instruction in specific writing conventions and content aspects of writing. With respect to writing knowledge, struggling writers: (a) are less knowledgeable about text structure organization, (b) know fewer strategies for accomplishing writing tasks, (c) know less regarding the topics about which they are asked to write, (d) have impoverished linguistic knowledge (e. This is especially true of the learning contracts and choice board strategies which allow student choice and more independence.
Additional information about writing instruction:
I think that the strategies for differentiating writing would work really well in a writing workshop format. , Bridge, Compton-Hall, & Cantrell, 1997; Troia, Lin, Cohen, & Monroe, in preparation; Wray, Medwell, Fox, & Poulson, 2000). For example, the teacher can ask students to produce a one-minute closing paper (on an index card) at the end of each lesson in which they: pose a genuine question about the topic studied that day, identify the key point from the content materials reviewed, summarize a discussion, or develop a question that might be used for a class test. Choice boards would also be useful in differentiating instruction in the co-taught classrooms I teach in. Assessment informs instructional practice and should be used in some capacity.
As with all other forms of writing, students will require immersion in texts related to a particular area of study (e. Writing is harder for me because I mainly do this whole group. For instance, children might be taught a strategy for organizing a story using the narrative text structure elements of a setting, characters, problem, series of events, and resolution. It gives a good explanation of what differentiation is and how it should be implemented in the classroom. Thus, assessment of component strengths and weaknesses is essential to instructional planning. When teachers differentiate, they do so in response to a student’s readiness, interest, and/or learning profile.
Spelling is typically taught in three ways. Best writing classes & courses online; join a writing webinar today. I do have some students who only write a few words instead of sentences. It has been adapted and excerpted from Because Writing Matters, a book the National Writing Project coauthored with journalist Carl Nagin on the status of writing instruction in America. I enjoyed reading this article on differentiation. What Works in Writing Instruction. For example, my students who have mastered writing a paragraph on topic can be introduced to reference books as an aid for writing.
Beyond grade four, normally-achieving youngsters generally have accurate and reasonably automatic handwriting skills, although further developments in speed may continue. Simultaneously, they sometimes struggle to identify relevant and stimulating writing topics and assignments that will help students develop their expertise as writers. Once children have acquired at least a few basic mechanics and some ability to express their thoughts in writing, they can be introduced to the idea that good writing involves a process of planning, revising, and generating multiple drafts of important pieces of work. For example, a youngster whose writing is virtually unreadable due to extremely poor spelling and lack of spacing between words might benefit most initially by learning to spell a set of common words and to space between words. Edu, 1246 West Campus Road, Room 153A, Lawrence, KS 66045, 785-864-6414, 711 TTY (for the Lawrence, Edwards, Parsons, Yoder, and Topeka campuses); Director, Equal Opportunity Office, Mail Stop 7004, 4330 Shawnee Mission Parkway, Fairway, KS 66205, 913-588-8011, 711 TTY (for the Wichita, Salina, and Kansas City, Kansas, medical center campuses). , “You double the final c in a short word when the word ends cvc and the next morphograph begins with v”) for later and more complex spelling patterns.
Implementing ‘compacting’ in writing should go well when conferencing with small groups
These qualities of exemplary writing instruction are equally relevant for elementary and secondary teachers, regardless of content area focus, and their young writers. For example, a youngster whose writing is virtually unreadable due to extremely poor spelling and lack of spacing between words might benefit most initially by learning to spell a set of common words and to space between words. Bridge, Compton-Hall, & Cantrell, 1997; Christenson, Thurlow, Ysseldyke, & McVicar, 1989; Palinscar & Klenk, 1992; Westby & Costlow, 1991). I also think incorporating ‘tiered assignments’ would work well in writing. I use differentiation in my classroom on a daily basis in my guided reading groups and in the learning centers. In the Capitalization and Punctuation program, students learn to edit and write sentences using 19 basic capitalization and punctuation rules.
Explicit, systematic teaching of specific writing skills—such as correct letter formation, capitalization of proper nouns, elimination of sentence fragments, and use of descriptive words—is very important, as are opportunities to practice and apply learned skills in writing sentences and paragraphs
ArrayWriting [fusion_builder_container hundred_percent=”yes” overflow=”visible”][fusion_builder_row][fusion_builder_column type=”1_1″ background_position=”left top” background_color=”” border_size=”” border_color=”” border_style=”solid” spacing=”yes” background_image=”” background_repeat=”no-repeat” padding=”” margin_top=”0px” margin_bottom=”0px” class=”” id=”” animation_type=”” animation_speed=”0.3″ animation_direction=”left” hide_on_mobile=”no” center_content=”no” min_height=”none”][Teacher Tools] [Case Studies] What Factors Affect Writing Performance. This does not mean, however, that less content-driven writing exercises are undesirable or unnecessary; the inclusion of disciplinary writing is simply one part of a strong writing program. For my other students I might ask that they provide four paragraphs on only one topic researched. Further, as teachers provide instruction in the classroom, they can assess key aspects of the lesson to determine if further instruction is needed or if they can proceed to the next lesson. There are several format features that make DI writing and spelling programs unique. This was very helpful for me, because like many educators, I struggle to differentiate at the level my students most need it. This increasing diversity of the school-aged population has occurred within the context of the standards-based education movement and its accompanying high-stakes accountability testing. From the earliest grades, instruction in basic writing skills should occur in the context of a more comprehensive writing program that encourages children to express their thoughts in writing and to write for enjoyment.
Teachers incorporate different instructional strategies based on the assessed needs of their students. Composing text is a complex and difficult undertaking that requires the deployment and coordination of multiple affective, cognitive, linguistic, and physical operations to accomplish goals associated with genre-specific conventions, audience needs, and an author’s communicative purposes. Expressive Writing 1 and 2 are typically geared toward students in grades 4-8 who have third-fourth grade reading levels. Differentiation of process refers to the way in which a student accesses material. I also think incorporating ‘tiered assignments’ would work well in writing.
, Culham, 2003; Spandel, 2001). These characteristics of poor writers must be dealt with head-on by teachers if these students are to become competent writers. In writing, I think the ‘interest groups’ strategy would work well especially when students are writing persuasive or informational articles. , c-a-t based on the smallest unit of language–phonemes) focuses on regular words; whole word spelling (e. The teacher should first model how to use the strategy, and then give students an opportunity to cooperatively apply the strategy while producing group papers, and finally let students practice using the strategy while writing individual papers. ArrayWriting [Teacher Tools] [Case Studies] What Factors Affect Writing Performance.
Fortunately, there have been numerous studies that have examined the effectiveness of various planning and revising strategies for students with and without high-incidence disabilities in multiple educational contexts (i. ” The student would be required to fix the mistake. Expressive Writing 1 and 2 are typically geared toward students in grades 4-8 who have third-fourth grade reading levels. Further, as teachers provide instruction in the classroom, they can assess key aspects of the lesson to determine if further instruction is needed or if they can proceed to the next lesson. Differentiated instruction, also called differentiation, is a process through which teachers enhance learning by matching student. I would encourage the editors/authors to revise this article so that it is based on evidence rather than unsupported beliefs about how students learn. Writing is integral to student success.
, c-a-t based on the smallest unit of language–phonemes) focuses on regular words; whole word spelling (e. Assessment informs instructional practice and should be used in some capacity. If teachers do not have access to DI writing and spelling programs, they can still incorporate aspects of assessment into their daily teaching. These programs (with the exception of Cursive Writing) have been targeted for use with those students in need of remediation. I found this article very informative. According to data from the 2002 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), only 28% of fourth graders, 31% of eighth graders, and 24% of twelfth graders performed at or above a proficient (i.
Differentiated instruction, also called differentiation, is a process
It would allow my students to be aware of the learning objective while also providing them with expectations for the assignment. Difficulties with handwriting or other mechanics may make writing so laborious that children lose motivation to write even when they have interesting ideas and an extensive knowledge base. For students with disabilities and other struggling writers, more extensive practice and review of spelling vocabulary and letter forms and the thoughtful application of other adaptations (e. Although content aspects of writing are always important, the content demands of writing in the early grades are relatively low and unconstrained, frequently involving free writing in journals or creative writing. Best writing classes & courses online; join a writing webinar today. The teacher may also use various signals in the classroom to evoke student response such as the hand drop, point touch, or audible signals.[/fusion_builder_column][/fusion_builder_row][/fusion_builder_container]
