Title: MATCHING INSTRUCTION TO THE NEEDS OF STRUGGLING WRITERS
1- MATCHING INSTRUCTION TO THE NEEDS OF STRUGGLING
WRITERS - Steve Graham
- steve.graham_at_vanderbilt.edu
2- 1. The writing problems of students with LD are a
strategic problem.
3- 1A. Students with LD are not very thoughtful or
planful when they write. - Spend less than 1 minute planning when revising.
- They approach writing as if it involves a single
process content generation.
4- Paradoxically, their papers are impoverished in
terms of content. - They remind us of Snoopy in the following comic
strip
5- The impoverished writing of students with LD is
in part a strategic problem because they have
difficulty gaining access to the knowledge they
do have. - Can double to triple output by repeatedly
prompting them to write or say more.
6- 1B. Students with LD have difficulty regulating
or managing the processes involved in writing. - I will illustrate this with an example involving
revising.
7- 1. Read Essay and Pick Evaluation Cards.
- Ignores the obvious point against my ideas.
- Too few ideas.
- Part of the essay doesnt belong with the rest.
- Part of the essay is not in the right order.
8- 2. Select a Directive for Each Evaluation Card
Selected. - - Rewrite
- - Delete
- - Add
- - Move
- 3. Execute Directive
- 4. Reread Essay and Highlight any Area Still in
Need of Change.
9- 5. Select Evaluation, Directive, and Execute
Change. - This one doesnt sound right.
- This is not what I intended to say.
- This is an incomplete idea.
- This is a weak idea.
- This part is not clear.
- The problem is ______.
10- Made process of revision easier.
- Well you have the steps for revising and its
easier to use than no steps. - Gave me a choice of how I wanted to change it or
make it different. - Made papers better.
- Yes because using these cards helped me make an
interesting story, and change things, and not
miss much.
11- Tackle the strategic problem head-on by directly
teaching students with writing problems to use
more sophisticated strategies for planning and
revising. - Strategies help students regulate their behavior
by providing a plan for accomplishing the writing
task. - Effect Quality Sizes for Planning 1.14
12SRSD
- Self-Regulated Strategy Development
- Developing in tandem
- powerful writing strategies
- and
- critical strategies for self-regulation of the
writing process and knowledge about writing
13Basic Self-Regulation Components
- Goal-Setting
- Self-Monitoring (Self-Assessment/Self-Recording)
- Self-Instructions
- Self-Reinforcement
14POW plus TREE 2nd Grade
15Beginning Rockets 5 Parts
16- Develop and Activate Background Knowledge
- read works in the genre being addressed (stories,
persuasive essays, etc.), to develop vocabulary
(For example, what is an opinion,), knowledge
(what are the parts of a persuasive essay?)
concepts (how does the writer grab the readers
interest?), and so on needed for instruction
continue development through the next two stages
as needed - discuss and explore both writing and
self-regulation strategies to be learned may
begin development of self-regulation, introducing
goal setting and self-monitoring
17- Discuss It
- explore students current writing and
self-regulation abilities - graphing (self-monitoring) may be introduced,
using prior compositions this may assist with
goal setting - strategy(s) to be learned purpose, benefits, how
and when it can be used (begin generalization
support) - commitment to learn strategy and act as
collaborative partner establish role of student
effort - current negative or ineffective self-talk,
attitudes or beliefs may be addressed in positive
ways
18- Model It
- teacher modeling and collaborative modeling of
writing and self-regulation strategies, resulting
in appropriate model compositions - analyze and discuss strategy and models
performance make changes as needed - can model self-assessment and self-recording
through graphing of performance - continue student development of self-regulation
strategies across tasks and situations discuss
use (continue generalization support) - Memorize It
- typically begun in earlier stages, require and
confirm memorization of strategies, mnemonics),
and self-instructions as appropriate - continue to confirm and support memorization in
following stages, as needed
19- Support It Guided Practice
- teachers and students use task and
self-regulation strategies collaboratively to
achieve success - challenging initial goals established
collaboratively criterion levels increased
gradually until final goals met - prompts, guidance, and collaboration faded
individually - self-regulation components not yet introduced may
begin - discuss plans for maintenance, continue support
of generalization - Independent Performance
- students able to use task and self-regulation
strategies independently teachers monitor and
support as necessary - fading of overt self-regulation may begin
- plans for maintenance and generalization continue
to be discussed and implemented
20Please dont P.E.E.in the classroom!
- Post
- Explain
- Expect
- It just wont make a meaningful difference for
most students. Real improvement requires all six
stages of instruction. There is no magic in the
mnemonics!
21- 2. The writing problems of students with LD are a
skills problem.
22- 2A. Text Transcription Processes such as
Handwriting, Spelling, and typing, as they
interfere with the writing of students. - Teaching ES .80
23Reminder
- Reader Effect
- Poor handwriting/spelling the reader cant get
the message - Handwriting/spelling errors result in lower
grades
24Reminder
- Writer Effect
- - Poor handwriting/spelling interferes with
other writing processes - - Students who have difficulty with
handwriting/spelling avoid writing, leading to
arrested writing development
25ADVANTAGES FOR DICTATION
- 350 increase in length
- 300 reduction in grammatical errors
- 878 increase in composing speed
- Better Overall Writing Quality
26SPELLING PROGRAM
- Second grade students provided 20 minutes of
extra spelling instruction a day - Each unit involves 6 lessons and we taught 10
units - In every unit we contrasted specific spelling
patterns
27Day 1 of a unit
28Word Sort
- 2 or 3 spelling patterns contrasted.
- Teacher puts a word for one pattern on the board
and next to it the word for another pattern - The teacher also has 13 to 16 cards that have
words that fit the pattern
29Word Sort
- mad made
- Teacher has word cards that fit these two English
spelling patterns. - With several cards, the teacher models how she
would decide where each card goes (using sound
and letter patterns)
30Word Sort
- Then students help the teachers place the card
until they can come up with the rules for each
spelling patterns - Next students generate as many words as they can
that fit each patterns - A question mark category is added for words that
do not fit the patterns
31Word Sort
32Word Hunt
- Students are encouraged to look for other words
that fit these patterns (in their reading and
writing). - At the start of the next lesson, these are placed
on a chart on the wall.
33Day 2 Day 5
- Word Hunt (3 minutes)
- Phonics Warm-up (2 minutes)
- Word Study (8 minutes)
- Graph Busters
- Word Building (7 minutes)
34Word Hunt
- Words that fit the patterns in the Word Sort are
placed on the wall chart - Students are encouraged to collect more words
before the next lesson
35Phonics Warm-up - Peers
- Show card with picture of an item on it (house).
- Peer says letter that sound at start, middle, or
end makes (the letter is on the back of card). - Peer gives feedback as needed.
36Word Study
- Students study at least 8 words that fit the
spelling patters studied for that unit. - All 8 words are words that the child cannot spell
correctly
37Word Study
- At the start, they use a self-study technique to
the study the words
38Word Study Graph Busters
- Graph Busters
- Say word and study letters.
- Close eyes and say the letters.
- Study letters again.
- Write word 3 times without looking.
- Check spelling and correct any misspellings.
- Graph number of correct practices for all words
39Word Study - Games
- If the child believes he knows how to spell his
words well (after 1 or 2 days of using Graph
Busters) He may continue to study by playing a
game with a peer
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42Word Building
- With word building, students build real words
using the spelling patterns that they are
learning in the unit - Peers do this together
43Word Building
- b
- l ad
- h
- m
- --------
- m
- d ade
- f
- b
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45Day 6
- Word Hunt
- Phonics Warm-up
- Test
- Unit Graphing
46Handwriting Program
- The handwriting program included 9 units
- In each unit, 3 letters were taught (2 letters in
one unit) - The letters in each unit were similar in how they
were formed
47Handwriting Program
- The letters taught first were the easiest to
learn and the most frequent in English words - Each unit had 3 lessons, and each lesson followed
the following patterns
48Handwriting Program
- Letter Knowledge (2 Minutes)
- Letter Practice (7 minutes)
- Letter Fluency (4 minutes)
- Letter Fun (2 minutes)
491. Letter Knowledge
- We wanted to be sure that students knew the
letter names of the alphabet and could associate
those names with the letter forms - We used 4 activities to promote
50Letter Practice Day 1
- We used traditional procedures to teach letter
formation. - We started by modeling how to form each letter
using the cards on the next page, and asked
students to help us decide how the letters were
the same and different
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54Letter Fluency Day 1
- To increase their handwriting fluency, we had
students copy a short sentences containing
letters from this and the earlier unit as quickly
and neatly as possible (3 minutes). - Day 1 set the baseline for their writing speed
and they graphed number of letters written,
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57Letter Fun
- At the end of each lesson, we showed students how
they could do something fun with each letter.
They could do the fun activity or practice
writing their letters. - Some examples are presented next
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61- 2B. The effects of skill difficulties are not
limited just to Handwriting and Spelling.
62Difficulty Detecting and Diagnosing Problems
- he loved farm work
- Because reader will not understand why he loves
farm work. - he liked farm work
- Another student detected 3 sentences central to
understanding the story because people wont
understand that part.
63Difficulty Executing Intended Change
- We got to ride horses go to rodeo.
- does not sound right change wording
- We got to ride horses go and a rodeo.
- It is a nice day to go for a walk
- not what intended to say want to make clear
there were things around walker. - to day like like go day sky is blue and grass is
green
64- 2C. Struggling writers must also become fluent
and facile in terms of writing sentences
65B. Teach Sentence Construction
- Example Sentence Combining which involves
teaching students to construct more complex and
sophisticated sentences through exercises where
two or more basic sentences are combined into a
single sentence. - N 5
- ES .50
66Sentence Combining, Cont.
- Rewrite short, kernel sentences using
- Placement of adjectives or adverbs
- Inserting phrases
- Using connectors (e.g., but, because, so)
- Example
- The noodle was soft.
- The noodle was on my plate.
67Sentence Combining, cont.
- And finally
- The snake was lying in the grass.
- The snake was a cobra.
- The mouse ran by.
- The mouse was tiny.
- It ran quickly.
- The cobras mouth opened.
- It opened menacingly.
- The cobra struck.
- The cobra was deadly.
68Sentence Combining, cont.
- Try this one
- The noodles were long.
- The noodles were skinny.
- The noodles fell on the floor.
- The noodles cracked into pieces.
- The dinner was ruined.
69How do we teach sentence combining?
- 1. Show how to do it, and establish why it is
important (TEACH - 2. Provide students with assistance until they
can apply the skill correctly and
independently (GUIDED PRACTICE) - 3. Ask students to apply the skill when they
write (APPLY)
70Other Sentence Construction Procedures
- Sentence Expansion
- Rewrite Bill and Mary like food - so that the
sentence tells more about Bill and Mary and the
type of food they like.
71Other Sentence Construction Procedures
- Sentence Frames
- The dog ___________.
- Ask student to complete the sentence by telling
what happened
72Also
- Explicitly teach students strategies for
constructing paragraphs (strong positive impact
on schematic structure of paragraphs). - Example Strategy (1) show the type of paragraph
(describe, show sequence, compare and contrast,
and cause and effect) they will write in the
first sentence (2) list details they plan to
use (3) order the details (4) .write the
details in complete sentences and (5) cap of the
paragraph with a concluding, passing, or summary
sentence.
73- 3. The writing problems of students with LD are a
knowledge problem.
74- 3A. Students with LD conceptualization of writing
over-emphasizes form.
75What is good writing?
- Good Writers
- Drafting it, revising it, and editing it.
- Students with LD
- Spelling every word right.
- Write as neat as you can.
76What do good writers do?
- Good Writers
- They read it over and see if they have everything
they want. - Think of very creative ideas.
- Students with LD
- They use whatever paper the teacher tells them.
- They get plenty of sleep.
77How do you make your paper better?
- Good Writers
- Make the ending real exciting.
- Put my sentences in different order.
- Students with LD
- Make sure I have my date and name on there.
- Write it bigger so that it takes up more space.
78- This emphasis on form is one reason why students
with LD use a thesaurus approach to revising. - 60 of revisions involved mechanics of writing or
minor word changes. - Students viewed revising as proofreading.
Revising is - Making it neater
- Spelling words correctly
79- 3B. Students with LD knowledge about writing
its genre, devices, and conventions - is quite
limited. - When describing parts of a story
- I would tell him main character.
- A subject, predicate, and main idea.
- Not only are they less knowledgeable about
writing, but their knowledge is not related to
their writing performance.
80Study of Models
- Involves students examining examples of one or
more specific types of text and attempting to
emulate the patterns or forms in these examples
in their own writing. - N 6
- ES .25
81Pre-Writing Activities
- Involves students engaging in activities (such as
using a semantic web or brainstorming ideas)
designed to help them generate or organize ideas
for their composition. - N 5
- ES .32
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83Inquiry
- Involves engaging students in activities that
help them develop ideas and content for a
particular writing task by analyzing immediate
and concrete data (e.g., comparing and
contrasting cases or collecting and evaluating
evidence). - N 5
- ES .32
84- Example of Inquiry
- Goal Describe the action of people
- Analyze Data observe one or more peers during
specific activities - Specific Strategies Ask the people observed why
they did what they did - Apply Write a story based on insights
85- 4. The writing problems of students with LD are a
motivation problem.
86- 4A. Students with LD show little persistence when
writing. - 6 minutes writing an essay.
- 1 minute when composing an essay.
- Began with a yes or no followed by 1 or 2
briefly stated reasons, abruptly ending without
an ending or a resolution.
87- 4B. Students with LD are more confident about
their writing capabilities than is warranted. - Just as confident as their better writing peers
about their abilities to - Get and organize ideas
- Transcribe ideas into sentences
- Sustain the writing effort
- Correct mistakes
- I am the best they is in English.
88- 4C. Students with LD are less positive about
writing than their better writing peers. - Students generally have a positive attitude
towards writing in the 1st grade, but somewhere
between 1st and 3rd grade this starts to
deteriorate for poor writers.
893. Peers Working Together
- Involves students working together to plan,
draft, and/or revise their compositions. - N 7
- ES .75
90From The Study of Exceptional Writing Teachers
- Be enthusiastic about writing and create a
positive environment, where students are
constantly encouraged to try hard, believe that
the skills and strategies they are learning will
permit them to write well, and attribute success
to effort and the tactics they are learning.
91- Set high expectations for their students,
encouraging them to surpass their previous
efforts or accomplishments.
92- 5. The writing problems of students are a
Teaching Problem.
93- 5A. Teachers often use approaches to writing
instruction that simply are not powerful enough
to overcome their difficulties. - Process Approach to writing as typically applied
may not be very effective for struggling writers. - It can be enhanced by incorporating more explicit
teaching.
94Other Effective Techniques Setting Product Goals
- Involves assigning students specific goals for
the written product they are to complete. - N 5
- ES .70
95 Word Processing
- Involves having students use word processing and
related software to write. - N 18
- ES .55
96- Reinforce positive aspects of students writing
(small positive impact). This involves providing
social praise, tangible reinforcers, or both, as
a means of increasing specific writing behaviors.
97Students monitor performance (small positive
impact).
- For example, students might be asked to count how
many words they generate each time they write or
determine if specific genre traits or elements
(e.g., story parts such as setting, plot, action,
resolution, and so forth) are included in their
papers.
98- 5B. Too many teachers fail to make appropriate
accommodations or adaptations for students with
LD. - 40 of primary grade teachers make no or only 1
or 2 adaptations for their weaker writers. - Some of the adaptations teachers make are of
questionable value. - Limit use of the computer for writing.
- Less willing to allow poor writers to complete
assignments at own pace.