Summary evidence of key shifts

Evaluation of student shifts

Just to recap

The target group of students I am focused on, are at all different levels. They have many different challenges that I considered. I will used the developmental writing scale for beginner writers developed (Sturm, cali, Nelson and Staskowski, 2012) adapted by Jane Farrall (see previous blog post) to see how my students progressed.

Meet my target students  

• Student 1 (DH) - Is six years old and has Down Syndrome. He has also been diagnosed with moderate ASD, Global developmental delay, conductive hearing loss, hearing aid in both ears, Hypermetropia-wears glasses and dysphasia. Student1 is in a Year one class and has significant language delays.  He is mostly non verbal, in a one on one sessions he may share an experience about his weekend. He is not motivated to write due to his delayed language and  poor fine motor skills. He is just beginning to learn how to use a device. 

• Student 2 (SH) - Is eight years old. He also has Down Syndrome and moderate ASD. He has hearing loss in one ear, he has one hearing aid and wear glasses. He is in a Year 4 class and has significant language delays. He will sometimes attempt to write a recount about his weekend. He requires lots of prompting and motivation to get started with his writing. A reward system and a range of targeted resources is needed in order for him to complete a writing task. His lacks of motivation is due to his poor fine motor control and his language delays.

• Student 3 (RY)- Is eight years old and he has Autism, English is second language and he has Global developmental delays. He is in a Year four class. He has significant language delays and is not motivated to write. With support and targeted resources he will attempt a simple sentence about an experience he had. He still misses out the little words and always starts his sentence with 'His name'. He is confident on a device, but due to language delays, he needs constant reassurance before he can record a word.

• Student 4 (EP)- Is 11 years old and has Down Syndrome, Global developmental delay, conductive hearing loss,  and dysphasia. She has significant language delays and is in a Year six class. She needs lots of  motivated to write and she will only write if she had an experience. Due to her poor motor control and language delays, she finds writing difficult. She is only starting to learn how to write on a device.

• Student 5 (LL)- Is in a year eight class and has intellectual disability. She has extremely low adaptive functioning, serious Receptive and Expressive Language disorder and probable Neurological Disorder. Due to poor motor control and language delays, she finds writing difficult and is not motivated to write. She is aware of the fact the she is working at a much lower level than her peers. Even though she is very confident on a device, she requires a range of prompts and supports in order to construct a simple sentence.

My students struggle to focus for extended periods of time. They are not very motivated to write and require lots of motivation to get started and stay on task. 

Kindly click on the title link below to view my summary

Click here- Evaluation of interventions

Questions we can ask about writing

As teachers , here are some questions we can ask about the way we teach writing.

Writing is a complex task, involving ideas, language, words, spelling and transcribing or selecting letters. We need to teach all of these skills – and eventually students need to be able to do all of these, within the one task, to become writers.

Overall guidelines

• Do you have time scheduled for an independent writing block every day?
• Are your students using a pencil or alternative writing tool that allows them to focus on the cognitive aspects of writing e.g. alphabet board, flip chart, keyboard, eye gaze system, iPad and app, computer, pen or pencil?
• Does their writing tool include access to all 26 letters of the alphabet?
• Do your students have real reasons for writing? (and remember – writing never involves copying and tracing; writing involves thinking of ideas, language, words AND transcribing)
• Do you model writing to your classroom each time before you ask them to write?
• Do you have a time for writer’s chair so that students can share their writing with others?

• For emergent students
• Are you giving your students lot of opportunities to learn the function of writing without focusing on the form e.g. following through on notes handed to you, writing yourself reminders and then using them, writing a morning message?
• Do they have daily opportunities to write without standards using a writing tool with access to all 26 letters?
• When they have finished writing do you say “now let me show you how I would write it” and model writing rather than interrupting them during the writing task or putting demands on their writing?
• Are you offering them a range of writing tasks, such as writing about personal experiences, high interest topics, classroom topics, letter writing, signing in?
• Are you following through on writing tasks e.g. posting letters?
• Do you have a daily or weekly shared writing activity, such as predictable chart writing?

Writing (with an alphabet chart, teacher scribes)

💚Student signing in→

For conventional students

• Do you focus your modelling of writing on different aspects of the writing task each day e.g. using the word wall, using capitals, using punctuation, thinking of ideas, thinking of your audience in planning writing, using different sorts of vocabulary, etc.?
• Are you modelling aspects of writing for a while before you expect your students to start using them?
• Are you including free writing so that students learn to self-select in this block?
• Have you done a chart of topics “we all know about” with your class as ideas for free writing?
• Are you using the prompt “tell me more about that” to get students to extend their writing?
• Are you teaching students to edit writing, starting with teaching them to edit your writing and then transitioning to their own?
• Are you using editing checklists as students start self-editing e.g. “do my sentences have capitals and punctuation, do all my sentences relate to the topic”?
• Are you encouraging your students to publish?

Developmental writing scale

Developmental writing scale for assessment 

In my previous post I discussed using the development writing scale. This is what Jane Farrall says:
I hope this will help you work out the level that your student might be on.

Using the Developmental Writing Scale for Writing Assessment by Jane Farrall The Developmental Writing Scale (Sturm et al 2012) is a key part of this. This scale is so useful as it allows us to track a student's writing progress from emergent to conventional with a 14 point scale.  Most importantly it also has accommodations listed for students who use alternative pencils - which is important for most of the students I work with. The Developmental Writing Scale As I said earlier, the Developmental Writing Scale is a 14 point scale that goes from emergent to conventional and then through the early stages on conventional writing - in the Australian Curriculum the highest level on the scale is at a grade 4 and 5 writing level. We use the level descriptors to decide what level each piece of writing is at - and then those level descriptors help us to work out what skills we need to teach them to move to the next level. And now, to demonstrate how this process works, let's look at each level on the scale along with examples. Level 1  Drawing - lines and curves that appear to represent objects.  Accommodations: Selection of a picture by a [student] who cannot hold a traditional pencil or marker. If we go back to my blog post called Emergent Writing: Focus on Function, this is how we would rate Mathilda's first "writing sample" - which I have also put below.  This is the stage at which an individual doesn't recognise the difference between writing and pictures - and this is the point at which we (the adults) do lots and lots of attributing meaning and assuming competence to teach them them that they are a writer.  Then we continue to use those same two adult superpowers to teach them that print has meaning and that everything they say they can write.  Frequent writing practice with adults attributing meaning and assuming competence is how individuals move to the next point on the scale. Level 1 Sample, Drawing Level 1 Sample, generated with a flip chart - student selected the picture when we did the extra task as explained below The accommodations part of this scale is REALLY important for any student using a keyboard or flip chart.  A sample collected with these alternative pencils, and which is scored at level 1, needs to be accompanied by an extra task with the student.  Basically, we provide the student with some writing and a picture.  The easiest way to do this is to use a children's picture book.  I prefer to use one which has writing on one side and a picture on the other.  I then ask them to "show me the writing". If they select the picture, then they are rated as a level 1.   The reason for this task being so important will become apparent as we get to level 3 on the scale. Page from "The Animated ABC Book" by Jim Bryson Level 2 Scribbling - Continuous vertical, circular or wavy lines arranged linearly across the page, which may include letter-like forms, but with the majority of shapes not recognizable as letters. Accommodations: if an [individual] uses a keyboard [or flip chart], this level would not be used. For individuals with good fine motor skills, this is where they start to demonstrate that they have had enough experiences with text to know that there is a difference between print and picture - and then this starts to show up in their writing.  Below is a perfect example of this stage.  This is an old sample that my friend Dianne sent me - a letter from her nephew to his grandmother. Level 2 Sample Handwriting Again, the accommodation part of the scale for level 2 is really important - and this is basically that if the student is using an alternative pencil, then we don't see level 2 in their writing development - they jump straight from level 1 to level 3. Level 3 Letter Strings (no groups) - Handwritten or typed strings of letter but not grouped into words. Accommodations: alphabet display (e.g. paper copy) and standard or electronic keyboard access (e.g. on screen keyboard or AAC system) For a student holding a pen or a pencil, this is where they show us that they've learned enough about text to know that it is composed of letters - and so we start to see those letters in their writing.  For students who are using a keyboard or a flip chart, we've already been seeing letter strings because their alternative pencil is setup for them to write with letters.  BUT remember the accommodation from level 1.  If we do that separate "show me the writing" task with them and they select the picture, then we would rate their sample as level 1.  If they show us the writing, then we rate their sample as a level 3.   And the accommodation from this level is a lot easier - it's just suggested alternative pencils that writers can use.  Just remember no matter what level you are at you need to have access to all the letters of the alphabet. Level 3 Sample, generated with an alternative pencil (keyboard in Proloquo2Go) Level 3 Sample, handwriting Level 4 Letter Strings Grouped in Words - Strings of letters grouped into "words" (ie with spaces between at least two groups of letters) but with no intelligible words. Accommodations: Alphabet display (eg paper copy) and standard or electronic keyboard access (e.g. on screen keyboard or AAC system) This is the level where a developing writer shows us that they have learned one more thing about writing - which is that they know that as well as letters there are also spaces. It should look very similar no matter what pencil is being used! Level 4 Sample, generated with a flip chart (full stop added by adult who was transcribing the letters). Level 5 Strings of letters grouped into "words" with only one possible real word (ie two or more letters in length) set apart, written repeatedly or embedded in a string of letters. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. And now developing writers have paid enough attention to text, that they incorporate one real word into their own writing. The real word has to be two or more letters - so you can't count "I" or "a" . Sometimes we find that the one real word is a high frequency word, and sometimes it's a high interest word. Oh - and you might also see spaces disappear again at this point. Level 5 Sample, typed on a computer Level 5 Sample, generated using the keyboard in Proloquo2Go (I have blanked out the student's name) Level 6 Two or three different intelligible words - Two or three different intelligible words embedded in strings, separated by spaces, or in a list format. Single letter words such as "I" and "a" must be separated by spaces to count as an intelligible word. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. At this level, most writers are now spelling words phonetically. We also get some writers who meet all the criteria for this level who spell their two or three words perfectly as they develop more and more sight words. For a sample to be rated Level 6 there are also a couple of rules about spaces. The first Level 6 space rule is that spaces don't have to be there! The main example within the scale is : IYTKTOSMNTHETR (I like to swim under water). There isn't a single space - and that's fine. The second rule of spaces is that if you want to count I or a you need it to be separated by a space from any surrounding words - otherwise it's too easy to do them by chance. Level 6 Sample, handwriting. "Jax is bin monitor" cat eat fla. Level 6 Sample. typing. "cat eat fly" Level 7 Three or more different intelligible words in a list - Three or more related words. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. This is often one of the easiest levels to identify. There are usually a lot of nouns in the sample and there are no "little words". The two rules about spaces from Level 6 are also still in force. Level 7 Sample, generated using the keyboard in Proloquo2Go "water, swimming, goggles, evie" Level 8 Partial sentence of more than three words - More than three different intelligible words, with at least two of them in a partially formed sentence (ie gramatically related parts of a phrase, clause or sentence). Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. The description says it all! It's also worth knowing that spaces are still optional at this stage. Philip and Jayden playing you no Level 8 Sample, typing "Philip and Jayden playing Uno" Atthpiooltogoswimmig shaun taz Level 8 Sample, typing "At the pool to go swimming shaun taz" Level 9 One to two complete sentences - Sentences have a subject phrase and a verb phrase. End punctuation is not necessary. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. Follow the level description - and remember spelling doesn't have to perfect, it just needs to be at a level where the intended audience can read the piece of writing. This is also the first level where spaces are needed between words - and they need to be used for the future levels too. Level 9 Sample. typed on the keyboard in Proloquo2Go and inserted into the message window Level 10 Three or more unrelated sentences (neither coherent nor cohesive) - Sentences have no coherent topic (ie sentences are not related). Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. For this level, we want to see end punctuation. We also need to remember that spelling still doesn't have to be perfect - just at a level where the intended audience can read it. And this rule also applies to the last four levels. Always remember that we teach spelling and words in the working with words block - not within writing. Level 10 Sample, written on iPad (app used not recorded) "I am reading a book I like reading. I have a watch. I have a bike." Level 11 Three or more related sentences (coherent but limited cohesive) - Organized writing with three or more sentences on a coherent topic but with limited cohesion between sentences (ie sentences can be reordered without changing meaning). Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. Level 11 Sample, handwriting Level 12 Three or more related sentences that cannot be reordered (coherent and cohesive) - Organised writing with a coherent topic (ie on a consistent theme) and use of cohesive devices (eg pronoun or synonym replacement, logical connectors, subordinating conjunctions, conclusions that refer to prior content) across three or more sentences so that sentences cannot be reordered without meaning. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. On Thursday 2nd or August I went to the basketball carnval at Pdsadena high school. on the Photo I am sitting with my mate. I am happy. We one six games and lost one game. I scored somes three ponters. I would love too join a basketball team. Level 12 Sample, typing Level 13 Two coherent paragraphs of at least three cohesive sentences each - organised writing with a coherent main topic and two cohesive subsections (subtopics or story parts) with at least two sentences elaborating the meaning of each. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. Level 13 Sample, typing Level 14 Three or more coherent paragraphs of at least three cohesive sentences each - organised writing with a coherent main topic and at least three cohesive subsections (subtopics or story parts), with at least [three] sentences elaborating the meaning of each. Accommodations: Word bank or word prediction software. My long weekend On Friday, I watched the two spare garbage trucks. One was doing the garbage, the other was doing the recycling. They were both white ones. They met together on my street. The recycling came before the garbage. It was good. I also went out with mum and dad for a drive. I saw a few buses which were 769, 791, 773, 776, 755, 1755, 1471, 1210, 2456, 2554, 2515, and 1810. It was a good day. On Saturday I went shopping with mum and got stuff from coles before Showdown 45. The power lost to the crows. The power should have won. On Sunday I went for a drive with mum and dad. We drove past Pasadena High School where I went for the Basketball carnival. It was a good drive. I had a great weekend. Level 14 Sample, typing And that's the whole scale! Hopefully those explanations and examples have helped you in your students' writing.

Learn. Create, Share

Complexities of writing

For many of the students I work with, some of whom have complex communication needs and/or relatively limited experiences of generating language, writing presents many challenges. 

To develop writing skills Jane Farrall says, that children need to learn to generate an idea, to think about language, think about the words, the spelling, controlling their “writing tool”, etc. 

The complexity involved in becoming a writer means that we want to help each student to find the simplest writing tool for them. We want to make their writing tool something that uses minimal physical and cognitive energy so that they can focus on all the other aspects of writing development. In the link below, you can view the range of special needs tools.

http://www.janefarrall.com/tools-for-writing-a-suggestion-and-selection-guide/

The Manaiakalani Data, tells us that writing is an area that as a whole most schools are do very well in. At Sommerville this is an area that majority of our students have difficulties with.

I will be embracing the Manaiakalani Pedagogy of Learn, Create, Share to reflect on my inquiry. I began with LEARN and will add Create and Share as I progress.

	Focusing Inquiry	Possible Actions
Learn Focusing Inquiry “What is important (and therefore worth spending time on) given where my students are at?” Achievement Challenge 5 Improve the achievement of students with additional needs in the learning areas of English/key competency using language symbols and texts In 2019 for my inquiry I will be focusing on how the Key Competencies (Managing Self and Relating to Others) increase student engagement and improve writing outcomes for students aged 5-12.	Gather evidence	Since the beginning of the year, I have collected Anecdotal evidence eg. Students work samples, observations, formative assessment tasks, student voice and  parent voice, Because all my students are working within level one of the curriculum, I will be using the developmental writing scale to see where my students are at. This writing scale has been so helpful, because it is the first to accommodate students who are using an alternative pencil. (Egs in my previous posts)
	Scan	These are some comments from a  few of my parents: ’I would just like to see my child pick up a pen and write.’ ‘When will my child write his name on his work.’ ‘I write letters to my child, I would like her to write back.’ ‘I would like my child to write a simple thank you note to his grandparents.’ Comments from Students: ‘I can’t write’ ‘I want to talk not write’ ‘I can’t spell’ ‘You write for me.’ ‘I don’t know what to say.’
	Identify Trends	In special education, due to the complex needs of students, families would like to see their children write for real reasons. Most students lack imagination and need a purpose to write. One of the biggest challenges I’ve noticed is that writing: needs to have a purpose for our students, if not, they are not motivated to write. Students need to know that they are communicating a message. Every child needs a writing tool and the alphabet. Most see writing as a motor task, where they are copying, instead of writing.
	Hypothesis (Hunch)	Whenever we write, we need to think of an idea, then think of the language to describe the idea, then we need to think of the words and how to spell them- and finally we have to select the letters for each word. In the beginning each of  these skills takes a lot of effort and planning. I plan on using a range of special education pedagogy and managing self strategies when working with students.
	Research	Sally Clendon and Jane Farrall’s research and work on teaching writing to children with  special needs has been really helpful.
	Reflect	Ongoing reflection on the work that I am doing. Consultation with staff and colleagues. Looking at what the research says. Adaptations will be made as needed.

Why a writing inquiry?

Why I chose a writing inquiry?

1. Summarise the challenge of student learning you plan to focus on in this inquiry. Be as clear and specific as you can about the evidence you have about this to date.

I have been in special education for almost 20 years.  I have spent many years implementing routines and research based strategies and I have seen the dfference that this has made to my students.

At Sommerville we have been fortunate enough to have Dr Sally Clendon take professional development over the last few years. As a result of Sally Clendon's guidance as well as strong routines and behavior support, I have noticed a difference in my students writing skills. 

My students need to learn how to manage themselves as a prerequisite to becoming engaged in learning. They also need to be able to relate to others in order to participate in group work and social situations and of course participating and contributing is reliant on all of these. 

My inquiry will be focusing on improving these Key Competencies to see a shift in my students writing. 

Jane Farrall describes writing as a complex task, involving ideas, language, words, spelling and transcribing or selecting letters.  We need to teach all of these skills – and eventually students need to be able to do all of these, within the one task, to become writers.  

Due to its complexities, many students find writing challenging and many teachers struggle to find methods to effectively teach the skill. I am going to use a of range strategies to show how students managing self and relating to others and if this will help them improve their writing.