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?

Literacy for all

Describe your process for developing hypotheses  (hunch) e.g. what you read, who you talked with.

I met with sally Clendon and we talked about a range of strategies I could try with the diverse nature of the students I work with.

Explain the hypotheses  about teaching that you decided were MOST worth testing, and why.

“We do not believe that a different curriculum is required in order for children with disabilities to succeed in learning to read and write. We have learned, however, that teachers must attend consciously and thoughtfully to the significant learning differences of children with disabilities in order to make good instruction accessible to these students.”
Karen Erickson and David Koppenhaver from Children With Disabilities: Reading and Writing the Four Blocks Way

Writing is Important 

• Writing is a window into a child’s current understandings. 

• Students who write become better readers, writers, and thinkers 

• Some children may learn to access written communication via writing where others may learn to access spoken communication via writing. 

• Writing is a form of communication 

• Children with significant disabilities benefit from the SAME literacy experiences and instructional approaches used with typically developing children .

In my previous blog post, I spoke about using an alternative writing tools/pencils, the link below has some useful information on this.
I will be investigating a range of writing tools and see what works best for my students with diverse challenges.

http://literacyforallinstruction.ca/alternative-pencils-2/

Alternative writing tools/Pencils 

• For students who can not independently access traditional writing utensils, we must consider alternatives. 

• Anything that provides the student with access to ALL 26 letters of the alphabet 

• Pick a “pencil” (writing tool) that has the least brainpower going to form so you can focus on the function of writing. – With limited, unreliable movements, pick one that has the most potential to develop 

• Students do not need to demonstrate the physical ability to use an alternative pencil in order to get one. 

• Students do not need to know their letters or colors to start using an alternative pencil (even the color coded eye gaze frame!)

• Students learn about pencils and letters BY WRITING

. Early writing is a PERFECT way to work on motor skills and letter knowledge 

The Role of Early Writing for Typical Developing Students

Emergent literacy learning starts early with the meaningful social interactions that occur between parents and their children. The modeling of writing and the many purposes of print and how it is formed (i.e. watch mum make shopping list, pay a bill or write a card) is embedded in their daily lives.  A young child may begin exploring writing by making a mark or scribble on a page (or wall), mimicking what they have seen. Parents quite naturally celebrate the writing their children produce. In the process, children develop understandings about print and begin developing the required motor skills. With time and opportunity, a child's' developing understandings become increasingly sophisticated and create the foundation for conventional writing. As a child’s writing moves into the conventional, letters and spellings appear that others can recognize, read and further celebrate. 

 The Difficulties of Writing for Students with Significant Disabilities

Students with significant disabilities, including those with complex communication needs, have fewer and qualitatively different emergent literacy experiences than their typically developing peers (Koppenhaver et al, 1991; Light & Kelford Smith, 1993; Light, Binger & Kelford Smith, 1994). The physical care involved in students with multiple needs often limits the time available for literacy activities. Limited expectations may also play a role in the availability of writing opportunities. These limited expectations also lessen communication opportunities and social interactions that expose students to the purpose(s) of print. If mobility, positioning and vision issues are not considered and appropriately addressed, simply seeing others write, which provides the model to support understanding about the purpose or function of print, may be nonexistent or fragmented. Sometimes teacher training and education is a barrier as well. Meaningful opportunities and alternative pencils/writing tools must be available for student with significant disabilities to progress through the same developmental writing phases as their typically developing peers.