Writing Points presents: teaching
struggling writers
Reality Check: Why do I have to learn this?
Teaching students is easier if they have a reason for learning,
but struggling writers in particular need a rationale for learning.
A story
in the Monticello (IN) Herald Journal about
a year ago described how one middle school teacher gave her students
a reality check.
Janet D. Coffing had her students write about what they think they
would like to do after high school and how they think they would
have to read, write, and do math in that job.
Then she had community people talk about their jobs, including
how they use math, reading, and writing skills every day.
After the speakers, Coffing had the students write a second
time about the job they were interested in and how they think
they would have to read, write, and do math in that job.
Coffing's basic before-and-after approach could be adapted to a
variety of situations. It could be used with interviews, field trips,
internships, or jobs used instead of speakers as the reality component.
Note: Janet Coffing is now a Logansport Area Joint Special Services
Cooperative (LAJSSC) teacher at Twin
Lakes High School in Monticello IN.
Writing Points presents: free
resource
Short, sweet, secure, free blog alternative
Closed membership groups like a school, a class, a 4-H group,
or a homeschool co-op can use a Twitter application called GroupTweet
to share information or provide a learning platform restricted
to the group members. You can use GroupTweet as place to
- Post reminders about homework or events.
- Recognize achievements.
- Brainstorm ideas.
- Share summaries of reading.
How to do it:
- Create a new Twitter
account specifically for your group (e.g. Madison4H). To
make it private, select protect updates in the settings.
- Register your group's new Twitter account at GroupTweet.com.
- Tell all group members to follow the group account you created
at Twitter. The group account holder must also follow the group
members.
- Approve each follow request from a group member.
Members can broadcast a message to the whole group by sending a
direct message to the group's Twitter account.
Tweets are short (140 characters, maximum) so entries take little
time. All the services you need are free. Twitter users
can pick up posts on mobile phones as well as on computers,
which makes it ideal for last-minute changes or emergency messages.
Next month I'll introduce a Twitter alternative
especially for educators' classroom use.
Unlike struggling writers, enthusiastic writers tend to use many
words. Often they use words they don't need. Writers who compose
at the computer can use this trick to help them zero in on unnecessary
words.
For safety's sake, make a a copy of your completed, revised
paper. On the copy, perform a find and replace using *ly
as the find item (The * is a wildcard that takes the place of everything
before the letters ly.) Set the options to indicate that the find
term is in black (automatic) type. As your replacement term, use
*ly and set the options for a bright color like blue or red.
If a sentence conveys the same sense when you ignore the changed
term, eliminate it. If the sense changes with the word removed,
consider revising with a more precise verb. For example,
instead of "he read the paper quickly" might become "he
skimmed the paper."
The point here is not to eliminate every word ending in -ly, but
to get enthusiastic writers to consider whether there are
better alternatives.
Writing Points presents new
pages
More prompts, more for struggling writers
Writing prompts. Since last
issue, I've put together a couple new pages of writing prompts.
One page gives you three
persuasive writing prompts on authentic ELA topics.
Another page tells you how to build narrative
writing prompts into authentic ELA assignments. It is paired
with a page of three
narrative writing prompts that won't make teenage guys freak out.
They hate those touchy-feely personal narrative writing prompts.
The next story tells how to get downloadable copies of the prompts.
Struggling writers. Two
pages deal with student self-assessment, a huge problem for struggling
writers. One page focuses on the
writing product; the other is about procedures.
Another set of two pages are about verbal
learning and types
of nonverbal communication. Since struggling writers may be
weak at verbal learning, these pages give tips for playing to
their strengths.
I
topped off the new pages with one about a predominantly
nonverbal grammar test that is actually fun for all kids,
those who struggle with writing and those for whom writing is
a breeze.
I've finally worked out the bugs (I hope!) so I can provide Writing
Points subscribers with benefits not available to other site
visitors. You will need a password to access the page. The
password for the month will be in your Writing Points notification
e-mail along with a link to the page. You can get
to the page from the Subscribers
only link under free services in the left hand navigation
menu.
Hint: Move your Writing Points notices to a folder
within your e-mail service to keep the password handy and give convenient
access to back issues.
I seeded the page with materials presently available to new
subscribers. If you've been with me a while, check
the page to pick up materials that were not available when
you signed up as well as any you may have missed. As I add more
materials, I'll tell you about them here in Writing Points.
I intend to scale back on new-page creation to work on subscriber-only
benefits and the books I've been keeping on the back burner.
The next issue of Writing Points should be released
Dec. 15, no providence preventing.
Until then, have a good Thanksgiving holiday and keep your pencil
sharp.
Linda Aragoni
