CEP 804a

Literacy Methods for Students with Language and Learning Disabilities

Assignment #3: Teaching Writing

Section I: Information About Students

This semester, I have had the opportunity to work with a 2nd grade general

education class. This wonderful group was comprised of 24 seven and eight year olds.

They are of a diverse group of students, with a range of needs and cultural backgrounds.

In my class, there are two English language learners: one whose parents speak an Indian

language at home, and one who was born deaf and raised with sign language, who has

started speaking since January 2016 when she received a cochlear implant and hearing

aids. Additionally, one student has relatively high functioning ASD, although he receives

resource support in language arts and math. There is also a student who has a cognitive

impairment and receives resource support in language arts and math, social work, and

language services. One student has a speech and language impairment, but he functions

well in reading and writing. In addition to these students, my class has a few students

who receive Title I support for reading, which means an interventionist pushes in to read

with them for a few minutes every day.

Overall, a majority of my students are reading at or above grade level according

to Teachers College running records. We typically follow a reading and writing

workshop instruction style with a mini-lesson on a strategy and time to practice

independently or in partners. During independent work time, my mentor teacher and I

conference with individuals or small groups and take notes on their progress with

whatever strategy we are focusing on that day. At the end, we usually come together as a

class so students have an opportunity to share.

Section II: PLANNING and ORGANIZING WRITING STRATEGIES

a. My goals for planningwhat I wanted to accomplish

By the end of this unit, I wanted students to be able to write an original folktale

including characters, setting, problem, solution, and an end by using a traditional

folktale as a mentor text. For a couple of weeks leading up to this, we had been

reading lots of folktales in class and learning the important parts of fairytales and

fables. We read different versions of Cinderella, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red

Riding Hood, The Little Red Hen, The Gingerbread Man, etc. One of the strategies we

had been using to practice comprehension was a 5-finger retell, or tell the story

across your fingers, as we called it. I intended to use this strategy to help students

write their own folktales, since all folktales are retellings of stories with an authors

personal twist.

b. Description of the lesson, including evidence of some of the planning

strategies/goals attempted

In order to start planning, students had to choose a mentor folktale and briefly tell

their story across their fingers. This was done in their idea notebooks and included
the following components: what mentor text Im going to use, who the characters

will be, where it is going to take place, the problem, solution, and end. During this

portion of the lesson, I demonstrated my planning with a think aloud. As I talked

through my thinking with the class, I wrote:

Three Little Pigs

1. Three little fish and the big bad shark
2. In the ocean
3. Have to build houses and be safe from shark
4. Built houses of seaweed, driftwood, and pebbles
5. All were safe in pebble house

After I modeled this, students were encouraged to spend time thinking about their

favorite folktale and consider how they could change the characters and setting to

make a new version of the story. Then, they grabbed their idea notebooks and wrote

their plan across their fingers. Many students were ready to get started and work

independently, but some needed inspiration. I invited the struggling writers, and

anyone who needed help, to work with me in a small group so we could bounce

some ideas around.

 c. Reflection and Critique: What were the strengths of my writing planning
activities? Weaknesses? What would I do next time?

I think this planning session went really well. Every student came up with a plan for

a really creative retold folktale. Many of the students wrote Cinderella stories, like

Pigerella, Boxerella, and Katerella. Around half wrote a version of The Three

Little Pigs (The 3 Little Dinosaurs, The 3 Little Snowmen, The 3 Little Mice)

because that was my example. Every student was able to plan their story, and many

already had a favorite folktale in mind that they wanted to rewrite. Since we had

practiced 5 finger retells so much while reading folktales, all students were able to

transfer this skill to planning their own folktale. Some students had a hard time

writing their ideas without going into full sentences. In the future, I would probably

provide students with a graphic organizer for this planning strategy, but all students

were able to grasp the concept with some help.

Section III: DRAFTING AND EDITING/REVISING STRATEGIES

a. My goals for drafting and editing revising strategieswhat I wanted to

accomplish

My main goal for drafting was to just have students get all of their ideas on paper

and include all of the story parts. I urged students to keep writing when they came

to a word they couldnt spell and underline words they were unsure about to come

back to later. When students were editing, the goal was to fix capitalization, spelling,

and punctuation. In the revising stage, I noticed that some kids stories sounded like

retellings, so I taught a mini lesson to show the kids how to add the why and how

of the events and add details to their writing.

 b. Description of the lesson, including evidence of some of the drafting,
editing and revising strategies attempted

In my initial drafting lesson, I modeled writing my own rough draft on large lined

paper for students to see. As I did this, I thought aloud, spelled words wrong,

underlined them, saying Hmm, Im not sure how that word is spelled. Ill just

underline it and fix it later because I want to get my ideas down. Students then

went to write their own drafts in their drafting notebook with their idea notebook

open next to them to make sure they included the story parts they had planned.

During the editing stage, I grabbed a red marker and had the students help

me edit my own story as a mini lesson. First, we went to my underlined words to fix

spelling, and then scanned the rest of my words to make sure we caught everything.

Then we went to beginning of every sentence to check capitals, and read through

the entire story to see where punctuation needed to be. Students completed this

stage using red pen in their drafting notebooks.

In the revising stage, I first led students by reading my whole story out loud

to them to determine whether it made sense and included all of the story parts from

my planning. Then, I had them help me add details to make it more interesting,

explain things more thoroughly, and to ensure that it taught a lesson (and therefore

be a true folktale). Like the students would do, I conducted the revising stage in blue

marker on my giant notepad so everyone could see.

 c. Reflection and Critique: What were the strengths of my drafting, editing,
and revising writing activities? Weaknesses? What would I do next time?

I think the strengths of my drafting, editing, and revising strategies are that I

conducted effective modeling and thinking aloud so students were able to follow

along and know what to do when they were working. While drafting, I kept my

writing at their level so the expectations were attainable, and it proved to work

extremely well. Many students folktales exceeded the quality of my own draft. By

asking students to make suggestions for edits and revisions, I also allowed students

to be involved in the process so they could practice.

In terms of weaknesses, I think it would have helped to provide students

with a concrete resource of what to look for when revising their own work. Many

students had few or thin revisions. In the future, I think I would also build in peer

editing and revising. I had the kids who finished early help the students who were
still working, but I think it would be beneficial for all students to have this

opportunity.

Section IV: TEACHING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

a. My goals for teaching principles and practiceswhat I wanted to

accomplish

In terms of teaching principles, one of my main goals was to make visible the

invisible. I wanted students to be able to grasp the thought process of writing a

story with all essential story parts. I also wanted to model the language of good

writer so students could use the same language when writing their own stories.

Another goal was student engagement; I wanted all students to be involved in their

learning and work through the process with me. To do this, I wanted to break the

learning down into achievable chunks of work, give students the opportunity to

participate and contribute, and be excited about the writing we did. Ultimately, I

wanted my teaching practices to empower and enable students to see themselves as

writers.

b. Description of some of the teaching principles and practices that you

attempted throughout all phases of the writing lessons and process
(Planning, Organizing, Writing, Editing, Revising, and Publication)

Through every step of the writing process (POWER +P) I consistently taught

through a series of mini lessons using modeling with a think aloud. I allowed

students to see me as a learner by writing my own story along with them so that

they could see the thought process that a good writer goes through. In terms of

engagement, I provided students the opportunity to share their progress with the

whole class or a partner at least a couple of times a week. Not only did this allow
students to talk about their writing and feel proud of their hard work, it also held

them accountable to make progress every day. Additionally, I involved students in

my own writing process during lessons by having them make suggestions for my

story, specifically with revisions and edits.

c. Reflection and Critique: What were the strengths of teaching principles

and practices? What worked? What didnt? Why? Weaknesses? What
would I do next time?

Throughout this writing unit, I felt that I really grew as an educator. This was my

first full writing unit ever, and I was truly able to involve and engage students while

maintaining control of the classroom and pace of the lesson. One of the engaging

aspects of this project is that it was open ended enough for a lot of student choice.

As long as they involved all of the essential story parts (who, where, problem,

solution, end), they could write any folktale of their choice. This made it so all

children could succeed as writers, and I saw many students confidence soar when

we published the folktales and students read their stories to their peers.

Next time, I think I would provide students with more solid artifacts about

the writing process, like I mentioned in the revising stage. I might also provide

students with more opportunities to work in partners or groups on their writing.

Although I had them have discussions about folktales and the writing process in

general, I think it would be beneficial to have more peer input directly on their own

writing.

Section V: TEACHING TOOLS AND PRACTICES

 a. My goals for teaching toolswhat I wanted to create to support learners
and learning (e.g., tools for teaching and students presenting their
learning in multiple ways)

To support learners and their learning, I used teaching tools with UDL principals in

mind. These include engagement, representation, and action & expression, and aim

to make learning accessible to all students. I wanted all students to be able to

participate in what I was teaching them and be engaged throughout.

b. Description of the teaching tools used throughout all phases of the

lessons or writing process

One of the main teaching tools I used throughout all phases of the POWER process is

the giant notepad I used for modeling. I also used the same materials (notebooks,

pen colors, etc.) students were using so what they saw me do could easily transfer to

what they were doing. My students knew the process of planning, drafting, editing,

and revising since they worked on it with my mentor teacher last semester, I kept

posters visible describing each step for the entire process. I also left the tell a story

across your fingers hand visible the entire time so students could reference what

parts are essential to a story. Students also had these hands in their idea notebooks

that we all made together. During each lesson, I gave students opportunities to talk

to each other and to me so they could learn verbally in addition to all of the visual

aspects that were occurring. I also talked through everything I was thinking so they

could see, hear, and do.

c. Reflection and Critique: What were the strengths of my teaching tools

and practices? What did I feel I did well? What do I still need to work on?
What, if anything, would I do next time? Was I effective as an apprentice
into good writing strategies, thinking, and habits?
I think the most beneficial thing I did in terms of teaching tools was keep my own

idea notebook and draft a story alongside the students so they could really

experience my process, the process of a good writer. Having my draft which we

continued to use to edit and revise on giant paper made it so all students could see

clearly.

For this particular writing unit, I did not incorporate much technology.

However, I did not see much need for it, and I definitely incorporated the Elmo and

PowerPoint more in the inquiry unit. I think I could attempt to incorporate more

kinesthetic learning next time. Other than using our 5 fingers to tell a story, there

was not much learning kinesthetically. Despite this weakness, I think it was a very

successful writing unit overall, and I am so proud of the 24 authors in my class.

 Lesson Plan Components

Section #1: Information About Students

Include information about your student population----just for the group of students
that you are working with on the reading project---this may be an individual, pair,
small group, or the entire class. Please do not use the name of your school, your CT,
or the name of any student---use pseudonyms (false names) only. If you are in a
general education setting with a large group, you do NOT need to provide detailed
information about the whole class. Only provide more detailed information about
students with disabilities within your classroom. Some of the things you may
include in this first section are as follows:
____Age and grade level of students ____Writing and Rdng. achievement

____Gender, ethnicity ____IQ and background

____Setting: Gen. Ed., Resource, Self-Contained ____Disability categories (LD, EI, CI)

____General achievement ____Behavior, social, motivation

____Typical instruction students receive ____Specific learning challenges

____Attention, impulsivity, distractibility ____Other:

GOALS OF STUDENT INFORMATION: Planning instruction with students skills and abilities in mind;
accuracy of prescription; good kid watching; considering developmental, maturational, and
motivational levels in planning appropriate lessons; understanding independent, instructional, and
frustration levels;

Section #2: Planning and Organization Activities (10 points)

Evidence of PLANNING and ORGANIZATION Strategies related to either expository

or narrative writing, and may include several of the following strategies
____Topic generation ____Brainstorming about topic

____Using pictures/images to activate knowledge ____PLAN Think-Sheet

____What do researchers do? ____Where do we get information?

____Telling a story that relates theme/topic ____Showing artifact related to topic

____Sharing a personal connection you have ____Key Vocabulary/Pre-Teach Vocab.

____Images: Video, Pictures, Animations ____Model and Think Aloud Strategies

____What We Know ____What we Want to KnowQuestions

____Text Structure Maps/Organizers ____Building Background Knowledge

____Categorization Mini-Lesson ____Read well formed text as model

 ____Students use rubric to rate organization maps ____Examples/nonexamples of good plans

____Procedural Facilitation: What good writers do before they begin writing (e.g., cue cards,
mobile, laminated strategy card)Modeling the language of good writers? (e..g, What is
my top? What do I already know about my topic? Where can I get information? Who
is my audience? Why am I writing this? How can I organize my information? What
text structure map would be helpful in organizing this information? What strategies do I
need to understand for writing this type of paper?

____Scaffolding Learning: Talk, Tools, Objects to Help Support Thinking

____Others:

GOALS of PLANNING and ORGANIZATION: Engagement, Motivation, Getting Warmed Up, Piquing
Interest and Curiosity, Activating Background Knowledge, Becoming Meta-cognitive of What Good
Writers Do Before Writing, Building Background Knowledge; Developing topical interest

______________/10 points

Component #3: Drafting, Editing, and Revising Writing Activities (10 points)

Evidence of DRAFTING, EDITING, AND REVISING STRATEGIES related to writing

either expository or narrative texts, and may include several of the following
strategies
____Writes It Cue Card ____Text Structure Maps

____Identify Main Idea and key details ____Mini-Lesson on categories/details

____Map Main Ideas and key details ____Word WallDescriptive Vocabulary

____Mini-Lesson: Paragraph writing ____Model and Think Aloud Strategies

____Look back to predictions in Planning ____Reading textidentify text structure

____Editing symbols (?, BK, *, MI, D, CS, CT, CW) ____Highlight main ideas/key details

____Text Structure (timeline/sequence ____Story elements (setting, characters,

(compare/contrast; cause/effect; prob/solut) (problem, solution/resolution)

____Examples/Non-Examples mini lessons of parts of writing---Introductory sentence;

introduction paragraph; topic sentence; concluding sentence; conclusion paragraph; reader
sensitivity

____Procedural Facilitation: What good writers do while they write (e.g., cue cards, mobile,
laminated strategy card)Modeling the language of good writers (e..g, My category is,
A topic sentence for that category might beThe reason I think the main idea
is.because.I can connect that to (text, self, world) by I need a word clarification for
the word.); POWER + P PosterPlan, Organize, Write, Edit, Revise and Publish

____Edit/Editor think-sheet ____Revise think-sheet

____Put up student workgroup edit/feedback ____Peer editing and revision

 ____Scaffolding Learning: Talk, Tools, Objects to Help Support Thinking

____Other:

GOALS of DRAFTING, EDITING, and REVSING WRITING: Audience recognition and sensitivity;
making writing interesting, informative, and evocative; Making Visible Thinking as Members Struggle to
Compose Text, Connecting Content to other Texts, to Personal Experiences, or World Events, Building
Language/Vocabulary to make writing more interesting and precise, Explicitly Teach Students What
and How a Self-Regulated writer Builds Meaning by Having a Constant Conversation with the Text to
Try and Make Sense of what they are writing; seeing that writing can accomplish social goals; that even
the best authors are constantly editing and revising their texts to make them better; understanding
strategies that good writers use for different text structures---e.g., key words or transition words,
introduction sentences and paragraphs; sentence combining to make more interesting sentences;
concluding paragraphs; explicit and implicit main ideas; strategies for helping to engage the audience

______________/10 points

Component #4: Teaching Principles and Effective (Best) Practices (10

points)

Pedagogical Practices Demonstrated---Teaching Principles and Practices for

Teaching as Cognitive Apprenticeship (This represents teaching techniques or how
we teach).
_____Time management (pacing) _____Classroom management

_____Modeling and thinking aloud of strategies _____Instructional dialogues

_____Working in students ZPD _____Gaining attention (signals)

_____Using Examples/Non-examples _____Breaking task down into parts

_____Using a rubric to highlight _____Active engagement of students

_____Teacher talks about good writers strategies _____Creativityartifacts, color, size

_____Differentiate instruction for different abilities _____Motivation

_____Frequent, specific, positive feedback _____PurposeWhy strategy is important

_____Mini-lessons on parts of writing _____Structuring Up the social skills

____Clarity of directions for all expectations _____Transfer of control of dialogue to

students as they are able

____Grouping arrangements (pair, small, whole) _____Leadership-Confidence

Other:

GOALS OF PEDAGOGICAL PRACTICES: Developing strategic and self-regulated learners; exposure to

the thinking of more able writers and thinkers; making visible the invisible thinking of
knowledgeable othersbut also having students make visible their thinking to support their learning;
an apprenticeship into becoming better thinkers---that students are expected to grow in the depth and
quality of their thinking and writing over time; critical engagement and interpretation---active, not just
passive learners; teacher serves as inquisitive model of a thinker/learnerdemonstrates and models
actions and thinking of a writer/author

______________/10 points

Component #5: Teaching Tools, Creativity, Effort, Artifacts, Props, and

Universal Design (5 points)

Evidence of ATTEMPT TO MEDIATE LEARNING AND MOTIVATION IN

THOUGHTFUL WAYS related to writing either expository or narrative texts, and
may include several of the following strategies

____Procedural facilitation (cue cards, posters) _____Strategy cards, mobiles

____Technology: Elmo, Image Projection, PPT _____Student Represent Learning in

____Real audience and real purpose _____Artifacts to heighten writing

____Power Point _____Video, animation, simulation

____Movement/Kinisthetic _____Size, color, images, graphics, fonts

____Modality: Oral, Visual, Tactile, Music, Sound _____

GOALS OF TEACHING TOOLS: Creativity; modalitysound, images, movement, color; multiple ways
to represent knowledge; to make visible the invisible thinking and/or language of more able
readers and writers; to gain and focus attention; to excite and motivate learners; the WOW! and
COOL! factor; building anticipation; building background knowledge (e.g., walking into classroom
and seeing 30 new books on the theme around the room or posters or mobiles); using technology in
ways that help capture interest---e.g., simulations, animations, videos; tools support and facilitate
discussion or serve to help students to become metacogntive of complex processes---e.g., POWER or
POSSE posters, Hamburger Paragraph, rubrics of inquiry unit, large chart paper of Looks Like and
Sounds Like for teaching social skills.

______________/10 points