B R E E J I M E N E Z , P H D

U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A A T G R E E N S B O R O

B A J I M E N E @ U N C G . E D U

A L I C I A S A U N D E R S , M . A .

U N I V E R S I T Y O F N O R T H C A R O L I N A A T C H A R L O T T E

A F Q U E S I N @ U N C C . E D U

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OBJECTIVES

• Writing and Reading • Stages of Writing • 6 Writing Traits • Graphic Organizers • Lesson Planning and Formative Assessments This presentation will present examples of student work along with practical

applications for students at all symbolic levels and across

the curriculum.

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WRITING

Reading and Writing go hand-in-hand • Complimentary activities • Should be taught concurrently and should interrelate • NOT a one-size fits all approach Best method is to provide opportunities to write about

MEANINGFUL events and topics!

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WRITING

Need for repeated reading opportunities to help build reading and writing skills

• Allow students to choose materials • Need to read and reread texts, summarize, and write

about what was read • Integrate technology to help make students more

independent

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KEYS TO WRITING SUCCESS

• Practice, practice, practice • Model for students • Provide feedback and error correction • Encourage students

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STAGES OF WRITING

Developmental Stages of Writing (Sulzby, 1989): • Drawing • Scribbling • Letter strings • Invented Spelling • Conventional Spelling Students with moderate and severe disabilities progress

through these stages as well (Hedrick, Katim, & Carr, 1999; Katims, 1991)

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BEGINNING WRITING ACTIVITIES

• Picture writing • Structured sentences with fill-in blank spaces • Sentence starters • Scrambled words to put into a sentence • Ordering sentences into a paragraph • Journal Writing/Experience Journals

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PICTURE WRITING

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•Purpose is to develop student’s ability to express themselves through writing. •Student will draw or select a picture. Then instruct student to “write” about it. •Students may use scribbles, may orally express what they want help writing, may use invented spelling, or may be able to create own words or sentences.

EXAMPLE SENTENCE STARTER FOR SWSD:

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TACTILE EXPERIENCE JOURNAL

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•Select a topic that is personally relevant to the student (e.g., events from daily life) •Teacher will ask questions to help student create sentences •Teacher writes sentences •Student helps select supporting items to go with the story (e.g., pictures or tactile items) •Read story with student

ACCOMMODATIONS FOR WRITING

Examples for the classroom: • Spelling lists (e.g., Dolch High Frequency Sight Words)

• Word Wall in classroom

• Editing checklist

• Graphic organizers

• Have students read written passage aloud

• Computer (Spelling and grammar check)

• Speech-to-text software: TextHelp, Kurzwell, Sappy Speech, and Macintalk

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CONSIDERATIONS FOR SELECTING ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY FOR WRITING

• Need to identify strengths and weaknesses • Often standardized assessments offer little information for our

students • Suggestions: Test of Developmental Spelling and a Test of

Listening Comprehension (Johns, 1994) • Accessibility: Address student’s physical needs (e.g., gross and

fine motor skills)

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TECHNOLOGY FOR WRITING

• Form of Universal Design for Learning • Allows all students regardless of background, learning style, ability, or

disability to write

• Just a few examples: • Alpha Smart (dictate compositions) • Clicker 4 • iPad • DynaVox • SymWriter/Writing with Symbols 2000

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INTERNET BASED RESOURCES • Text-reading software

• *Natural Readers- www.naturalreaders.com • *iSpeech Beta- www.ispeech.org • *CAST UDL Book Builder™- www.bookbuilder.cast.org

• Word-prediction software • Don Johnston, Write:OutLoud 6

• Visual concept-organization software • Inspiration Software, Inc. and Kidspiration http://www.inspiration.com/

• Graphic-Organizers • *To Build Your Own: http://www.teach-nology.com/web_tools/graphic_org/ • *Premade: http://www.eduplace.com/kids/hme/k_5/graphorg/ )

• Writing Templates • *CAST Science Writer- http://sciencewriter.cast.org/welcome

* Indicates free

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6 WRITING TRAITS REFERENCES: EDINA PUBLIC SCHOOLS, SOUTH DAKOTA ALTERNATE FORMATIVE WRITING ASSESSMENT

Content/Ideas

Information/ Organization

Grammar/ Mechanics

Sentence Fluency

Word Choice/ Clarity

Voice

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CONTENT/IDEAS

What is my message? Is my message clear? Did I try hard to make it interesting? Do I have enough information?

Graphic Organizers:

e.g., KWL chart, E-Chart, Fact and Opinion

Resource: http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/ideascontent.htm

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INFORMATION/ORGANIZATION

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How does my paper begin? Did I tell things in order? Does everything link to my message? How does my paper end?

Transitions 2

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GRAMMAR/MECHANICS

Did I leave spaces between words? Did I use a title? Did I use periods or question marks? Did I use capital letters in the right places? Is it easy to read my spelling? Could another person read my paper?

Includes the correct use of spelling, spacing, and subject/verb agreement

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EDITING CHECKLIST (EMBEDDING SELF-DETERMINATION SKILLS)

_________ My name is on my paper.

_________ My name is spelled correctly.

_________ I put capital letters in my paper.

_________ I have periods, question marks, or

exclamation points at the end of my sentences.

_________ My paper has a title.

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SENTENCE FLUENCY

Did I use sentences? Do my sentences begin in different ways? Did I use some long and some short sentences? Does my paper sound smooth as I listen to it?

Addresses sentence flow and rhythm within the student’s writing

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WORD CHOICE/CLARITY

Have I used some words that I really love? Can my reader tell what my words mean? Have I used any NEW words? Did I try not to repeat words too many times?

Focuses on the words selected by the student nouns verbs modifiers Did I use any unique words Did I choose good descriptive words?

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Interesting Words

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VOICE

Do I really like this paper? Does this writing sound like me? How do I want my readers to feel? My favorite part is ____. Deals with writing to your audience, the use of tone, and

writing with personality and energy.

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Voice Lesson Ideas

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EXPECTATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH SIGNIFICANT INTELLECTUAL DISABILITIES

Alternate Achievement Standards • Breadth and Depth

You may need to think outside the box to come up with strategies that will allow students to participate in the steps

Assistive technology Graphic organizers Use pre-typed words, photos, or symbols.

Writing consist simply of Generating ideas Creating a permanent product

Consider how you might make activities more concrete and narrow Provide limited response options or templates Add symbols or photos

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Remember that as mastery occurs, students may be able to participate in more of the steps

SAMPLE MAPPING ACTIVITY STUDENT CAN: USE COMPLETE SENTENCES GENERATE WORDS SELECT WORD FROM AN ARRAY SELECT PICTURE TO REPRESENT AN IDEA

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Summer

No school

I like to go on vacation with my family

Sleeping late

Summer brings ____ days. hot free snowy

Ice cream

fishing

* Content and Organization: Prewriting Prewriting strategies are used in kindergarten through high

school By late elementary school students consider what the purpose

of the writing is as well as who the intended audience is By high school students use more complex graphic organizers,

use time management, and keep records of writing such as daily journals

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WRITING ACROSS THE YEARS

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Persuasive Graphic Organizer Based on the book:___Number the Stars by: Lois Lowry________ Your Opinion:_My favorite character in the book was _(Write in or circle your

opinion)_____________________________________________ Peter Uncle Henrik Anne Marie My Reason: Circle your reason: Uncle Henrik was brave. Peter was kind. Anne Marie showed courage. Supporting Details:_Circle the fact that supports your reason: Anne Marie ran through the woods at night. Peter brought the Johansens gifts. Uncle Henrik helped the Jews escape to Sweden My Reason: Circle another reason Uncle Henrik was smart. Anne Marie loved her best friend, Ellen. Peter was brave. Supporting Details: Circle the fact that supports your reasons: Uncle Henrik built a hidden area in his boat so he could hide the Jews from the Nazis. Peter helped the Jews escape from Denmark. Anne Marie saved Ellen’s Star of David necklace for her. Restate your opinion: My favorite character in the book

was______________because_________________________and because____________________________________.

State your opinion by filling in the sentence.

not like like

I would __________________ to visit Little Italy.

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I would like to visit Little Italy because____________________.

good Italian food good cakes

dogs live there airplanes fly

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DESCRIPTIVE WRITING & WORD CHOICE Pick an object that could be brought

to class

Model descriptive writing by listing the descriptive words that help students visualize the strawberries

Add photos to support each descriptive word.

red green leaves on top soft shaped like a heart bumpy juicy

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YOU CAN CREATE THE SAME TYPE OF DESCRIPTIVE WRITING WITH PHOTOS

All About Me

Name:

My pet is a_______.

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cat dog fish

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Person/Character Chart Filling out a person/character chart gives you a clearer look at a character in a piece of writing. Use it when writing a character sketch. • Fill in each box with the information about the

character. • Add more rows to explore other details about the

person. Name

Age

Appearance

Personality

Strengths

Weaknesses

Goals

Other Details

NARRATIVE WRITING

Ask the student to select the sentence that best tells about this photo. I love to ride my bike in the

summer. My baseball team won the

championship. I was proud. My dog and I like to play ball.

If additional support is needed, add a picture to each sentence making the picture for sentence #2 the same as the photo.

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Instead of drawing a picture, a photo taken during the event could be used allow the student to paste pictures together to create a scene then select from prewritten sentences to tell the story.

WRITING TECHNOLOGY IN ACTION

Students with disabilities at all grade levels will benefit from creating stories that are personally relevant

Create books using Power Point

Use personal photos or photos from the internet

Create text in large font and spell checked on the computer

Have the computer read the book aloud or have a peer read aloud

Let’s take a look at an example of narrative writing in PowerPoint format

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TIME TO GO HOME!

W E H A D F U N I N H A W A I I . W E F L E W B A C K H O M E O N T H E A I R P L A N E . I T D I D N O T T A K E A S L O N G T O G E T H O M E !

EXPOSITORY WRITING Used to

Explain Inform Instruct May take the form of Newsletters Text books Travel guides Research papers Follows a logical,

sequential order

Expository writing is seen across content areas

Easy to use graphic organizers

American Indian chiefs Sitting Bull Healthy food choices Animal habitats

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GRAPHIC ORGANIZER WITH EXPOSITORY WRITING

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CHAIN OF EVENTS

TIMELINE

Higher level student: •Student researches and writes own answers

Student who needs more support: •Text supported with pictures •Response options with pictures

FILL-IN THE BLANK RESEARCH REPORTS

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PERSUASIVE PARAGRAPH EXAMPLE

GRAPHIC ORGANIZER

TRELA, K. (2008). THE EFFECTS OF I WRITE NOW STRATEGY ON STUDENTS WITH SIGNIFICANT COGNITIVE DISABILITIES' PARTICIPATION IN COMPOSING AN OPINION PARAGRAPH. DOCTORAL DISSERTATION, UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA AT CHARLOTTE, 2008.

Research to Practice

SCORING GUIDE Component Say: Response Comments

1. Topic sentence (express opinion about subject)

What do you think? : I THINK that … (e.g. “Students should wear uniforms, students should not wear uniforms, and firefighters wear uniforms”)

C I Y N

V P

2. Transition 1 What word? (Points to transition word list)

C I Y N

V P

3. Reason 1 - supports topic Why do you THINK that? C I Y N

V P

4. Transition 2 What word? (Transition word list: e.g. first, second, next, then, third, this is why…)

C I Y N

V P

5. Reason 2 - supports topic Why do you THINK that? C I Y N

V P

6. Transition 3 What word (Transition word list) C I Y N

V P

7. Reason 3 – supports topic Why do you THINK that? C I Y N

V P

8. Transition 4 – conclusion What phrase (Transition word list) C I Y N

V P

9. Restate opinion – agrees with topic sentence

State opinion: I THINK that … C I Y N

V P

TOTAL

C = Independently chooses correct word/sentence (states/restates an opinion, detail supports selected opinion, transition word reflects sentence order) I = Independently chooses incorrect word/sentence (chooses distractor, detail does not support topic, transition word does not support sentence order) or does not respond

STUDENT INTERVENTION RATING PROFILE

LESSON PLANNING

May start with 1 writing trait and add as students gain skills or mastery. Or start with 2-3 traits and add conventions/word choice later. Develop a plan for teaching each trait, practice with multiple topics.

• Build generalization Remember: Grade aligned Meet specific needs/goals for your students Use assistive technology Symbolic communication levels

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Sample Graphic Organizer for writing descriptive text.

Support Documents used to teach lessons (e.g., worksheets, websites; picture symbol word banks)

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Students are instructed to complete the graphic organizer by circling the “choice that best describes the picture”.

Students are then directed to compose descriptive sentences using their graphic organizer and picture choices.

USING STUDENT DATA TO HELP INFORM YOUR TEACHING

• Student work samples • Rubrics

• Set goals that align to the students need as well as the standards

• IEP goals • State/ Common Core Standards

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Example: This 4-pt rubric can be used to assess the students completed writing sample. The scorer would identify if the students work sample fit best into a 0-1-2-3.

Rubric system allows students to demonstrate growth towards mastery of skill over time.

Sample Student SCORED Assessments

REMEMBER…

Writing consist simply of Generating ideas Creating a permanent product Consider how you can use assistive technology during

writing activities Consider how you might make activities more concrete

and narrow (remember the many examples ) Add symbols of photos Provide limited response options or templates

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QUESTIONS/ANSWERS/DISCUSSION

Bree Jimenez bajimene@uncg.edu Alicia Saunders afquesin@uncc.edu

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References: •Edina Public Schools http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/ideascontent.htm •South Dakota Alternate Writing Formative Assessment http://doe.sd.gov/oats/AltAssessment.asp •Castellani, J., & Jeffs, T. (2001). Emerging reading and writing strategies using technology. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 33, 60-67. •Fink-Chorzempa, B., Graham, S., & Harris, K. R. (2005). What can I do to help young children who struggle with writing? TEACHING Exceptional Children, 37, 64-66. •Trela, K. (2008). The effects of I write now strategy on students with significant cognitive disabilities‘ participation in composing an opinion paragraph. Doctoral Dissertation, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 2008.