Brittany's+Page

__ What is a Struggling Writer? __

Learning to write is a complex process. Students have a variety of abilities. As teachers, we need to modify instruction to those ability levels. It is crucial to have writing instruction meet the needs for all students. Our goals as teachers is to have students become independent writers. We need to make writing interesting.

There are characteristics of struggling writers. When figuring out these characteristics, one must compare the struggling student to the typical students’ characteristics. Tompkins (2002), describes typical students as capable writers. Through observations, Ms. Bollin found that struggling writers: § Vary § Look and act differently than other students at the school § Have limited vocabularies § Overestimate their reading and writing abilities § Don’t know or use the writing process § Do not spell conventionally § Improve their writing through the writing workshop Writing difficulties are typically shown in students that are/have: · Special needs · Behavioral disorders · Attention deficit and Hyperactivity · Learning disabilities · Speech and language disabilities · Learn English as a second language
 * Capable writers: || Struggling Writers: ||
 * View writing as developing ideas || View writing as putting words on paper ||
 * Are aware of audience, purpose, and form, and adapt writing to these demands || Do not ||
 * Pause as they draft to think or reread what they have written || Write without stopping to reread or think about their writing ||
 * More concerned with ideas || More concerned with the mechanics than ideas and view correct spelling and punctuation as the hallmark of a good writer ||
 * Vary the length of their writing depending on their purpose || Assume longer pieces of writing are better than short pieces ||
 * Collaborate with classmates to write or revise their writing || Do not collaborate effectively ||
 * Assess their own writing || Do not ||
 * Make changes to communicate meaning more effectively when they revise || Make cosmetic changes ||
 * Use many strategies and vary them according to the assignment || Use fewer strategies and don’t monitor their use ||

Effective instructional practices for struggling writers · Transcription skills-handwriting and spelling · Planning processes

When handwriting and spelling demands are removed when having the opportunity to dictate, the writing quality was shown to increase.

Teachers believe that teaching transcription skills is strategy instruction

Do you agree in your classrooms? i.e. cursive letters, teach one letter a day, spelling-teach a spelling feature at a time

Failure to master basic transcription skills can have a negative impact on students writing -taxes child’s processing memory-difficulty generating content or planning -allocating attention to spelling words

One way to ease processing demands was to use the SRSD method of instructional planning -teaches students explicitly and systematically strategies for a specific task -Students that are taught genre-specific planning strategies had a positive effect on their writing

These methods have improved sentence construction skills and writing output. Handwriting and spelling instruction have a positive affect on student writing performance

Strategies:
 * Conferencing *Minilessons *Reteaching
 * Model processes *Computer use *Share writing
 * Scaffolding *Integrating reading and writing

Teachers reported that they encouraged students to write at their own pace, select their own writing topic, use invented spelling

According to a survey done by Graham, Harris Fink- Chorzempa and McArthur (2003), 20% of primary teachers do not make any adaptations to writing assignments. Also polled, 23% evidenced to use one or two adaptations to written assignments for students.

· 1:5 teachers did not adapt writing instruction for their students in their classroom · In a survey of 153 teachers, teachers shared the typical modifications they use in their classrooms. These adaptations were exemplified within four areas: basic writing skills, writing processes, instructional modifications, and other modifications.

__ Basic Writing Skills __ · Teachers spent more time with handwriting, spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and grammar · Teachers used modifications such as dictation or use of keyboard instead of manually writing · Personalized spelling lists · Word banks to help correct misspelled words

__ Writing Processes __ - Students have difficulty with planning and revising

__ Planning __ -writing prompts and graphic organizer to stimulate students’ ideas -encourage students to “talk out” or draw a picture before beginning to write __ Revising __ -students are encouraged to read out loud to locate problem areas for revision -provide students with editing/revision checklist to focus their attention -[|Student editing checklist]

__ Instructional Modifications __ · Mini-lessons to re-teach specific weak areas · Conference with struggling writers more than independent writers · Since many students may be weak in writing, incorporate cross-curricular ( math word problems) · Daily journal writing- not exclusive for struggling, but powerful tool

-[|Conferencing strategies]

-[|Journal writing prompts] __ Other Modifications __ · Peer assistance-cooperative writing · Older students tutor · Alternative writing assignments that are based on their writing level Out of all the listed modifications listed above, one of the most important things that a teacher could do during the writing process is to provide:

PRAISE AND ENCOURAGEMENT

Study by Monroe, Shin, and Troia (2007) examined student perspectives about writing. They surveyed second graders and found that they believed: __Typical Writer__ -has details (details) -writing that is real -sounds like you (voice) -can understand -picks the right words (word choice) -has a beginning, middle, and end (structure) -has to be kind of long (length)

__Struggling Writer__ -can help you learn -looks really neat (neatness) -skips lines (spacing)

[|**Developmental chart of typical and struggling writers**] -students with less metacognitive awareness may exhibit differences in maturity -if teachers are able to be part of the writing process, it is likely that students will adopt the strategies



References: ** 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 (5), 64-66. Graham, S., Harris, K.R. (2005). Improving the Writing Performance of Young Struggling Writers: Theoretical and Programatic Research from the Center on Accelerating Student Learning. //Journal of Special Education, 39 (1), 19-33.// Graham, S, Harris, K. R., Fink-Chorzempa, B., MacArthur, C. (2003)//.// Primary Grade Teachers’ Instructional Adaptations for Struggling Writers: A National Survey. //Journal of Educational Psychology//, 95 (2), 279-292. Lin, S-J.C., Monroe, B., & Troia, G.A (2007). Development of writing knowledge in grades 2-8: A comparison of typically developing writers and their struggling peers. //Reading & Writing Quarterly, 23 (3), 207-230//. MacArthur, C.A. (2009). Reflections on Research on Writing and Technology for  Struggling Writers. //Learning Disabilities Research and Practice//, (24), 93-103. Tompkins, G.E. (2002). Struggling Readers are Struggling Writers, Too. //Reading// //and// //Writing Quarterly//, //18, 175-193//.