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Solving The

Mystery

From Reluctant Writer to Masterful Author: Pedagogy That Supports the Gifted Child's Early Writing Development

Michelle Bence

PowerPoint available in PDF format at

www.lovingliteracy.ca

http://www.presentermedia.com/mspp.html

http://www.lovingliteracy.ca/

Putting the Pieces Together…A room full of disengaged, unsuccessful children with advanced linguistic and cognitive abilities

Children experiencing frustration, inadequacy, anxiety, despair and ultimately avoidance behaviours

A separation of the incidental from the critical

The 5 pronged approach to effective writing

Engaged, persistent, joyful writers

The Crime Scene

An examination of students’ writing unearths questions leading to an investigation

Precipitating Event

The Prologue

The Theory

The Suspects

The Evidence

Created by Bence, Gillespie Noble & Ramzy, 2016)

Our Setting & Characters…


• Congregated gifted setting (K-12)

• All students completed an intake process identifying them as gifted

• Very little attrition

• Program focusses on problem based learning

A gifted charter school in Calgary, Alberta, Canada

The Red Herring

• The gifted do not need direct, explicit instruction

• Gifted children will “just pick up” literacy skills

• Gifted children do not struggle with lower level skills

Our school believed…


The Crime Scene

From Inspiration to Defeat!

so the investigation began…



Our Students Writing Looked Like…

Laborious printing Few high frequency words & lack of spelling strategies

“I have all the words but I can’t get them down!”

They told us…

An inability to move their ideas to the page

Overexcitabilities – A Triple Whammy?Imaginational OE Impacts… Intellectual OE Impacts… Emotional OE Impacts…

Where do I start?

I don’t know what to focus

on.


I am getting further behind, I’ll never finish.

I hate this! I can’t do it, I am

an awful person!

“Eliminate all other factors, and the one which remains must be the truth.”

Sherlock Holmes, The Sign of Four


Did They Have the Vocabulary?

Expressive One-Word Picture Vocabulary Test (EOWPVT) Results.

Grade 2 & 3 Students Placement on EOWPVT


An Aha Moment…

Those over-excitabilities (the reluctance to write) may be a symptom or outcome rather than a cause of under achievement with literacy tasks.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to write

but maybe that they couldn’t write!


Examining Cognitive and Linguistic Resources

The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog

• Involves cognitive, linguistic and neuro-motor activity

• Numerous constraints on working memory

• Working memory scarce in young children


“Having gathered these facts, Watson, I smoked several pipes over them, trying to separate those which were crucial from others which were merely incidental”

Sherlock Holmes


So What Was The Problem?

Our Theory…

We surmised that lack of control over foundational skills such as printing and spelling might be the underlying cause of the writing struggles that we observed.

They lacked the skills

that they needed to write!


We Looked for Ways to…

Record Ideas Faster

Fewer Interruptions

When Writing

Usetheir

vocabulary

Help select ideas Organize

ideas


The Suspects

Flow Automaticity Mobilization

Activation Connection

Printing? Spelling? Vocabulary?

Pre-

writing?

Text

Structure?


Suspect # 1: PrintingResearch Shows

• Handwriting automaticity – strong predictor of composition quality

(Medwell & Wray, 2014)

• Handwriting automaticity significantly frees up working memory

(McCarney et al., 2013)

Flow


So we began teaching printing with direct, explicit printing instruction for 40 consecutive school days for 20 minutes a day

PRINTING BEFORE PILOT PRINTING AFTER PILOT

The Evidence


Suspect # 2: Spelling

Research Shows… • Gifted students can be poor spellers

(Berninger et al., 1992)

• Word study instruction increases risk taking

(Williams, 2007)

• Sight word knowledge frees up memory

• Better word choice

• More sophisticated ideas

Automaticity


We focused on word study with identification of spelling patterns within the child’s level.

Spelling

A highly differentiated program focusing on word patterns works for the gifted.

Evidence 2 years hence…

Emergent /

EarlyMiddle Late Early Middle Late Early Middle Late Early Late

Consonants Short

Vowels

Digraphs Blends Common

Long

Vowels

Other

Vowels

Inflected Endings Syl lable Junctures Unaccented Final

Syl lables

Harder

Suffixes

Bases or

Roots

GRADE THREE GRADE FOUR GRADE FIVE

2 (Grade Equivalent Progess)

2.2 (Grade Equivalent Progess)

1.63

2.92

1.50

2.97

Starting Point

Starting Point

KINDERGARTEN GRADE ONE GRADE TWO GRADE SIX +

Words Their Way - Stages of SpellingLetter Name – Alphabetic Within Word Pattern Syllables & Affixes Derivational

CONTROL GROUP

WTW INSTRUCTION GROUP


BEFORE WORDS THEIR WAY AFTER WORDS THEIR WAY

The Evidence - Transference


Suspect # 3: Vocabulary

Research shows… Explicit vocabulary instruction teaches students…

• Words connect ideas

• Complex sentence structure(Applebee et al., 2003)

Linking specific vocabulary helps organize thoughts

(Gibbons, 2009)

Mobilization


We explicitly taught graded academic word lists and transition words associated with specific writing genres

SEA OF BLUE RAINBOW OF COLOUR

The Evidence - Lex Tutor Profile of Vocabulary Usage


Suspect # 4: Pre-Writing

Research Shows• Most 7-8 year olds are concrete

thinkers

• Pictures help scaffold

• organize ideas

• attach words

• Move thoughts to print

(Colello, 2014)

Activation


Students created elaborative, detailed, coloured pictures highly specific to each task BEFORE writing

The Evidence - Elaborate, Detailed, Pictures


Suspect # 5: Text StructureResearch shows

Explicit teaching of text structure…

• Helps to select main ideas & details

• Reduces cognitive load

(Jones, et al., 1989)

• Significantly improves students’ expository writing

(Raphael, et al., 1986)

Connection


We used direct, explicit instruction with text structure through modelling, annotation, and paragraph frames

Text Structure Suspense


PRE-WRITING PICTURE NARRATIVE STORY

The Evidence - Putting it all together…


“There is nothing new under the sun. It has all been done before.”

Sherlock Holmes, A Study in Scarlet


Epilogue

“I have been blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than never to learn it at all.”

-Sherlock Holmes, The Man With The Twisted Lip


What we know for sure…

Flow Automaticity

Activation

Mobilization

Connection


Calming Those OverExcitabilities …gives us engaged, autonomous, confident writers!

I know how to get my thoughts out of my head

I have some great ideas

I love this! I am an amazing

writer!

Others really like my ideas


Questions?

Contacts• Michelle Bence – [email protected]

PowerPoint available in PDF format at www.lovingliteracy.ca

Picture credits: Audfriday13 Dreamstime.com & Colourbox.com &

Special thanks to our amazing mentor and fearless leader, Dr. H. Roessingh.

“A visionary leader doesn’t look at what is, rather she looks at what could be!”.


Programs Modified & Implemented


Printing – Handwriting Without Tears: Printing Power for 20 minutes a day for 40 consecutive teaching days

https://www.lwtears.com/

Spelling – Words Their Way: Differentiated for individual student spelling levels. Run for 5 months, January through May.

Bear, D. R. (1996). Words their way: Word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling instruction. Merrill, Order

Processing, PO Box 11071, Des Moines, IA 50336-1071.

Vocabulary – Explicit instruction of graded academic work lists & transition words with corresponding text structure

Johnson, E. R. (2009). Academic Language! Academic Literacy!: A Guide for K–12 Educators. Corwin Press.

Text Structure – Modified Barbara Mariconda’s Empowering Writers Program

Mariconda, B. (2004). The Comprehensive Narrative Writing Guide: All the Skills You Need to Teach Good Writing: Grades

2-7. Empowering Writers.

Online Vocabulary Profiler - http://www.lextutor.ca/vp/kids/

https://www.lwtears.com/

Selected ReferencesAckerman, C. M. (1997). Identifying gifted adolescents using personality characteristics: Dabrowski’ over-excitabilities. Roeper Review, 19 (4), 229-236.

Bear, D., Invernizzi, M., Templeton, S., & Johnston, F., (2009). Words Their Way. Word Study for Phonics, Vocabulary and Spelling Instruction (2nd ed.) Upper SaddleRiver, NJ. Prentice Hall

Berninger, V., & Yates, C. (1993). Formal operational thought in the gifted: A post-Piagetian perspective. Roeper Review, 15, 220-224.

Collelo, S. (2001). The role of drawing in children’s writing. Study presented at II Seminário sobre Letramento e Alfabetização of the 13th COLE – Congresso de Leitura do Brasil, in Campinas (SP), July 2001. Translated by “English for You”. Jones, B., Pierce, J., & Hunter, B. (1988). Teaching students to construct graphic representations. Educational Leadership, 6, 20-25.

Gibbons, P. (2009). English Learners, Academic Literacy, and Thinking: Learning in the Challenge Zone. Portsmouth, NH : Heinemann

Gibson, S. (2008). An effective framework for primary-grade guided writing instruction. The Reading Teacher. 62, (4). 324 – 334.

McCarney, D., Peters, L., Jackson, S., Thomas, M. & Kirby, A. (2013). Does Poor Handwriting Conceal Literacy Potential in Primary School Children? International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 2013 Vol. 60, No. 2, 105–118.

Mendaglio, S., & Tillier, W. (2006). Dabrowski's theory of positive disintegration and giftedness: Over-excitability research findings. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 30(1; 1), 68-87.

Medwell, J., Strand, & Wray (2007). The role of handwriting in composing for Y2 children. Journal of Reading, Writing and Literacy, 2 (1), 11-21.

McCutchen D. (2011). From novice to expert: Implications of language skills and writing-relevant knowledge for memory during the development of writing skill. Journal of Writing Research, 3 (1), 51–68.

Piechowski, M.,& Colangelo, N. (1984). Developmental potential of the gifted. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28, 80- 88.

Raphael, T., Englert, C., & Kirschner, B., (1986). The impact of text structure instruction and social context on students’ comprehension and production of expository text. The Institute for Research on Teaching, Research Series No. 177.

Roberts, G., Derkach-Ferguson, A., Siever, J. & Rose, M. (2014). An examination of the effectiveness of Handwriting Without Tears® instruction. Journal of Occupational Therapy, 81 (2), 102-113.

Roessingh, H. (2013). A look at Grade 2 Writing: Successes and challenges in early literacy development.

Learning Landscapes, 7 (1), 269-281.

Williams, Cheri; Lundstrom, Ruth P.(2007). Strategy instruction during word study and interactive writing activities: word study and interactive writing instruction can support young children’s spelling growth and their early writing development. The Reading Teacher. 61, (3), 204.

Yates, C., Berninger, V. & Abbott, R. (1995). Specific writing disabilities in intellectually gifted children. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 18 (2), 131-156.


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