Writing: What we know from research

SPED 586 –Advanced Methods

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Today• Review background on writing instruction• Expressive Writing (Gersten, Baker, &

Edwards, 1999)• Writing for Adolescents (Graham & Perin,

2007)• New Technology• SRSD and Steve Graham

Have students write, write, and write some more2

Writing Skills (Minskoff & Allsopp)

• What are some of the subskills of writing?1) Plan ideas to express2) Find sentence and words to express these ideas3) Spell words4) Capitalize where necessary5) Use appropriate punctuation, grammar and syntax6) Proofread for clarity and mechanics7) Do ALL of this together!!!

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Writing basics (Minskoff & Allsopp)

• Where do students with LD typically struggle?1) Mechanics

-grammatical correctness, spelling, punctuation, capitalization

2) Composition-getting across the intended message

• What strengths do students with LD bring to writing instruction?1) Verbal abilities2) Creativity

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Teaching expressive writing• http://www.ericdigests.org/2000-4/writing.htm

• Reliable and consistent findings are:– Adhering to a basic framework of planning, writing, and

revision; – Explicitly teaching critical steps in the writing process and – Providing feedback guided by the information explicitly

taught.

• Emerging Findings– Use a scribe– Assign daily writing instruction and include instructional

time devoted to both the mechanics and the process of writing

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Teaching adolescents• http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=18993196

• 123 students on writing instruction lead to 154 effect size evaluations

• The results were:– strategy instruction (0.82), – summarization (0.82), – peer assistance (0.75), – setting product goals (0.70), – word processing (0.55), – sentence combining (0.50), – inquiry (0.32), – prewriting activities (0.32), – process writing approach (0.32), – study of models (0.25), – grammar instruction (-0.32).

What does this all mean to our classrooms?

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Learning Strategies

• Review strategieshttp://www.sbac.edu/~include/documents/ACPSstrategies7-24draft.pdf

– Sentence writing– Paragraph writing

• Gersten, Baker, & Edwards (1999)http://www.ldonline.org/article/6201

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Strategies for Writing

• Sentence WritingP= Pick a formula E= Explore words to fit the formula N= Note the Words S= Search for subject and verb

• Power Writing– http://ethemes.missouri.edu/themes/1639?locale=en

– Organization of idea(s)– Specifically assigned to sentences

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Speech-to-Text or Speech-recognition software

(National Center for Technology Innovation, 2010)

• Provides access to those with less opportunity (vision or physical disabilities or poor motor control)

• Teaching the writing process because of the need to correct and check for accuracy and restructure work once displayed as text

• Increases independence• Decreases anxiety• Connects reading and writing

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Initiating an SRSD approach• One of the more effective research-supported

approaches to writing is SRSDSelf Regulated Strategy Development

• Read the details of SRSD and how to enact it.http://teachingld.org/pdf/alert17writingSSRD.pdf

• Interview with Steve Grahamhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SAo9KKpbfs

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Upcoming Events

• Vocabulary (we have already had a peek)

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/37063/http://www.ldonline.org/article/34015

• Mathematics• The gauntlet of projects:

– CRA steps – Adaptive Problem Solving– Cognitive Strategies– Student-led IEPs– Unit Plan

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