Writing for students with significant disabilities

1. Writing for students with significant disabilities Angel Lee UNCC

2. What is writing? • the generation or creation of information by an individual such as making a useful mark, composing to a scribe, or created a product to share with others • Two elements within writing • The process of generating ideas and/or information • The task of making marks or symbols on paper, creating a permanent product

3. Writing or not verb subject adjective/adverb • Alex is placing pictures that have been given to him by his teacher in a sequence using a jig that is labeled + = • When he has completed a sequence, he places a block at the end to signify the end of his thought or idea. The pictures are labeled on the back with S, V, or A that will be faded over time. • Alicia is to identify pictures that match a written sentence that the teacher reads to her. She points to the correct picture after the teacher reads the sentence and says “You pick the matching picture.” There is a picture above each sentence but this picture doesn’t correspond with any of the choices provided to Alicia to promote her generalization of the same idea (e.g., “We are going to the beach.”) and two different pictures of the beach are used- one in the stimulus and one in the two choices presented to Alicia).

4. Objectives • outline typical stages of writing • the production of symbols • the process of writing that is best practice • Explore how the priorities may be different for students with students with significant disabilities • considering the production of purposeful markings to represent information • composing thoughts and ideas • Explore how the use of assistive technology can play a critical role in the production of writing

5. Writing Traits

6. Content/ideas • concentrates on the use of cohesive ideas • Is my message clear and focused? • Students are encouraged to use clear, unique, interesting thoughts • Did the reader learn something new? • Graphic organizers are very useful for organizing ideas • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/ideascontent.htm For additional information and an activity

7. Information/organization • addresses the use of a logical sequence and an engaging lead • Is my paper easy to follow? • Is there a strong conclusion? • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/organization.htm For additional information and an activity

8. Grammar/mechanics • includes the correct use of spelling, spacing, and subject/verb agreement • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/conventions.htm For additional information and an activity

9. Sentence fluency • addresses sentence flow and rhythm within the student’s writing • Is my paper/story easy to read aloud? • Is there variation in how I begin my sentences? • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/sentencefluency.htm • For additional information and an activity

10. Word choice/clarity • focuses on the words selected by the student • nouns • verbs • modifiers • Did I use any unique words • Did I choose good descriptive words? • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/wordchoice.htm For additional information and an activity

11. Voice • deals with writing to your audience, the use of tone, and writing with personality and energy • How do I want the reader to feel? • Am I enthusiastic? • http://www.edina.k12.mn.us/concord/teacherlinks/sixtraits/voice.htm For additional information and an activity

12. Process of Writing 5 Steps 1. Prewriting 2. Drafting 3. Revising 4. Editing/proof reading 5. Final draft

13. Prewriting (Preparing to write) • Read, think, free-write in a journal format • • Identify purpose and audience • • Research, take notes, gather information • • Brainstorm with a peer group • • Organize thoughts • group like thoughts • put in order

14. Drafting (Putting thoughts on paper) • • Focus on content • • Compose freely, without concern for mechanics • For students with disabilities: • Generate topic sentences • Add sentences to photos • Add details to a graphic organizer completed in the prewriting stage

15. Revising (Taking another look) • • Maintain focus on content vs. mechanics • • Share draft with peer group • • Invite discussion, accept response and helpful input from peers • • Add to, delete from, rearrange and revise first draft

16. Editing/Proofreading • • Share revised draft with peer group • • Invite correction of grammar, spelling, punctuation, usage • • Incorporate corrections in final draft

17. Final draft • • Share the product with peer group (dramatizations, small group reports, individual • oral presentations, etc.) • • Invite evaluation by peer group • • Submit for final evaluation by teacher

18. Expectations for students with significant disabilities • May be unreasonable to expect students to follow all steps • Prioritize which steps are appropriate • Remember that as mastery occurs, students may be able to participate in more of the steps • 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

19. Opportunities to create a permanent product • Could be… • Composing a poem • Expressing personal thoughts • Opinions • Composing a nonfictional piece • You may want to use a… • Narrow focus • Personal focus • Short sentences or one word • Photos or symbols Will not always take the form of sentences and paragraphs!

20. Choosing a topic • Students are often allowed to choose the topic that they will write about. Choosing a topic that has personal relevance is easier to generate ideas about. • Students may choose to write about something they know about such as a sport or hobby • Students may choose to write about an observation or experience, for example a trip to the hospital or the food in the school cafeteria • Students may choose to write about a person they know

22. Once a topic has been chosen students will complete prewriting activities • Brainstorming: • students creates a random list about a topic • Teacher often provides a prompt to get the students thinking. For example: What do you like best about the summer? • Prewriting is the time to focus on the order of events. Students can practice putting photos or sentences in the order of occurrence • Instead of creating a random list, teachers may ask students to create a more organized list • Mapping focuses on one theme and uses a graphic organizer • Graphic organizers lend themselves easily to accommodations that may be needed for students with disabilities

23. Sample Mapping ActivityThis map accommodates for students with a range of ability levels. Some students use complete sentences, some fewer word, some can write the word when given words to choose from, others may use a picture to represent an idea Ice cream No school Summer brings ____ days. hot free snowy Summer I like to go on vacation with my family Sleeping late pool

24. Prewriting relates to the writing traits: content and organization • 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

25. Establish the purpose for your writing. Your purpose will determine your word choice and voice Persuasive Narrative Descriptive Expository • The purpose dictates the form of your work • If your purpose is to persuade, you might create a poster rather than a written piece

26. Persuasive writing • Goal • Convince someone to accept your point of view • Involves • Stating your opinion • Backing it up with facts • Begins in early elementary school • Everyone can use graphic organizers • May take a number of forms • A letter • An advertisement • An essay • A speech • May occur in multiple content areas • Writing to convince athletes not to use steroids in health class • Convince students that global warming is a real issue in science class • Convince the chorus teacher to allow a certain type of music in the upcoming concert

27. Persuasive writing graphic organizer • Persuasive Graphic Organizer • Your Opinion: • _________________________________________________________ • My Reason: • _________________________________________________________ • _________________________________________________________ • Supporting Details:_________________________________________________ • _________________________________________________________ • My Reason: • _________________________________________________________ • _________________________________________________________ • Supporting Details:_________________________________________________ • _________________________________________________________ • Restate your opinion:________________________________________________ • ____________________________________________________________________ • If a student can write short sentences they can complete this organizer • May need minimal assistance • Spelling and grammar are not important at this point • Priority is to represent ideas on paper

28. Graphic organizers with added support • The upcoming organizers can be used with students who are not able to write sentences but can select an answer (e.g., circle or point) • This example uses the novel “Number the Stars” • A commonly read novel in 6th grade • Supporting opinions with facts is an important skill taught in middle school • Providing limited response options makes this a less complex process • You may also add symbols or photos for students who require a more concrete presentation

29. 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 HenrikAnne 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____________________________________.

30. State your opinion by filling in the sentence.   not like like I would __________________ to visit Little Italy.

31. I would like to visit Little Italy because____________________. good Italian food good cakes dogs live there airplanes fly

32. Descriptive Writing • Portrays a person, place or thing • Allows the reader to visualize what the writer is talking about • Often part of other types of writing • An effective method for teaching descriptive writing is modeling

33. For example • 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

34. Next…. • Pick a second object • Describe the object together • Allow students to interact with the object as they describe it • Describe the object in terms of the five senses

35. Let’s look at some examples of a descriptive writing activity that you might see in early grades. • Students could respond using written words, picture symbols, or photos • Some students will be able to write their answers while others may need have answer choices cut out to be glued on

36. Star of the Week • All About Me • My favorite color is _________________________ • My favorite book is _________________________ • My favorite movie is_________________________ • My favorite sport is_________________________ • When I grow up I want to be __________________ • I’m special because__________________________

37. You can create the same type of descriptive writing with photos All About Me Name: My pet is a_______. cat dog fish

38. In secondary grades… • They will begin not only to describe what you can see or feel but also a person’s characteristics • Students are often asked to analyze and write about characters in a book • Let’s look at a graphic organizer that might be used for descriptive writing at the secondary level • This organizer may also be useful in an inclusive setting where students may work in groups

40. Narrative Writing • Should tell a story • May take the form of a • Short story • Poem • Autobiography • biography • Begins as early as kindergarten • Kids draw about an event and write a sentence or two about the event • Let’s look at a 2nd grade example • Link to narrative pdf

41. Modifications to consider • work in pairs or small groups to complete a story about a shared event such as a field trip or a class party • 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

42. Here’s an example • 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.

43. Using technology with narrative writing • 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 power point format

44. My Summer Vacation By: Christian Lee

45. Hawaii My family and I went on vacation to Hawaii. It took a long time to get there. It was a beautiful place.

46. Banyon Tree We saw a giant tree that covered a whole park.

47. Waterfall We saw waterfalls. I wanted to swim but I couldn’t.

48. Road to Hana We drove up and around a great big mountain. It was scary.

49. Rainbow My brother took lots of pictures. He took this one of a rainbow.

50. Time to go home! We had fun in Hawaii. We flew back home on the airplane. It did not take as long to get home!