MATCHING INSTRUCTION TO THE NEEDS OF STRUGGLING WRITERS

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• MATCHING INSTRUCTION TO THE NEEDS OF STRUGGLING
  WRITERS
• Steve Graham
• steve.graham_at_vanderbilt.edu

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• 1. The writing problems of students with LD are a
  strategic problem.

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• 1A. Students with LD are not very thoughtful or
  planful when they write.
• Spend less than 1 minute planning when revising.
• They approach writing as if it involves a single
  process content generation.

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• Paradoxically, their papers are impoverished in
  terms of content.
• They remind us of Snoopy in the following comic
  strip

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• The impoverished writing of students with LD is
  in part a strategic problem because they have
  difficulty gaining access to the knowledge they
  do have.
• Can double to triple output by repeatedly
  prompting them to write or say more.

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• 1B. Students with LD have difficulty regulating
  or managing the processes involved in writing.
• I will illustrate this with an example involving
  revising.

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• 1. Read Essay and Pick Evaluation Cards.
• Ignores the obvious point against my ideas.
• Too few ideas.
• Part of the essay doesnt belong with the rest.
• Part of the essay is not in the right order.

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• 2. Select a Directive for Each Evaluation Card
  Selected.
• - Rewrite
• - Delete
• - Add
• - Move
• 3. Execute Directive
• 4. Reread Essay and Highlight any Area Still in
  Need of Change.

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• 5. Select Evaluation, Directive, and Execute
  Change.
• This one doesnt sound right.
• This is not what I intended to say.
• This is an incomplete idea.
• This is a weak idea.
• This part is not clear.
• The problem is ______.

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• Made process of revision easier.
• Well you have the steps for revising and its
  easier to use than no steps.
• Gave me a choice of how I wanted to change it or
  make it different.
• Made papers better.
• Yes because using these cards helped me make an
  interesting story, and change things, and not
  miss much.

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• Tackle the strategic problem head-on by directly
  teaching students with writing problems to use
  more sophisticated strategies for planning and
  revising.
• Strategies help students regulate their behavior
  by providing a plan for accomplishing the writing
  task.
• Effect Quality Sizes for Planning 1.14

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SRSD

• Self-Regulated Strategy Development
• Developing in tandem
• powerful writing strategies
• and
• critical strategies for self-regulation of the
  writing process and knowledge about writing

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Basic Self-Regulation Components

• Goal-Setting
• Self-Monitoring (Self-Assessment/Self-Recording)
• Self-Instructions
• Self-Reinforcement

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POW plus TREE 2nd Grade
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Beginning Rockets 5 Parts
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• Develop and Activate Background Knowledge
• read works in the genre being addressed (stories,
  persuasive essays, etc.), to develop vocabulary
  (For example, what is an opinion,), knowledge
  (what are the parts of a persuasive essay?)
  concepts (how does the writer grab the readers
  interest?), and so on needed for instruction
  continue development through the next two stages
  as needed
• discuss and explore both writing and
  self-regulation strategies to be learned may
  begin development of self-regulation, introducing
  goal setting and self-monitoring

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• Discuss It
• explore students current writing and
  self-regulation abilities
• graphing (self-monitoring) may be introduced,
  using prior compositions this may assist with
  goal setting
• strategy(s) to be learned purpose, benefits, how
  and when it can be used (begin generalization
  support)
• commitment to learn strategy and act as
  collaborative partner establish role of student
  effort
• current negative or ineffective self-talk,
  attitudes or beliefs may be addressed in positive
  ways

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• Model It
• teacher modeling and collaborative modeling of
  writing and self-regulation strategies, resulting
  in appropriate model compositions
• analyze and discuss strategy and models
  performance make changes as needed
• can model self-assessment and self-recording
  through graphing of performance
• continue student development of self-regulation
  strategies across tasks and situations discuss
  use (continue generalization support)
• Memorize It
• typically begun in earlier stages, require and
  confirm memorization of strategies, mnemonics),
  and self-instructions as appropriate
• continue to confirm and support memorization in
  following stages, as needed

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• Support It Guided Practice
• teachers and students use task and
  self-regulation strategies collaboratively to
  achieve success
• challenging initial goals established
  collaboratively criterion levels increased
  gradually until final goals met
• prompts, guidance, and collaboration faded
  individually
• self-regulation components not yet introduced may
  begin
• discuss plans for maintenance, continue support
  of generalization
• Independent Performance
• students able to use task and self-regulation
  strategies independently teachers monitor and
  support as necessary
• fading of overt self-regulation may begin
• plans for maintenance and generalization continue
  to be discussed and implemented

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Please dont P.E.E.in the classroom!

• Post
• Explain
• Expect
• It just wont make a meaningful difference for
  most students. Real improvement requires all six
  stages of instruction. There is no magic in the
  mnemonics!

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• 2. The writing problems of students with LD are a
  skills problem.

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• 2A. Text Transcription Processes such as
  Handwriting, Spelling, and typing, as they
  interfere with the writing of students.
• Teaching ES .80

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Reminder

• Reader Effect
• Poor handwriting/spelling the reader cant get
  the message
• Handwriting/spelling errors result in lower
  grades

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Reminder

• Writer Effect
• - Poor handwriting/spelling interferes with
  other writing processes
• - Students who have difficulty with
  handwriting/spelling avoid writing, leading to
  arrested writing development

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ADVANTAGES FOR DICTATION

• 350 increase in length
• 300 reduction in grammatical errors
• 878 increase in composing speed
• Better Overall Writing Quality

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SPELLING PROGRAM

• Second grade students provided 20 minutes of
  extra spelling instruction a day
• Each unit involves 6 lessons and we taught 10
  units
• In every unit we contrasted specific spelling
  patterns

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Day 1 of a unit

• Word Sorting
• Word Hunt

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Word Sort

• 2 or 3 spelling patterns contrasted.
• Teacher puts a word for one pattern on the board
  and next to it the word for another pattern
• The teacher also has 13 to 16 cards that have
  words that fit the pattern

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Word Sort

• mad made
• Teacher has word cards that fit these two English
  spelling patterns.
• With several cards, the teacher models how she
  would decide where each card goes (using sound
  and letter patterns)

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Word Sort

• Then students help the teachers place the card
  until they can come up with the rules for each
  spelling patterns
• Next students generate as many words as they can
  that fit each patterns
• A question mark category is added for words that
  do not fit the patterns

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Word Sort

• mad made ?

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Word Hunt

• Students are encouraged to look for other words
  that fit these patterns (in their reading and
  writing).
• At the start of the next lesson, these are placed
  on a chart on the wall.

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Day 2 Day 5

• Word Hunt (3 minutes)
• Phonics Warm-up (2 minutes)
• Word Study (8 minutes)
• Graph Busters
• Word Building (7 minutes)

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Word Hunt

• Words that fit the patterns in the Word Sort are
  placed on the wall chart
• Students are encouraged to collect more words
  before the next lesson

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Phonics Warm-up - Peers

• Show card with picture of an item on it (house).
• Peer says letter that sound at start, middle, or
  end makes (the letter is on the back of card).
• Peer gives feedback as needed.

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Word Study

• Students study at least 8 words that fit the
  spelling patters studied for that unit.
• All 8 words are words that the child cannot spell
  correctly

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Word Study

• At the start, they use a self-study technique to
  the study the words

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Word Study Graph Busters

• Graph Busters
• Say word and study letters.
• Close eyes and say the letters.
• Study letters again.
• Write word 3 times without looking.
• Check spelling and correct any misspellings.
• Graph number of correct practices for all words

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Word Study - Games

• If the child believes he knows how to spell his
  words well (after 1 or 2 days of using Graph
  Busters) He may continue to study by playing a
  game with a peer

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Word Building

• With word building, students build real words
  using the spelling patterns that they are
  learning in the unit
• Peers do this together

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Word Building

• b
• l ad
• h
• m
• --------
• m
• d ade
• f
• b

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Day 6

• Word Hunt
• Phonics Warm-up
• Test
• Unit Graphing

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Handwriting Program

• The handwriting program included 9 units
• In each unit, 3 letters were taught (2 letters in
  one unit)
• The letters in each unit were similar in how they
  were formed

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Handwriting Program

• The letters taught first were the easiest to
  learn and the most frequent in English words
• Each unit had 3 lessons, and each lesson followed
  the following patterns

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Handwriting Program

• Letter Knowledge (2 Minutes)
• Letter Practice (7 minutes)
• Letter Fluency (4 minutes)
• Letter Fun (2 minutes)

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1. Letter Knowledge

• We wanted to be sure that students knew the
  letter names of the alphabet and could associate
  those names with the letter forms
• We used 4 activities to promote

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Letter Practice Day 1

• We used traditional procedures to teach letter
  formation.
• We started by modeling how to form each letter
  using the cards on the next page, and asked
  students to help us decide how the letters were
  the same and different

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Letter Fluency Day 1

• To increase their handwriting fluency, we had
  students copy a short sentences containing
  letters from this and the earlier unit as quickly
  and neatly as possible (3 minutes).
• Day 1 set the baseline for their writing speed
  and they graphed number of letters written,

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Letter Fun

• At the end of each lesson, we showed students how
  they could do something fun with each letter.
  They could do the fun activity or practice
  writing their letters.
• Some examples are presented next

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• 2B. The effects of skill difficulties are not
  limited just to Handwriting and Spelling.

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Difficulty Detecting and Diagnosing Problems

• he loved farm work
• Because reader will not understand why he loves
  farm work.
• he liked farm work
• Another student detected 3 sentences central to
  understanding the story because people wont
  understand that part.

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Difficulty Executing Intended Change

• We got to ride horses go to rodeo.
• does not sound right change wording
• We got to ride horses go and a rodeo.
• It is a nice day to go for a walk
• not what intended to say want to make clear
  there were things around walker.
• to day like like go day sky is blue and grass is
  green

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• 2C. Struggling writers must also become fluent
  and facile in terms of writing sentences

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B. Teach Sentence Construction

• Example Sentence Combining which involves
  teaching students to construct more complex and
  sophisticated sentences through exercises where
  two or more basic sentences are combined into a
  single sentence.
• N 5
• ES .50

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Sentence Combining, Cont.

• Rewrite short, kernel sentences using
• Placement of adjectives or adverbs
• Inserting phrases
• Using connectors (e.g., but, because, so)
• Example
• The noodle was soft.
• The noodle was on my plate.

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Sentence Combining, cont.

• And finally
• The snake was lying in the grass.
• The snake was a cobra.
• The mouse ran by.
• The mouse was tiny.
• It ran quickly.
• The cobras mouth opened.
• It opened menacingly.
• The cobra struck.
• The cobra was deadly.

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Sentence Combining, cont.

• Try this one
• The noodles were long.
• The noodles were skinny.
• The noodles fell on the floor.
• The noodles cracked into pieces.
• The dinner was ruined.

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How do we teach sentence combining?

• 1. Show how to do it, and establish why it is
  important (TEACH
• 2. Provide students with assistance until they
  can apply the skill correctly and
  independently (GUIDED PRACTICE)
• 3. Ask students to apply the skill when they
  write (APPLY)

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Other Sentence Construction Procedures

• Sentence Expansion
• Rewrite Bill and Mary like food - so that the
  sentence tells more about Bill and Mary and the
  type of food they like.

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Other Sentence Construction Procedures

• Sentence Frames
• The dog ___________.
• Ask student to complete the sentence by telling
  what happened

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Also

• Explicitly teach students strategies for
  constructing paragraphs (strong positive impact
  on schematic structure of paragraphs).
• Example Strategy (1) show the type of paragraph
  (describe, show sequence, compare and contrast,
  and cause and effect) they will write in the
  first sentence (2) list details they plan to
  use (3) order the details (4) .write the
  details in complete sentences and (5) cap of the
  paragraph with a concluding, passing, or summary
  sentence.

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• 3. The writing problems of students with LD are a
  knowledge problem.

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• 3A. Students with LD conceptualization of writing
  over-emphasizes form.

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What is good writing?

• Good Writers
• Drafting it, revising it, and editing it.
• Students with LD
• Spelling every word right.
• Write as neat as you can.

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What do good writers do?

• Good Writers
• They read it over and see if they have everything
  they want.
• Think of very creative ideas.
• Students with LD
• They use whatever paper the teacher tells them.
• They get plenty of sleep.

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How do you make your paper better?

• Good Writers
• Make the ending real exciting.
• Put my sentences in different order.
• Students with LD
• Make sure I have my date and name on there.
• Write it bigger so that it takes up more space.

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• This emphasis on form is one reason why students
  with LD use a thesaurus approach to revising.
• 60 of revisions involved mechanics of writing or
  minor word changes.
• Students viewed revising as proofreading.
  Revising is
• Making it neater
• Spelling words correctly

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• 3B. Students with LD knowledge about writing
  its genre, devices, and conventions - is quite
  limited.
• When describing parts of a story
• I would tell him main character.
• A subject, predicate, and main idea.
• Not only are they less knowledgeable about
  writing, but their knowledge is not related to
  their writing performance.

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Study of Models

• Involves students examining examples of one or
  more specific types of text and attempting to
  emulate the patterns or forms in these examples
  in their own writing.
• N 6
• ES .25

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Pre-Writing Activities

• Involves students engaging in activities (such as
  using a semantic web or brainstorming ideas)
  designed to help them generate or organize ideas
  for their composition.
• N 5
• ES .32

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Inquiry

• Involves engaging students in activities that
  help them develop ideas and content for a
  particular writing task by analyzing immediate
  and concrete data (e.g., comparing and
  contrasting cases or collecting and evaluating
  evidence).
• N 5
• ES .32

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• Example of Inquiry
• Goal Describe the action of people
• Analyze Data observe one or more peers during
  specific activities
• Specific Strategies Ask the people observed why
  they did what they did
• Apply Write a story based on insights

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• 4. The writing problems of students with LD are a
  motivation problem.

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• 4A. Students with LD show little persistence when
  writing.
• 6 minutes writing an essay.
• 1 minute when composing an essay.
• Began with a yes or no followed by 1 or 2
  briefly stated reasons, abruptly ending without
  an ending or a resolution.

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• 4B. Students with LD are more confident about
  their writing capabilities than is warranted.
• Just as confident as their better writing peers
  about their abilities to
• Get and organize ideas
• Transcribe ideas into sentences
• Sustain the writing effort
• Correct mistakes
• I am the best they is in English.

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• 4C. Students with LD are less positive about
  writing than their better writing peers.
• Students generally have a positive attitude
  towards writing in the 1st grade, but somewhere
  between 1st and 3rd grade this starts to
  deteriorate for poor writers.

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3. Peers Working Together

• Involves students working together to plan,
  draft, and/or revise their compositions.
• N 7
• ES .75

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From The Study of Exceptional Writing Teachers

• Be enthusiastic about writing and create a
  positive environment, where students are
  constantly encouraged to try hard, believe that
  the skills and strategies they are learning will
  permit them to write well, and attribute success
  to effort and the tactics they are learning.

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• Set high expectations for their students,
  encouraging them to surpass their previous
  efforts or accomplishments.

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• 5. The writing problems of students are a
  Teaching Problem.

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• 5A. Teachers often use approaches to writing
  instruction that simply are not powerful enough
  to overcome their difficulties.
• Process Approach to writing as typically applied
  may not be very effective for struggling writers.
• It can be enhanced by incorporating more explicit
  teaching.

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Other Effective Techniques Setting Product Goals

• Involves assigning students specific goals for
  the written product they are to complete.
• N 5
• ES .70

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Word Processing

• Involves having students use word processing and
  related software to write.
• N 18
• ES .55

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• Reinforce positive aspects of students writing
  (small positive impact). This involves providing
  social praise, tangible reinforcers, or both, as
  a means of increasing specific writing behaviors.

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Students monitor performance (small positive
impact).

• For example, students might be asked to count how
  many words they generate each time they write or
  determine if specific genre traits or elements
  (e.g., story parts such as setting, plot, action,
  resolution, and so forth) are included in their
  papers.

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• 5B. Too many teachers fail to make appropriate
  accommodations or adaptations for students with
  LD.
• 40 of primary grade teachers make no or only 1
  or 2 adaptations for their weaker writers.
• Some of the adaptations teachers make are of
  questionable value.
• Limit use of the computer for writing.
• Less willing to allow poor writers to complete
  assignments at own pace.