How+we+teach+writing+to+special+needs+learners?+(Newkirk,+Kent,+Chapter+22)


 * Prompt: **


 * “How do we represent to children the quality and potential of their thinking?**
 * The first requirement is to recognize the authority of children’s text” (Newkirk, Kent 269).**

**SWBAT:** · Write a letter using the basic structure of a 5 paragraph essay · Organize thoughts on paper
 * What do you think this means in regards to students with special needs? Would you correct a student’s work differently who has special needs? How much experience, if any, do you personally have in working with students with special needs? Reflect on your personal experiences.**       LESSON PLAN:       **__Dear Santa__**

**Rationale:** For this lesson, students will be writing letters to Santa. To help students to better organize their thoughts, as a way of outlining, students will be answering various questions. After answering the questions, students will be led into connecting their answers to whole paragraphs. Students will be given the attached handout; a graphic organizer, in which they will answer the questions. This allows students to organize their thoughts. The table helps them see what they are answering and where it fits in the paper. For students who have trouble narrowing down a broad prompt, the questions will help them gain understanding. After the graphic organizers are complete, students are to pair up and share their answers with one another. Then they are to choose one of the 2 organizers to create the letter from as a team. So, each pair needs to only write out 1 letter. After all letters are complete, students can share with the entire class. __Organizer:__

**Introduction** Item 2: Item 3: ||
 * **What is your name?** ||  ||
 * **How old are you?** ||  ||
 * **Where do you live?** ||  ||
 * **Have you been naughty or nice this year?** How? ||  ||
 * **What 3 things would you like for Christmas?** || Item 1:

**Body**
 * **What is item 1?** ||  ||
 * **Why do you want this item?** ||  ||
 * **How do you deserve this item?** ||  ||
 * **What will you** do with this item/ what will it teach you? ||  ||
 * **Why would someone say that you do not** need this item? Why are they wrong? ||  ||


 * **What is item 2?** ||  ||
 * **Why do you want this item?** ||  ||
 * **How do you deserve this item?** ||  ||
 * **What will you do with this item/ what will it** teach you? ||  ||
 * **Why would someone say that you do not** need this item? Why are they wrong? ||  ||


 * **What is item 3?** ||  ||
 * **Why do you want this item?** ||  ||
 * **How do you deserve this item?** ||  ||
 * **What will you do with this item/ what will it** teach you? ||  ||
 * **Why would someone say that you do not** need this item? Why are they wrong? ||  ||

**Conclusion:**
 * **What are the 3 items you want from Santa?** ||  ||
 * **Why do you deserve to receive these items?** ||  ||
 * **How will you benefit from receiving the** three items? ||  ||
 * **How are any oppositions irrelevant?** ||  ||
 * **Be sure to tell Santa THANK YOU!!!!** ||  ||

=Why this lesson is useful with students with special needs: =

- list format
**Modification for students with special needs is dependent on students needs.** **However, the goal is to always:** Give every student a chance to experience life without many limits, and give disabled children chance to be in a real classroom. Teaching Students with Special Needs:  - Be encouraging and accepting, marking papers with tons of corrections is discouraging. - Become the students coach/friend while writing. Sit and discuss positive and negative aspects of their work with them. - One on one relationship is key. - Be adaptive with the curriculum to fit students needs.

J acobs, D. (2000). Teaching in two worlds: critical reflection and teacher change in the writing center. //The Quarterly//, (Spring).  //Dale Jacobs reflects on his experiences as an educator and mentor in the writing center at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 1994.Jacobs describes two students that he worked with specifically, Jimmy and Judy who had two entirely different sets of needs in terms of writing. Jacobs notes that he learned all students needed to be approached differently when being conference. Jacobs suggest in this article that teachers should take what students have to say about their writing seriously.// Rao, K, Dowrick, P.W., Yuen, J.W., & Boisvert, P.C. (2009). Writing in a multimedia environment: pilot outcomes for high school students in special education. //Journal of Special Education//, //24//(1), 27-39.  //These authors conducted a study with three middle school students with learning disabilities. Their goal was to teach students with writing problems to use multiple strategies for planning, revising, and self-regulating which separately have been linked to positively affecting the writing performance of students with disabilities. The results were that compared to the control the students post treatment essay was significantly improved on a six point rubric.// Troia, G.A., & Monroe, B.W. (2006). Teaching writing strategies to middle school students with disabilities. //The Journal of Educational Research//, (Sept-Oct), 21-34.  //The authors of this essay note that students with LD struggle with writing, and in their writing often take a retrieve and write approach instead of focusing of the development of rhetorical goals, organization of the writing, or taking the audience into consideration. The author’s goal was to teach multiple strategies for planning, revising and self-regulating that separately have been proven to improve the writing of students with disabilities.// Viel-Ruma, K, Houchins, D.E., Jolivette, K., Fredrick, L.D., & Gama, R. (2010). Direct instruction in written expression: the effects on English speakers and English language learners with disabilities. //Learning Disabilities Research & Practice//, //25//(2), 97-108. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 7.5pt; margin-top: 7.5pt; text-indent: -22.5pt;"> //The authors of this work acknowledge that poor writing affects a student’s grades in high school, their entrance to college, and later on in their employment. The authors theorize that students with LD could have decreased performances on writing tasks that could stem from gaps in their knowledge that exist due to poor instruction practices. To prove that a direct approach for teaching writing to students with LD the authors conducted a study with six students in which they administered a test without giving direct instruction, and then gave another test with direct instruction.// <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 7.5pt; margin-top: 7.5pt; text-indent: -22.5pt;">Willis, W. (2006). A writing activity to help students with attention disorders. //National Writing Project//, (November), Retrieved from http://www.nwp.org/cs/public/print/resource/2363?x-print_friendly=1 <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman',serif; font-size: 12pt; letter-spacing: 1.5pt; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 7.5pt; margin-left: 30pt; margin-right: 7.5pt; margin-top: 7.5pt; text-indent: -22.5pt;"> //Willis a neurologist, author and middle school-consultant provides an example and reproduces what learning feels like for students who struggle with writing and have learning disabilities. Willis creates and activity for her students and offers the results, and tells future teachers how they replicate the lesson for their own classroom.//
 * __A____nnotated bibliography__**


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