We
watched two videos. One featured an
occupational therapist discussing writing, and two ideas stood out to me. First, some students lack an awareness of the
location and movement of their hand in space, so writing is difficult for
them. As a coping mechanism, they grip
the pencil tightly. Second, some
students don’t have adequate abdominal strength to maintain appropriate posture
for writing, so they wrap their legs around the chair or lean against the
table, but this doesn’t make writing easier.
The
second video showed some simple AT tools that could help students grip a
pencil or attach to the end of their finger so gripping a pencil is
unnecessary. All they need to do is move
their hand in the shapes of the letters to write. Based on what I learned this class, this
would still be challenging for some students.
Finally,
we saw some apps in action to support students with writing challenges. I particularly liked the Clicker Sentences
app. When I teach Science 9 IPP students
who have plans focusing on literacy, I do a low tech version of re-writing
sentences from words provided. However,
on paper things are more difficult to change and students don’t get immediate feedback
on their progress. Further, they have to
be able to read and comprehend the individual words to make a sentence. On an iPad with digital text, they can
manipulate it quickly and Siri or speak selection accessibility options could
help. They could even look up
definitions or pictures for vocabulary.
The Cowriter
Topic Dictionary and word prediction software was also very cool.
Hey Christine,
ReplyDeleteLike you, I had not given any thought to the writing process until it was broken down in class the other night. Eye opening for sure!!! As an elementary teacher, we are in constant contact with our teachers in our school. We share student information all the time....strengths, needs, what works, what doesn't..etc. I have always wondered about the high school environment and how they share information about students? So, I found your comments about high school not discussing the idea of struggling writers interesting. Perhaps these discussions are not happening due to the number of teachers in a high school teaching just one student....too many to schedule for meetings about students....Also, I think that these discussions about student learning are taking place in the early years of learning....it is elementary teachers who are the ones who typically observe students struggling and by the time they get to high school supports have been implemented to ensure student success and students have learned to cope and/or manage their writing difficulties. For my board, bridging the transition from elementary to secondary is important. Therefore, meetings between high schools and elementary schools happen to ensure the school is aware of the students who are "identified and or at risk". Information about their strengths and needs is shared including course selection chosen by the student. It is discussed to ensure success and hopefully lessen the chances of students dropping out and/or failing.
Like you stated, there are probably students who have "masked" their writing difficulties. Hopefully over time, their writing difficulties would become more evident and support for them can be given!