In my class we have a lot of students who are struggling to write at grade level. The students are pretty much all over the map and range from a 2nd grade writing level to a 6th grade writing level. This makes teaching quite difficult because you do not want to create hard assignments that the majority of the class can not finish but you do not want the upper edge class to be bored.
What I like to do is give the students an open-ended question that can have a multitude of answers; for instance, what would you do if you moved into the White House. This way the students who are above grade level writing can write as much as they want and be as specific as they want to be. Meanwhile the students who are struggling have a simple question where they can work on their writing and outlines. When we begin writing I try to go around and make sure that the struggling readers are working on an outline to get their ideas from their heads to the paper. I find that the majority of the problems that my students have stem when the students go to transcribe their thoughts onto the paper. I have also found that the students who excel with their writing and in other subjects some times have problems with transferring their thoughts onto the paper.
Another technique that I believe is very important for 4th and 5th graders is building their proofreading skills. The Tompkins article stats that a beginning writer should start to proofread their compositions in order to build a strong argument and make sure they are conveying the proper message. I have found that a lot of times students will not answer the question rather they will start answering the question and than go off into a tangent without knowing it. The major differences between the beginning reader and the fluent reader category is the student’s ability to be proficient in the proofreading and grammar areas, so I believe we should start them early.
One student however baffles me with how much knowledge he has and how he can connect complex ideas to other ideas. This student can tell you what anti-matter is and he can tell you the reasons why WWI happened. However this student cannot transfer the thoughts in his head to paper to save his life. The always complains about writing and how he never likes to write about his life because it is boring. He often says that he enjoys writing about fantasy but when he gets that opportunity he will only write one paragraph if that. He often wants to read me what he wrote but I always tell him that I need to read his paper, trying to get him to proofread it before he gives it to me to read. If you guys have any suggestions on how to develop his transfer ideas let me know!
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Tim, I enjoyed reading your blog post this week. I really liked your ideas about engaging all learners in the classroom regardless of their abilities. You stated, “What I like to do is give the students an open-ended question that can have a multitude of answers.” I think this is a great idea to see what the students are capable of writing. Instead of giving students a list of specific questions they need to respond to, students are able to write as little or as much as they like. However, this open ended question may also allow for too much freedom. Struggling students may need directed questions to guide their writing. Overall, I think including open ended questions would be great to see what the students end up writing, but the teacher might have to make adjustments if students are not staying on topic or writing too little.
I also like how you talked about going around your classroom to make sure that the struggling readers are working on an outline to get their ideas from their heads to the paper. Many students in my classroom have so many ideas that they cannot formulate them on paper. I have to talk them through their thinking process before they decide what they want to write about. I think every teacher needs a way for students to organize all their thoughts on paper so that the students can see all the ideas on paper and choose what they want to focus on in their writing. You also mentioned how “Students who excel with their writing and in other subjects some times have problems with transferring their thoughts onto the paper.” I wrote about a student in my blog who has this problem. He has so much knowledge that he cannot decide how to put his ideas on paper. He always is the last one to be finished with a writing assignment because he has too many ideas sometimes. Teachers need to make sure that all students, struggling or not, have a way of organizing their thoughts on paper.
I also agreed with you when you said, “I have found that a lot of times students will not answer the question rather they will start answering the question and than go off into a tangent without knowing it.” This happens all the time in my classroom. The students will begin to address the question and then talk about something completely random. During our discussions for our lesson, we will have to make sure that our students stay on topic. We will have to use a question that will promote higher level thinking and a question that most every student in the classroom can relate with.
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