What should Ms. Lin know in order to provide effective writing instruction?
Page 1: Understanding Difficulties with Written Expression
Writing is a complex process that requires students to attend to multiple elements while also monitoring their performance. Students need to learn not only to pay attention to the rules and mechanics of writing but also to develop effective and efficient composition skills. Negotiating and coordinating basic skills, knowledge, form, purpose, attention to an intended audience, and the rules of written language can prove difficult even for skilled writers. The table below highlights some of the major differences between struggling writers (including students with learning disabilities) and successful ones.
| Struggling Writers | Successful Writers | |
| Plan |
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| Organize |
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| Write |
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| Edit and Revise |
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It is beneficial for a teacher to know precisely in which areas his or her students are struggling with writing. Listen to Torri Lienemann talk about using baseline data (time: 0:44).
Torri Lienemann, PhD
Director of the Graduate Special Education Program
Concordia University, Nebraska
Transcript: Torri Lienemann, PhD
Baseline data can provide valuable information about what students already know regarding the processes involved with composition prior to instruction. When collecting baseline writing samples, the teacher can know whether or not students plan their compositions prior to writing and whether or not they include all the essential elements specific to that genre. Baseline samples can also be used during instruction. Once students are aware of the essential elements of a specific type of composition and what a good composition looks like, they can evaluate the compositions they had written prior to instruction, and these often incomplete compositions can show students the necessity of being strategic with their writing.
Sample persuasive papers written by two students in Ms. Lin’s class are provided below. Malcolm, a struggling writer, has a learning disability. Notice how he has difficulty with grammar, punctuation, and spelling. In addition, he produces few complete sentences and ideas. On the other hand, Nakia, a successful writer, develops a plan to achieve her writing goal. She organizes her thoughts and has few difficulties writing her text. She edits her work for spelling, capitalization, and punctuation errors and makes several revisions before she considers her paper complete.
Click Here to view both essays side by side.
Malcolm’s Persuasive Essay
Malcolm: Malcolm’s persuasive essay is handwritten on a piece of binder paper. His name is written in the top right-hand corner. Underneath is the title of his essay, “Cell phones,” is written. His essay is written with misspellings, lowercase letters, and without all proper punctuation. The body of the text is written as follows:
“evrbdy has them so i shoeld
have one
you can play games on them
and call yur frends. You can
tell yur parnts were you are.
You nevr now when there is
going to be a emerjency”
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Nakia’s Persuasive Essay
Nakia: Nakia’s persuasive essay is hand written neatly and fills an entire piece of binder paper. Her name, “Nakia Williams,” “Language Arts,” “Ms. Lin,” and the date, “Nov. 15” is written in the upper-right hand corner. Underneath is the title of her essay, “No School Uniforms!” Her essay is written in complete sentences, with proper punctuation and grammar. The body of the text is written as follows:
“I believe students should not have to wear school
uniforms in middle school. First, kids should have the
right to choose what they want to wear to school.
Besides, sometimes the colors and the styles of the
uniforms do not look good on everyone. In addition,
the uniforms are not very comfortable to wear.
Guys should be able to wear t-shirts and shorts
because sometimes they play rough. Girls should be
able to express themselves and can do this by the
clothes and the jewelry they wear. Finally, making
students wear school uniforms will make school
shopping more difficult and expensive. Parents will
not only have to find the right clothes for kids to
wear to school but they will still have to buy
clothes for after school and the weekend. If kids do
not have specific uniforms to wear then parents
could just buy what their kids want to wear and
the kids could wear the clothes any time.
These are just a few reasons why I think kids
should not have to wear school uniforms in
middle school.”
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Both Essays Side by Side
Joint Link: Here Malcolm and Nakia’s essays are displayed side-by-side. They are both hand-written on pieces of binder paper. See the students’ individual links for the text of their essays.
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Research Shows
- The writing skills of struggling students, including those with learning disabilities, significantly improve when explicit writing-strategy instruction is provided.
(Graham, S., & Perin, D., 2007) - Students who were taught to use writing strategies produced higher quality written essays than did those who were not taught writing strategies.
(De La Paz, S. & Graham, S., 2002)
