Essentials of Good Teaching Benefit Struggling Writers  (Gersten, Baker, & Edwards,1999)

School-Based Intervention Idea from www.interventioncentral.org.

Teachers are most successful in reaching students with writing delays when their instruction emphasizes the full writing process, provides strategy sheets, offers lots of models of good writing, and gives students timely editorial feedback.

Good instructors build their written expression lessons around the 3 stages of writing –planning, writing, and revision— and make those stages clear and explicit. Skilled instructors also provide students with ‘think sheets’ that outline step-by-step strategies for tackle the different phases of a writing assignment (e.g., taking concise notes from research material; building an outline; proofreading a draft). Students become stronger writers when exposed to different kinds of expressive text, such as persuasive, narrative, and expository writing. Teachers can make students more confident and self-sufficient as writers when they give them access to plentiful examples of good prose models that the student can review when completing a writing assignment. Finally, strong writing teachers provide supportive and timely feedback to students about their writing. When teachers or classmates offer writing feedback to the student, they are honest but also maintain an encouraging tone.

References

Gersten, R., Baker, S., & Edwards, L. (1999). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Copyright ©2008 Jim Wright