Class 5

This class centered around the writing process. Throughout the day we looked at several video clips from http://www.misunderstoodmindsld.blogspot.com/. The videos introduced Nathan and Lauren. We watched as these two youngsters with a learning disability struggled in school. Over time, after visits with doctors and the teachers the two children were successful in school. After the first video clip we were asked to write a response to what we had just watched, but as we were handwriting we were to think about the steps involved in writing. Just like the reading process the writing process is very detailed.
Some steps and skills involved in the writing process:

• Pencil Grip (not as simple as one may think especially for some students)
• Fine Motor
• Coordination
• Recalling, short term memory, language knowledge
• Engaged in Task
• Sitting Position
• Sequencing
• Past Experiences
• Visual Planning
• Letter Formation
• Patterning of Letters

We also did a second response to the video but this time we typed instead of writing still thinking of the steps involved in the writing process. We discussed that many of the steps were the same as in handwriting but yet there is other components when using a keyboard to write. Using a keyboard eliminates the pencil, however students must be able to use their fingers to strike the correct keys.

This YouTube video shows some great pencil grips students can use.



Another YouTube video to watch about pencil skills and handwriting.

So after seeing the writing process and how difficult it is for some students we looked at ways to help students when they write. Word predictors like WordQ or Co-writer are designed to help students when writing. The student must be able to get the beginning sound down and then the program will help to determine what word you are looking for. Once the sentence is complete a period must be added for the sentence to be read and added to the Word document. There are also programs that use voice recognition to write was is said. Dragon Dictation is a popular one, which we looked at on the i-Pod touches. I thought it worked well; of course there had to be no background noise to record and then type correctly. I also learned that PowerPoint has the option of inserting a sound recording.

YouTube video on Co-writer