Students will be introduced to the writing process from the
beginning of the school year. The writing will be implemented
across the curriculum for all the students. They will be keeping
a journal of all their writing. At the end of the project timeline,
the students will be required to pick a project from the Project Menu
that will include an oral presentation and a visual aid along with a
final written draft. The project will allow the students to reflect
upon their improvements in their writing and how that improvement has
effected their confidence in writing and their own personal confidence.
RATIONALE AND ENDURING LEARNING
Students with disabilities have a difficult time putting their
brainstorming ideas into written words. Below is a passage outlining
the difficulties that students with disabilities have with writing.
The support provided by computers may be especially beneficial for
students with LD, who often find writing frustrating. Students with
LD perform less well than their peers on a variety of written language
tasks (Englert, Raphael, Anderson, Gregg, & Anthony, 1989; Graham,
Harris, MacArthur, & Schwartz, 1991). They often have difficulty
with the physical demands and conventions of writing and with fluent
production of sentences. Many students with LD have difficulty coordinating
the complex cognitive processes of setting goals, generating content,
organizing their writing, and evaluating and revising their text. However,
recent research demonstrates that instructional programs that provide
(a) a supportive social context for writing in the classroom, (b) meaningful
writing tasks, and (c) instruction in writing processes can improve the
writing achievement of students with LD (Englert, Raphael, Anderson, Anthony,
& Stevens, 1991; MacArthur, Graham, & Schwartz, 1993).
http://www.ldonline.org/ld_indepth/technology/tech_writing.html
The improvement in literacy will give the students the confidence
they need to work through and produce a well written final draft in any
genre and therefore, get a taste of what it feels like to be successful.
This feeling of success is contagious and will go with them into
the real world. Then, they will truly understand that people do
overcome circumstances to achieve great things.
INTEGRATION OF COLLABORATION AND TECHNOLOGY
Students will be put into groups of two or three. The
groups will be determined by a myriad of factors based on academic skills
as well as personal attitudes. As for technology the students will
be taught how to use Inspiration, PowerPoint or Hyperstudio, and the
teacher will guide the students through appropriate internet sites to enhance
the writing process. Furthermore, I would like the students to show improvement
in their basic keyboarding skills.
REAL WORLD OUTCOMES
The students will be able to apply the technology skills they
learned to organize their thoughts. The software applications will
help with general knowledge of computer skills. The writing skills
will help students improve their writing in general and give them the confidence
to approach any writing situation. This feeling of writing confidence
will carry over to their personal self-esteem because they will have experienced
success. Group work will teach the students that they need to be
able to get along with others even if they do not see eye-to-eye. The project
menu will allow the students to pick a project that they feel comfortable
with and will fit their learning style. It will also give the students
some ownership to their grade.