Wisniewski "My Students Can't Write!"

23/Th 2:15 PM Rockefeller

Type_Presentation:         60-minute Concurrent Session

PresentationTitle:         "My students can't write!"

ProgramStrand_Primary:     Developmental/Basic Writing

ProgramStrand_Secondary:   Learning and Study Strategies

Presentation_description:

Frequently heard from faculty is “My students can’t write!” Participants will get practical ideas for their struggling and marginalized writers to think “outside of the box,” and move from the traditional toward the world that millennial students live in and understand. The strategies can be adapted for classrooms and tutoring.

The purpose of this presentation is to present a variety of strategies that content area teachers, developmental writing instructors, English instructors, and writing tutors can use in developing student skill in writing voice, clarity, and organization. Learners will:

1. Understand ways to encourage confidence and passion in student writing

2. Practice strategies that enhance voice, clarity, and organization

The first step in the session is to investigate the reading / writing link. The audience will first reflect on the question, “what is it to “write?” When we think of this answer, each of us can remember struggling with writing at one time or other. The audience will then reflect on what it is that we like to read. From this first activity, we will look into those theorists who honor the reading / writing link.

Next, the audience will write individually and as a group on a graphic organizer what makes them good writers and what makes students good writers. Based on the responses that we will look at using a T-Chart, audience members will begin to see how students live with us in our reading / writing worlds. Thus, finding student passions and their interests is vital to creating “good writers,” especially within students who are marginalized and already struggle with writing.

The next step in the presentation is the introduction of reading engagement theory (Guthrie, 2000), which can be expanded to include the literacy process of writing, where writers are motivated, knowledgeable, use strategies, and interact socially. This theory of engagement and learning, then will be combined with thse general principles of writing instruction put forth by Gertsen and Baker (1999). They completed a meta-analysis of writing principles for students with writing disabilities. The following are general principles extracted from their research that are critical for the effective teaching of students who struggle with writing:

1. Use a basic framework of planning, writing, and revision.

2. Guide students in the writing process

3. Teach students features and conventions of writing genres

4. Provide feedback

Teachers need day-to-day, practical ideas to help their struggling and marginalized writing students think “outside of the box,” ideas that step away of our professional-world suggestions and move toward the world the students live in and understand. The activities in this session will follow, with some of the activities or strategies demonstrated and some practiced by individuals and pairs in the audience. Each strategy will have a corresponding description. They will include a polylogs, graphic organizers, sentence collection, active peer review, question paragraphs, story building using pictures and one words, picture buildings, the question game, cartooning, reverse perspective, viewpoint expansion, and media take-offs. The session will end with a planning activity where participants will write which activity or strategy they want to implement and in what context (e.g., classroom whole group, classroom small group, individual tutoring, or tutor training).

This presentation directly benefits the field of college reading and learning as the strategies are expanded and used in multiple developmental education and college content courses. The use of writing strategies will also help students gain confidence in their writing skill, moving toward academic achievement through writing in multiple genres.

The handouts that the audience will receive will include the slide show used to walk through the presentation steps and strategies as well as a list and description of the writing strategies.

PresenterBio:

The presenter of this session has been working with college students for over 15 years, teaching study strategies, adjustment and success strategies, and reading and writing strategies. The presenter managed student development, counseling programs, and literacy programs at a large university, is currently faculty at a small college, and works with faculty, tutors, and teachers on implementing literacy processes across the curriculum, including reading and writing techniques. She is also school psychologist who focuses on academic and behavioral assessment and intervention.

Dr. Wisniewski holds a Ph. D. in Curriculum and Instruction and School Psychology. For over 15 years she has worked with hundreds of college learners, faculty, teachers, and related professionals on implementing learning and literacy strategies across the curriculum. She has published and presented nationally and locally in areas of disability, assessment and evaluation, literacy, diversity and cultural responsiveness, teaching, leadership, technology, psychology, and transformative learning, and has administered programs at Kent State University in reading, student development, and counseling. As current faculty at Baldwin-Wallace College, Dr. Wisniewski is a teacher educator, school psychologist, and curriculum and educational management consultant.