Katie Rohn

Teaching Writing
CEP 804A: Literacy Methods for Students with Language and Learning Disabilities

Section I: Information About Students (copied from Inquiry Unit)

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to be a 5th grade teacher consultant. Within the
diverse group of students I worked with many students came from different ethnic and
socioeconomic backgrounds. The academic achievement of the students varied from students
who were above grade level to students who were non-readers. My class load of 17 students
consisted of student mainly with learning disabilities and autism. Additionally, I supported all
students within the third tier of the RTI framework. All students, with or without a disability,
were mainstreamed in the general education classroom. However, there were exceptions of
students who occasionally received small group support in a resource environment.
For my inquiry and writing lesson, I choose to work individually with Mae*, a fifth grade
student on my caseload. Mae has strong listening comprehension and math reasoning skills. Her
motivation is very high in math. Regarding math, she achieved advanced on her fourth grade
mathematical MEAP test and met expectations on her fifth grade report card. She is an advocate
for herself, especially with sensory needs. Mae had gained self-awareness and self-control when
it came to emotions and anxiety.
Mae has a specific learning disability in the areas of basic reading and writing. She
currently reads at the DRA level 20 with an accuracy of 90%. Mae has trouble decoding blends
and diagraphs in words. Her sight vocabulary is limited, especially compared with grade-level
peers. She substitutes words that look alike based on initial letter. When Mae becomes frustrated,
she relies on the teacher to supply unknown words rather than using word attack strategies. Mae
reads word-for-word, very slowly (less than 30 words per minute). Despite less than adequate
fluency, she is able to comprehend books written at a 2nd to 3rd grade reading level. Mae makes
accurate predictions, connections, and inferences to texts.
Due to the difficulties in reading, writing is particularly difficult for Mae. Specific
difficulties observed include spelling high frequency words, grammar, and revising/editing her
writing. Also, organization and mechanics can be very challenging. Mae has a difficult time
planning and organizing her ideas with an audience in mind. She leaves out details that are
important to understanding her writing. When she spells words independently, she attempts to
use phonetic spelling, but lacks an understanding of consistent letter patterns across similar
sounding words. Despite these shortcomings, she has very creative ideas and large expressive
vocabulary. When Mae encounters a difficulty, she struggles to cope or use strategies to solve
her problems. Reading and writing frequently frustrated Mae to the point that she melt downs
and instruction cannot continue. Thus, she has experienced so many challenges academically that
she has developed learned helplessness to the point that she is not longer motivated to read or
write.

1
 Katie Rohn

Section II: PLANNING and ORGANIZING WRITING STRATEGIES

Goals for Planning and Organizing Writing Strategies

Writing was very ambiguous and laborious to Mae. I wanted her to understand that
writing is a process. According to the cognitive strategies of writing, we plan, organize, write,
revise and edit. All Mae’s writing seemed to imitate more of a quick write rather than an
organized piece that flows. She would frequently leave out details that were needed for the
reader to comprehend her writing. Thus, it was important she understand all good writing starts
with a plan. Aside from writing with a plan in mind, I also wanted her to write for an audience.
When writing has no purpose, students are not encouraged to put their best effort forward. I
wanted Mae to have an audience in mind so that her words are meaningful. In order to make
these goals a reality, Mae would need to preview the pictures of the book and complete a graphic
organizer to help her organize her writing. Additionally, we would have a discussion about her
targeted audience.

Description of Planning and Organizing Writing Strategies

Before Mae began planning what she would write about, I wanted her to establish an
audience. I gave Mae two letters; one from myself disguised as a publishing company, and
another form Jerry Pinkney, which I found from the internet. My letter asked Mae to be the
author to Jerry Pinkney’s book of illustrations and add words to tell the story. I specified in my
letter that my company especially likes similes, metaphors, personification, and onomonopias.
The letter from Jerry Pinkney detailed his experiences has a child with a learning disability in
reading and writing. Due to learning difficulties, Pinkey found an outlet through drawing.
Furthermore he states,

“ For the young person who is struggling in school, never forget there are many different
ways to learn. Be curious. Do not be afraid to try. Do not be disappointed when making
mistakes. You will discover your own unique way of understanding the things being
taught. Learn from mistakes. Everything that happens to you will frame who you are,
and who you will become. Your path to success will follow.”

His words could not be more profound, especially to Mae and her learning difficulties.
After Mae and I read the letters together, we discussed who should be her audience. Mae decided
to write her story to both Jerry Pinkney and a first grade class. She thought that Jerry Pinkney
would enjoy similes and metaphors, while first graders would appreciate onomatopoeias. I wrote
down the audience in big letter on the graphic organizer to remind us whom she was writing for.
With an audience established, Mae was ready to start planning.
To replicate the writing process, I needed to consider how Mae would plan and organize
her writing. Mae already had a lot of background knowledge on the story of The Lion and the
Mouse because she read the story last year. Since I was using Jerry Pinkeny’s book to guide my

2
 Katie Rohn

writing lessons, I wanted to use the book’s pictures as a scaffold to help Mae organize her ideas.
However, in order for the book to be helpful, Mae would need to preview it and think about what
she could say. Hence, the pre-reading and pre-writing strategies are very similar. My objective
for the planning and organizing writing lesson stated: the Student will complete 4 out of 5 parts
on The Lion and the Mouse narrative graphic organizer. In order to fulfill this objective, Mae
first previewed the pictures within The Lion and The Mouse. She flipped through the book
looking at each picture carefully. When she was finished, Mae completed the graphic organizer I
constructed. Overall, lesson C gives Mae a purpose, audience, and has her preview the pictures
to understand the main conflict. She created a concrete plan via the graphic organizer was ready
to write her story.

Lesson C

Graphic Organizer

Reflection of Planning and Organizing Writing Strategies

While I had thoroughly planned Lesson C, Mae’s attitude and behavior dictate how far I
can push her. In the beginning of the day, I tried to build momentum for the lesson by telling her
she received two letters. When she opened these letters, she was immediately disappointed they
were not from her father. Thus, the lesson did not begin with the enthusiasm and excitement I
was hoping for. Nevertheless, she listened to me read the letters and seemed interested in sending
the story to Jerry Pinkney. Mae enjoyed previewing the book and looking at the pictures.
However, when it came time to make the graphic organizer she was not happy. After completing
the setting part of the organizer, I knew I could not push her to complete anymore.
Reflecting on Lesson C, I wish I had used POWER to explain the writing process. If I
taught this lesson again, I would create a bulletin board with the acronym POWER and what it
stood for. In addition, I would add the audience and graphic organizer to the bulletin board to
further emphasize the writing process. In an ideal world, I would have focused more time on the
graphic organizer because I feel it is crucial to a writer’s success. Fortunately, the picture within
The Lion and The Mouse provided enough for Mae to write her story in sequence. Although,
without these pictures, I do not feel she would have been as successful.

Section III: DRAFTING AND EDITING/REVISING STRATEGIES

Goals for Drafting and Editing/Revising Strategies
Since I knew the physical work of writing was draining for Mae. To motivate writing, I
wanted Mae to tell the story orally. While she told the story, I hoped she would think about the
figurative language we had focused on during the Inquiry lessons. I planned to transcribe the
story and provide Mae with a written copy of what she said. My goal for Mae was to re-read
what she said and identify parts where the language did not sound right, correct for appropriate
punctuation, and add more details with figurative language.

3
 Katie Rohn

Description of Drafting and Editing/Revising Strategies

Instead of having Mae write the story, I decided to have her orally tell it while I recorded
her speaking. Prior to drafting, Mae and I reviewed the graphic organizer and discussed her
audience. She knew that adding figurative language would make the story more interesting. After
reviewing lesson C, she was ready to tell the story. I set up my flip camera and allowed her the
opportunity to tell her story. As she began, I chimed in a couple of time to probe her to go
deeper; however, I quickly realized this was not a good strategy and stopped talking. Mae
willingly continued to tell her story. She used a lot of dialogue and onomatopoeias throughout
the story. As she was specking she whisper if she could go into the “other” voice referring to the
narrator. When this happened, Mae described what was happening in more detail. Overall, Mae
was highly motivated by this activity and appeared excited to see the written product.
After Mae orally told the story, I transcribed what she said onto a word document. With
large print and lots of spacing for revising, Mae was ready to begin editing and revising. First I
had Mae read her story aloud to me. As she read, she felted inclined to make some minor
changes regarding words used. After she had a good sense of what was written, Mae and I began
the long process of editing. This was very difficult for Mae and she would easily get frustrated.
Mae would read a sentence aloud and decide if it sounded right, could she add anything, or
should she take out anything. As we went through her story, she also tried to add figurative
language whenever possible. She mainly focused on adding quotations, commas, and period with
dialogue. The process of editing and revising took many days to complete.

Drafting Video

Lesson D: Editing/Revising

Finished The Lion and the Mouse story

Reflection of Drafting and Editing/Revising Strategies

Looking back on my lesson, I was very proud of Mae’s perseverance throughout the
drafting and editing/revising. She was so motivated to tell the story orally. I had never seen her
so excited at school. Looking back on the drafting video, I wish I had never said a word to Mae
throughout her telling the story. It was so difficult to just sit and listen. There were times when I
had to bite my tongue and sit on my hands. Nevertheless, she successfully told the story from
beginning to end without getting frustrated.
I transcribe the lesson with proper spelling, however, I did not proof read the types story
before giving it to Mae and she found a couple typos I made. This provided a great opportunity
to tell her that spell check does not catch everything and it is important even for adults to review
their writing. Since the mouse and lion were talking throughout the story, she said
personification was the easiest to consider. Onomatopoeias were also very easy for Mae to add to
her writing. Thus, Personification and Onomatopoeias were present in the first copy of the story
and did not need to get added in. While Mae understood what similes and metaphors were, they

4
 Katie Rohn

were difficult for her to create her own. Metaphors proved to be particularly challenging.
Reflecting on this aspect, I needed to scaffold this concept more to help Mae construct her own
similes and metaphor. I could have given her prompts to help her form a simile and metaphor.
These could have been created on cue cards. Additionally, while editing, I would have to prompt
Mae to add a simile or metaphor her. I could have given her a simile and metaphor reminder
card. When she used one of these literary devices in her writing she could turn the card over.
Despite these changes, Mae was provided an opportunity to think aloud and analysis her writing
with immediate feedback.

Section IV: TEACHING PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICES

Goals for Teaching Principals and Practices
Throughout this process, I wanted Mae to see the greater purpose in writing. By
designating an audience, there is a purpose for her to write. Additionally, I wanted to make the
editing process visible through thinking aloud and modeling.

Description of Teaching Principals and Practices

Since I only worked with one student I could individualize the teaching principals and
practices to her needs. Mae is the type of student who had failed so many times that it was very
difficult to motivate her. I hoped the letters would motivate her to participate and look forward to
the unit. It appeared that she was most motivated by her target audience. Writing to a real author
was engaging and worthwhile.
To plan for writing, Mae previewed the picture book and completed a graphic organizer.
The book itself helped scaffold the lesson by helping Mae plan and organize what she could say
based on the pictures. I made her spoken words visible through my transcription of her story. We
broke down the editing process by focusing on a page a day pacing. When she finished editing
one page, she was done and could do something rewarding like play a game, read a book, or
have a treat.
As she edited, if she came across something that was not quite right, I would give her a
choice between two ways she could word something. I taught quick mini-lessons on how to
properly add dialogue and quotations within writing. Additionally, I frequently reviewed how to
construct similes and metaphors.

Reflections of Teaching Principals and Practices

Throughout the whole writing process, I was able to make my thinking visible by having
individualized conversations with Mae. Remarkably, I’ve seen improvement on her attitude and
perseverance towards writing. As I reflect on my teaching principals and practices, I struggled
most to transfer control of editing to Mae. I always sat next to her while she edited. I should have
given her some time to correct her writing without me looking over her shoulder. Also,
something I will be more consciousness about is the amount of wait time I provide her. In the
beginning of the unit I had a difficult time letting her think and answer my questions. However,
near the end of the unit I learned to listen to her and allow her time to process what I was asking.

5
 Katie Rohn

Section V: TEACHING TOOLS AND PRACTICES

Goals for Teaching Tools and Practices
I knew that using a variety of teaching tools throughout my unit would be motivating and
engaging to Mae. I wanted to use my new flip camera, power point, videos, and making
documents engaging with colorful images, graphics, and fonts.

Description of Teaching Tools and Practices

From the beginning of the unit I utilized teaching tools. Within the Inquiry unit, Mae
explored figurative language using videos, power points, and colorful posters. I then began the
writing unit by giving Mae two letters that served as artifacts to heighten writing. These letters
from my “publishing company” and Jerry Pinkney helped Mae establish an audience and
purpose to write. While at first she was disappointed they were not from her estranged father, she
bought into the concept after I dramatized them. The book served as the most vital tool
throughout the whole unit. The illustrations helped Mae think of ideas, plan, and organize her
writing. Mae frequently told me she loved the pictures.
During the drafting portion of the writing process, I used my flip camera to record Mae
telling the story. After transcribing what she said, I kept the video clip to show her on frequent
occasion. She loved watching and listening to herself tell the story. While Mae edited her story
with a pencil, Mae and I shared the responsibility for updating the word document with her
corrections. Thus, she also had the opportunity to practice making edits on a word processor.
While I only worked with one student, the use of uses was important to her motivation and
engagement into the unit.

Reflection of Teaching Tools and Practices

Fortunately, I did not have to think too hard about this aspect because it occurred
naturally. Although, creating the power points and videos in the inquiry unit took some
creativity. The book, flip camera, posters, and computer all happened naturally and easily within
the unit. The book worked particularly well within the unit as a scaffold for the writing process.
A teachable moment I wished I had taken advantage of was connecting the illustrations to a
strategy Mae could use to brainstorm ideas. Within the planning phase, she could draw pictures
illustrating what the story would be about. Those pictures would help her create a plan and
organize her writing. For example, each picture could represent an event and she could expand
on the event by describing the details within her picture. I am confident that the tools I utilized
within the unit helped scaffold an model good writing strategies, thinking, and habits.

Lesson Artifacts
All lesson artifacts have been embedded throughout my report. They can
also be found on my website at:

6
 Katie Rohn

http://cep401projects.weebly.com/index.html