I viewed a video that demonstrated a writing lesson being taught by a high school special education teacher. I chose this because I too teach high school special education. The video was titled, "Assistive Technology in the Writing Process."
Honestly, I was quite disappointed by the the lesson. First of all, because it was so obviously a staged lesson and not a learning environment remotely comparable to the one I teach in. There were 4 students in the room and she was only focusing on two of them. All four students were quiet, attentive and actively engaged at all times. My English class has fourteen special ed. students in it and their disabilities are as diverse as their reading and writing levels.
For the organization of the writing process the teacher had one student use Inspiration software. That is a program that I have used for many years, across all content areas. During the writing portion of the activity her students were using Co-Writer software, which again I have used for at least 10-12 years with my students. This teacher was not very familiar/comfortable with either of the programs and tended to prod students along by giving answers, rather than letting them be successful in their own time, with the assistive software. For proofreading purposes students used the Ultimate Reader software. This is software that I have used in the past, but currently do not have installed on my classroom computers. As I recall, when I did have it, it was beneficial only to the students motivated to perfect their own writing, but not those who were truly reluctant writers. Still, it would definitely be worth checking into and seeing if the district still has copies/site licenses for it and try it with some of my students.
One interesting strategy she used, that I will definitely try with my class is the use of the acronym COPS(C= Capitalization O=Overall Appearance P= Punctuation S= Spelling)for self-editing and peer-editing.
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2 comments:
You mean that your class doesn't have only 4 kids in it? Don't you wish... I agree with the "staged" class. I've seen that a few times. I had that in a class I took a few years back, from my instructor, no less! I think she was even caught on tape coaching her kids how to act. That's just sad.
I think that there should be real videos out there showing what some classrooms REALLY need to deal with. One of the only complaints that I had about college was that I felt that some instructors didn't tell the "truth" about what I may have to face as a teacher. If if I knew then what I know now...
Have you thought about putting up a lesson online? I wouldn't be shocked if we have to do that in a few...
Well even though staged, sounds like something was found in it you can use - which shows you can learn in environments that don't always give the best scenario - well done. I also like Inspiration a great deal - and even tried recently their online version - Webspiration. Give it a whirl
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