Writing Archives

Teachers College Reading and Writing Project

November 20, 2013 Brad Hoffman

The Literacy Workshop Model

Lucy Calkins is a leading expert in guided reading instruction and writing instruction who teaches at Teachers College of Columbia University. She founded the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and is the author of books found in 65% of American K-5 classrooms, including The Art of Teaching Writing.

The literacy workshop approach emphasizes student choice, authentic reading and writing, deliberate modeling, and strategic scaffolding. It helps learners become confident, independent readers and writers while giving teachers a clear structure for mini-lessons, practice, conferring, and reflection. These methods continue to evolve through research and school-based implementation at Teachers College. Learn more at the official project site.

Workshop Videos for Parents and Teachers

As a resource for both teachers and parents, this wonderful series of seven videos allows parents and educators to virtually attend a workshop at Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, providing relevant and useful information for literacy and language development.

The video below outlines the methods of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project, and the other videos go into specifics covering Reading and Writing Skills, Teaching Education, Curriculum, Design of Writing Standards, Implementation, and Book Club.

Reading and Writing Project Workshop - 1 of 7 'An Overview'

Watch this video on YouTube

My Learning Springboard’s Approach

Our faculty is well versed in Lucy Calkins teachings and using the Teachers College Reading Writing Project benchmark reading levels. We integrate these workshop principles into individualized plans—strengthening fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and writing craft for students with diverse needs and goals.

By Brad Hoffman, M.S.Ed.
Board Certified Educational Planner and Learning Specialist
My Learning Springboard

Helping Elementary Students Develop Fine Motor Skills

November 19, 2013 Brad Hoffman

Here are ten exercises to help elementary students with the development of fine motor skills and writing control.

Items needed: putty, 10 pennies, index cards, 10 paperclips, pencil, paper, margarine tub

1. Roll putty into a snake. Pull off 10 pieces. Roll each piece into a small ball using thumb and 2 fingers. No cheating by using the table or other hand!

2. Flatten all putty pieces and roll into a large ball. Rotate this ball in your fingertips (like the earth rotating on it’s axis – repeat for 30 seconds each direction).

3. Line up 10 pennies on the desktop. Flip them over quickly from left to right and return back to the left side.

4. Put away the 10 pennies by picking up 3 and storing them in your hand by trapping them with your little finger. A 3 1/2 year old can do this. Then rotate each coin singly out to your pinch and place the penny into the slot of the margarine tub. Repeat until all pennies are stored in the bank. If 3 are easy, try holding 4 at a time.

5. Write 10 letters or numbers along the borders of an index card. We want to challenge our student by having them quickly place a paperclip onto the correct letter or number, in sequence.

6. Make an “OK” sign with your thumb and index finger. Link your fingers with a partner and play 5 tug-of-war games.

7. Play dice games. Cupping the hand is very important to build the arches of the palm.

8. Fingerspell the alphabet, having students practice their name, as a motor planning activity.

9. Hold a pencil in your best writing grip and walk your tripod up and down the length of the pencil.

10. Place 10 dots across a piece of paper. Quickly make a circle around each dot. Check your work for ovals. We want to develop greater distal control to form circles quickly.

* For younger students that are struggling with directionality of letters, use a tracing method where the student goes over your printing with a changeable marker. This is usually motivating. For the older student, try using a yellow or blue highlighter and let the student trace with this pencil.

** For difficulty learning spacing, give a visual cue by underlining 4 spaces per writing line, with a yellow highlighter. You will give your student a concrete place to put the words. Fade the spaces after one month and reassess.

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Facing the Blank Page

November 7, 2013 Brad Hoffman

We’ve all heard the wisdom about how the hardest part of a journey is the first step. Well, nothing makes that feel more true than when you sit down to write, and are faced with… nothing. Whether it’s an English essay, college application, or letter to a friend, staring at a blank page can quickly make all motivation wilt. The first sentence of any piece of writing often feels like the hardest, but it doesn’t have to—you just have to know how to break the mental ice and get past the pressure of all the expectations that we put on “firsts” in writing.

The most important thing to realize is that everyone works differently, and getting to know yourself as a writer will allow you to develop your own successful writing patterns. For example, having to come up with an attention-grabbing opener could help you to figure out why what you’re writing about is important. But for many of us, it is during the writing process that those thoughts fully develop, so to have to articulate them right at the very beginning can feel insincere.

So, how can you start to put words on the blank page? Well, the first sentence that you put on the page does not have to be the first sentence of the paper– in fact, the introduction is usually something that should be written at the end of a paper, once you know why, how, and what you are actually arguing. It makes sense that you wouldn’t draw a map for someplace you’ve never been, so writing an introduction for a paper you haven’t written means that you will have to go back and rewrite things once you’re done. A lot of the fear that we have about committing words to the page is that if they’re not perfect they’ll be there forever—but rewriting, erasing, revising, and reworking sentences IS the writing process. Good writing usually means good revising!

Let’s say that you have a clear idea of two of your main arguments, but not the third. Start writing and developing the two ideas that you have thought through more clearly, which will begin to structure your paper and allow you to think through other ideas as you go. It is okay to work out from the middle, as long as you have some basic idea of the argument that you are working towards. If you need a visual placeholder for the introduction, just mark the space in brackets, or summarize your argument as it stands in a sentence or two. The important thing is to start getting words on the blank page, so don’t worry about having a perfect first word, first sentence, or first paragraph when you sit down to write! Those “firsts” will come later, and be much stronger for it.

Written by: Editorial Team, My Learning Springboard, Inc.

Explaining Learning Disabilities to Your Child

October 31, 2013 Brad Hoffman

By Marcia Brown Rubinstein
Original Source: Smart Kids with Learning Disabilities

AT A GLANCE

How and when to tell your child about her learning disabilities depends on your readiness as well as hers • The “right time” is sooner rather than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence • Encourage ongoing discussions characterized by honesty, clear communication, reassurance, and an emphasis on her unique abilities.

As a parent, you must make sure that your child has the right information at the right time so that she can navigate her world with confidence. The same is true for information about learning disabilities.

Parents often agonize about telling a child that she has learning disabilities. But can you imagine not telling your child she has asthma because you don’t want her to feel funny using an inhaler to breathe?

Learning disabilities are just as real and just as disabling as biological differences. The sooner they’re addressed, the better the prognosis for a productive future.

FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

In the absence of an explanation, your child will assume that she is stupid if she stumbles in class, struggles with assignments, and sees that others need less assistance to learn. If you haven’t educated her about her unique learning style before that happens, you’ve waited too long.

On the other hand, if you describe all the difficulties that may develop from a particular diagnosis, you may create a self-fulfilling prophecy. She may assume that she is incapable of learning anything, so why bother trying? In that case, you have disclosed too much too soon.

Is there a perfect time to inform your child about her learning disabilities? Of course. But the perfect time is different for every child, in every family, in every culture, in every setting, in every school, for every type of intellectual range, and for every type of learning disability.

So how and when should you begin to educate your child about her learning differences? The answer is simple: When you are ready, when she is ready, when the time is right, better sooner than later, never in anger, and always in an atmosphere of optimism and confidence. Following are tips to help you through the process.

Educate yourself about your child’s diagnosis and her assets and deficits before communicating the scope of the learning disability to her. In your discussions do not lose sight of her strengths and unique abilities.

Reassure her that she’s perfectly healthy, then explain her specific learning disability in detail suitable to her age and intellect. If she has dyslexia, for example, you may want to say that her brain works differently when she reads. If she’s been mixing up letters, point it out as an example of what happens with dyslexia. With older kids, prepare material for them to read and referrals to websites that explain their specific type of LD in language they can understand.

Tell her how you’re going to get help. Reinforce the fact that you and all family members will do everything it takes to guarantee her success. Share some examples of successful people with LD.

Explain tasks she’ll find easy to complete and ones that might provide challenges. Find support professionals to cover areas you cannot manage yourself. This includes emotional as well as cognitive issues.

Maintain an ongoing discussion about your child’s future. Discuss your expectations and hopes as well as hers. Make sure she knows that she can excel as long as she works hard. Don’t downplay the fact that there will be frustration along the way. Reinforce the fact that you and other family members will do what’s needed to ensure success.

Communicate clearly. Make sure your child understands everything you’re saying. Don’t hide behind jargon and clinical terms. Translate those into language she will understand. Help her apply the information in proactive, upbeat ways.
Compliment her often and sincerely. Self-esteem and resiliency are often fragile in a child with LD. Praise her lavishly, but make sure you mean it. Never give empty or gratuitous praise.

Get involved in your child’s school. There is nothing better than your active and obvious presence. You are your child’s primary educational advocate. Make sure that the teachers and administrators know you and know that you are overseeing her entire school program. Don’t find out too late that accommodations were not carried out.

Tell your child at least once every day, “I love you.” This advice works well for kids without LD too, but for those with LD, it’s as critical as food and shelter.

There may be few things more difficult than having these important discussions with your child, but if you get stuck, keep going back to No. 9. It’s more important than all the others combined.

Finding the Missing Piece for Struggling Readers

October 9, 2013 Brad Hoffman

What is Reading?

For fluent readers, it seems almost instinctual. Words are instantly recognized; stories come to life easily. But for those just learning how to read, it is a complex process that is anything but automatic.

The process of reading involves many visual and mental processes. In order to read and understand, students need a variety of different skills. These skills begin at the most basic level of associating letter symbols with sounds. Next, readers must recognize or decode whole words and understand the meaning of the words within a sentence. Readers must then string words together to understand a complete sentence within the larger context of a paragraph.

All of these processes occur at the same time and understanding can break down at any point in the process.

How can reading problems be addressed?

Students who struggle with reading often complain that they dislike it. Young readers often mask their difficulty with it by saying things like, “Reading is boring!” “This book is too easy!” “This is a baby book!”

The latest research about struggling readers, such as dyslexic students, states that these types of students need systematic, explicit instruction in order to build their sound and symbol recognition. Orton-Gillingham based approaches such as PAF are created to to help these students build vital, basic reading skills. Many explicit literacy programs such as these use simply illustrated or unillustrated texts so that students can fully attend to the print on the page, instead of relying on pictures for help. Programs like these can turn a student’s entire school experience around by helping them to build skills and confidence to tackle these decodable texts.

While explicit instruction helps students build confidence and skills, these students need powerful literacy experiences (such as read alouds) to supplement their instruction in order to build basic motivation to learn to read. Students need to learn that reading is a pleasurable and rewarding experience, and decodable texts are sometimes not enough to teach students this valuable lesson. These students also need to be exposed to literature that is more complex, advanced and in line with their personal interests in addition to working on decodable texts. Read alouds (at any age) help build fluency, comprehension the motivation to keep progressing. Book discussions about these read alouds help students think critically and develop an interest in reading.

Many factors can contribute to reading problems including a lack of background knowledge, phonics issues, trouble with comprehension, vision problems, processing delays, lack of vocabulary, or limited sight word vocabulary, among others. The more parents and educators understand the complexity of reading, the more adept we are at targeting our support to teach children to read.

Contact us to learn more and work with Orton-Gillingham trained Reading Specialists at My Learning Springboard to set up a plan to help your struggling reader.

By Joanna Brown, Reading Specialist