Lesson 5: Remedial Instruction in WRITING

A. Areas of Difficulty for Students with Writing Problems (Troia, 2002; Troia &
Graham, 2003)
1. Knowledge Difficulties
Students with writing problems show:
a. Less awareness of what constitutes good writing and how to produce it;
b. Restricted knowledge about genre-specific text structures (e.g., setting
or plot elements in a narrative);
c. Poor declarative, procedural, and conditional strategy knowledge (e.g.,
knowing that one should set goals for writing, how to set specific goals,
and when it is most beneficial to alter those goals);
d. Limited vocabulary;
e. Underdeveloped knowledge of word and sentence structure (i.e.,
phonology, morphology, and syntax);
f. Impoverished, fragmented, and poorly organized topic knowledge;
g. Difficulty accessing existing topic knowledge; and
h. Insensitivity to audience needs and perspectives, and to the functions
their writing is intended to serve.
2. Skill Difficulties
Students with writing problems:
a. Often do not plan before or during writing;
b. Exhibit poor text transcription (e.g., spelling, handwriting, and
punctuation);
c. Focus revision efforts (if they revise at all) on superficial aspects of
writing (e.g., handwriting, spelling, and grammar);
d. Do not analyze or reflect on writing;
e. Have limited ability to self regulate thoughts, feelings, and actions
throughout the writing process;
f. Show poor attention and concentration; and
g. Have visual motor integration weaknesses and fine motor difficulties.
3. Motivation Difficulties
Students with writing problems:
a. Often do not develop writing goals and subgoals or flexibly alter them to
meet audience, task, and personal demands;
b. Fail to balance performance goals, which relate to documenting
performance and achieving success, and mastery goals, which relate to
acquiring competence;
c. Exhibit maladaptive attributions by attributing academic success to
external and uncontrollable factors such as task ease or teacher
assistance, but academic failure to internal yet uncontrollable factors
such as limited aptitude;
d. Have negative self efficacy (competency) beliefs;
e. Lack persistence; and
 f. Feel helpless and poorly motivated due to repeated failure.
B. Qualities of Strong Writing Instruction
For teachers to support all students' writing ability development, certain
qualities of the writing classroom must be present. Four core components of
effective writing instruction constitute the foundation of any good writing
program:
1. Students should have meaningful writing experiences and be assigned
authentic writing tasks that promote personal and collective expression,
reflection, inquiry, discovery, and social change.
2. Routines should permit students to become comfortable with the writing
process and move through the process over a sustained period at their own
rate.
3. Lessons should be designed to help students master craft elements (e.g.,
text structure, character development), writing skills (e.g., spelling,
punctuation), and process strategies (e.g., planning and revising tactics).
4. A common language for shared expectations and feedback regarding writing
quality might include the use of traits (e.g., organization, ideas, sentence
fluency, word choice, voice, and conventions).
C. Adaptations for Struggling Writers
1. Accommodations in the Learning Environment
a. Increase instructional time for writing.
b. Provide quiet and comfortable spaces for students to work.
c. Provide unimpeded access to writing tools.
d. Let students identify and select meaningful reinforcements for
achieving writing goals (e.g., a reinforcement menu).
e. Consult with an occupational therapist to identify specialized
adaptations (e.g., chair and desk height).
2. Accommodations in Instructional Materials
a. Simplify language of writing prompts.
b. Highlight (e.g., color code) key words and phrases.
c. Transition from simple to more elaborate graphic organizers and
procedural checklists.
d. Post strategies, graphic organizers, and checklists in classroom and
give students personal copies.
e. Develop individualized spelling lists.
f. Have students keep a personal dictionary of “demon” words and
frequently used spelling vocabulary.
g. Provide paper positioning marks on students’ desks.
h. Provide pencil grips for students.
i. Provide raised- or colored-lined paper.
j. Provide students with personal copies of alphabet strips.
3. Accommodations in Teaching Strategies
a. Devote more instructional time to writing mechanics.
b. Provide physical assistance during handwriting practice.
 c. Re-teach writing skills and strategies.
d. Expect and support mastery learning of skills and strategies (e.g.,
memorization of strategy steps).
e. Use cross-age peer tutors to reinforce skills and strategies.
f. Assign homework designed to reinforce writing instruction.
g. Help students set specific and challenging yet attainable goals for the
writing process (e.g., completing a planning sheet before beginning to
draft) and written products (e.g., a quantity goal of including 10
descriptive words in a story, which is perhaps linked to a quality goal of
improving word choice by two points on an analytic quality scale).
h. Help students develop self-instructions (e.g., “I can handle this if I go
slow.”) and self-questions (e.g., “Am I following my plan?”) that focus
on positive attributions for success and task progress.
i. Teach students to evaluate and adjust their writing behaviors and
writing strategy use to improve their writing productivity and
performance.
j. Promote maintenance and generalization of writing strategies by doing
the following:
 Modeling and discussing how strategies may be used in multiple
contexts;
 Relating writing performance to strategy use;
 Having students teach others how to use strategies;
 Having students keep a strategy notebook which they can
consult at any time;
 Ensuring all staff and caregivers are familiar with and prompt the
use of the strategies; and
 Reviewing strategies often.
4. Modifications to Task Demands
a. Increase amount of time allotted for completing written assignments.
b. Decrease the length and/or complexity of written assignments.
c. Have students complete text frames (i.e., partially finished texts).
d. Reduce or eliminate copying demands (e.g., teach students
abbreviations for note taking, supply worksheets with math problems
from textbook).
e. Allow students to use temporary/invented spelling.
f. Pre-teach spelling vocabulary for assignments.
g. Evaluate spelling using correct letter sequences (e.g., hopping has 8
possible correct letter sequences) rather than number of words spelled
correctly to measure and reward incremental progress attributable to
partial correct spelling.
h. Permit students to dictate written work to a scribe.
i. If students have adequately developed keyboarding skills, permit them
to write papers with a word processor.
 j. Permit students to use outlining and semantic mapping software to
facilitate planning.
k. Permit students to use voice recognition technology to facilitate text
transcription.
l. Permit students to use integrated spell checker and/or word prediction
software to facilitate correct spelling.
m. Permit students to use speech synthesis technology to facilitate
revising and editing.
n. Selectively weight grading for content, organization, style, and
conventions.
o. Grade assignments based on the amount of improvement rather than
absolute performance.
p. Assign letter grades for body of work collected over time (i.e., portfolio
assessment) rather than for each paper.
q. Provide feedback on content, organization, style, and conventions for
some rather than all assignments (which may reduce students’ anxiety
about writing).
r. Provide feedback on targeted aspects of writing rather than all aspects
to avoid overwhelming students.
5. Modifications to Learning Tasks
a. Permit students to dramatize or orally present a written assignment,
either in lieu of writing or in preparation for writing.
b. Assign students suitable roles (e.g., brainstorm manager) for the
creation of a group generated paper.
D. Teaching Handwriting
The following are research-based suggestions for teaching handwriting.
1. Curriculum Considerations
a. The initial use of one type of script (e.g., manuscript versus cursive or
different versions of manuscript) does not appear to affect handwriting
performance.
b. Special emphasis is placed on difficult-to-form letters and those that
are frequently reversed.
c. Lowercase letters are introduced before upper-case letters, unless they
are formed using similar strokes (e.g., C, c).
d. Letters that share common strokes are grouped together (e.g., o, c, d,
a).
e. The introduction of easily confused letters (e.g., b, d, p, q) is staggered.
f. The formation of individual upper- and lowercase letters and, for
cursive, difficult letter transitions (e.g., roam) are modeled.
g. Visual cues, such as numbered dots and arrows, and verbal
descriptions are used to guide letter formation.
h. Activities to reinforce letter recognition and naming are combined with
handwriting practice.
i. Students practice using a comfortable and efficient tripod pencil grasp.
 j. Students are shown and expected to use appropriate posture and
paper positioning for their handedness.
k. Handwriting fluency is developed through frequent writing and speed
trials, with an emphasis on maintaining legibility.
l. Opportunities are provided for distributed practice and judicious review
of individual letters and letter sequences.
m. Students are permitted to develop their own handwriting style and to
choose which script (manuscript, cursive, or even a blend) they prefer
to use after mastering handwriting (manuscript tends to be more legible
than cursive and can be written just as quickly if given equal
emphasis).
n. Students are prompted to identify when a high degree of legibility is
and is not necessary.
2. Weekly Routines
a. In the primary grades, 60–75 minutes per week is allocated for
handwriting instruction.
b. Students are encouraged to compare letters to discover patterns and to
highlight their similarities and differences.
c. Students are given opportunities to reinforce target letters by tracing
them (a dashed or faded model), copying them, and writing them from
memory.
d. Students’ handwriting is monitored and immediately reinforced for
correct letter formation, spacing, alignment, size, slant, and line quality.
e. Students are asked to self-evaluate their handwriting and to set goals
for improving specific aspects of their handwriting each day.
f. Students are encouraged to correct poorly formed letters and to rewrite
illegible work.
E. Teaching Spelling
1. Curriculum Considerations
a. Spelling vocabulary includes words drawn from children’s reading
materials, children’s writing, self-selected words, high-frequency word
lists 1,2, and pattern words.
b. Students are typically taught phonemic awareness and phoneme-
grapheme associations (reserving the least consistent mappings, such
as consonants /k/ and /z/ and long vowels, for last) in kindergarten and
first grade. Common spelling patterns (e.g., phonograms or rime
families 3,4,5) are taught in first and second grades. Morphological
structures (i.e., roots and affixes 3,4,5,6) and helpful spelling rules
(e.g., add es to make words ending in s, z, x, ch, or sh plural) are
taught in second grade and beyond.
c. Students are taught systematic and effective strategies for studying
new spelling words (e.g., mnemonic spelling links, multi-sensory
strategies).
 d. Previously taught spelling words are periodically reviewed to promote
retention.
e. Correct use of spelling vocabulary in students’ written work is
monitored and reinforced.
f. Students are taught and encouraged to use dictionaries, spell
checkers, and other resources to determine the spelling of unknown
words.
g. Spelling “demons” and other difficult words are posted on wall charts.
2. Weekly Routines
a. A minimum of 60–75 minutes per week is allocated for spelling
instruction.
b. Students take a Monday pretest to determine which words they need to
study during subsequent activities and to set spelling performance
goals.
c. After studying new spelling words, students take a Friday posttest to
determine which words were mastered.
d. Immediately after taking a spelling test, students correct their
misspellings.
e. The teacher conducts word sorts and guided spelling activities to
explicitly teach spelling patterns and rules at the beginning of the week.
f. Daily opportunities are provided for cumulative study and testing of
new spelling words (e.g., through computer-assisted instruction).
g. Students work together each day to learn new spelling words.
h. While studying, students monitor their on-task behavior or the number
of times they
i. correctly spell a target word, to promote active learning.