Student Guide Corner

I love learning from the experiences of others. Cheryl Oakes shares an effective editing method she uses with her students with special needs at a high school in Maine. Check out her method here using Google Docs and add it to your editing repertoire. As Ira Socol states in Toolbelt Theory , we have a responsibility to allow students to explore the tools which will help them be successful beyond school. To withhold that information is a grave injustice. Are you still relying on teaching your traditional editing methods? Are they working for all your students? If not, now is the time to explore the methods in this post and the previous Rethinking Editing post . Thank you, Cheryl, for teaching me something new!

I've heard that refrain numerous times. "But... he doesn't want to be seen as different." It's usually uttered in response to specific technology recommendations offered during the IEP team process. The team typically nods their head in agreement; after all, it is a priority that the student completes school tasks in the same manner as their peers, or uses the same school tools as their friends.(Or is it?) Unfortunately, I realize another team is unaware of Universal Design for Learning principles.  If they understood UDL, they would appreciate the importance of offering MULTIPLE methods of engagement, presentation and expression. Instead, they are sticking to the "one size fits all" approach, an approach which fails to meet the needs of all learners. It's an approach that allows teams to agree, "He doesn't want to be seen as different." My challenge to the team is to change the culture, don't let the student be seen as different...

It's been almost three months since my last post. I've written hundreds in my head but none of them made it to the website. So, I'm starting with rethinking editing .  In my experience, editing is one of the least preferred activities for students. Many students believe since they've written it and used pre-writing strategies such as outlines or graphic organizers, then it must be good enough. Or, they've put so much energy into the first draft, they have nothing left for the revision process. Too often, they fail to see the value of editing to improve the quality of their written work. How are you teaching the editing process? Have you incorporated technology as part of your instruction? Technology allows new editing methods and strategies . Here's one I've been working on for some time. Technology Editing Method : a)     Disable spell and grammar check when the student is writing their initial draft so as not to interrupt the flow of ideas. Save the initi...