Field Notes:
Goals: Begin paragraph construction (SUTW)
*Introduce traffic light, purpose, writing process
ID parts of pre-written paragraphs
Explain expository v. narrative--our focus is expository
Do two column outline for own paragraph
*Good field trip
*School's Oktoberfest is coming up and already being set up, so dismissal is weird
*School gets dismissed early Friday so they can finish.
*Apple came to interview sixth grade teachers and students about iPads.
*Told him we were going to move on to paragraph writing, which he said he does at school a lot.
*Introduced the traffic light-discussed the colors and what they mean
*Read paragraph 1 to himself and together we decided what color each sentence should be and I "highlighted" with colored pencils
*Had a pretty easy time, wanted to say a sentence was red, but once I asked if it went with a yellow sentence or the topic green sentence, he realized it wasn't.
*Read paragraph 2 to himself and repeated the process. This time paragraphs had red sentences and we talked through those, especially if there was more than 1 red sentence per yellow. I related this paragraph to 5 paragraph essays, which he said he writes a lot for school.
*Read paragraph 3 to himself and he independently highlighted the sentences their appropriate colors
*100% accuracy
*Discussed elements of expository writing, using SUTW hand out
*Outlined paragraph about Octoberfest
*He wrote a paragraph based on the outlined and took approximately 7 minutes.
*Made a few minor mistakes with periods, 1 wrong word.
*Once he finished, we repeated the highlighting activity as a way of checking all details were included
Reflection:
I am so glad our academic therapist showed me this program! Step Up to Writing is designed to be a multi-sensory writing program, perfect for dyslexic students. While I'm mostly working off sample pages, she also had a binder of the full program...except not? I feel like it's missing some handouts and visuals, but it is helpful for filling in some blanks left by the samples.
Our traffic light discussion was kind of funny. Paragraphs start off with the green "go" sentences, a.k.a. the topic sentences. Then you must "slow down" for yellow and the conversation turned to how most drivers speed up to get through the intersection at a yellow light. Finally I just told him he better slow down or the detail car will make him stop anyway!
I had him deconstruct several sample paragraphs just so he could get practice with these detailed sentences. Our academic therapist warned me students cling tight to the 5-sentence paragraph like a life raft. When we first worked on Paragraph 1, he was a little confused that there were no reds. After reading Paragraph 2 (which was very similar to #1, but with more detail), I asked which was was a better paragraph and he said #2. I asked why and he said, "because the details make it more interesting. I told him absolutely and that technically nothing was wrong with #1. It's a "get it done" kind of paragraph--the kind you write for an assignment just to be done. But #2 is a "get a good grade" kind of paragraph--the kind you write and you'll get an A on.
I guided him through the writing of an outline, pointing out the different components. From there, he very quickly wrote his paragraph. His form certainly looked more like a paragraph--the first line was indented compared to the others. It still wasn't quite lined up with the vertical pink line, but it's progress!
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