[nobe-l] NOBE-L Digest, Vol 147, Issue 2

[Catherine Mendez]

I do have my kindergartners and first graders read back their own work. If they wrote it, they can read it. If they can't read what they wrote, that's an indication to me that there are either serious spelling issues, or that they copied off someone else. This is when I have them go from reading word by word to reading letter by letter. 

I work with a teachers assistant… All of the lower grade classrooms at my school have teachers assistants for some part of the day. The woman I work with however, does not read or write in English, and she barely speaks it. I am responsible for all of the literacy instruction that goes on in my classroom. She helps with some of the backlog (Rounding up field trip forms and money out of students folders, filing materials and portfolios, etc.). But all of the teaching, assessing and grading is up to me.

Furthermore, as a classroom teacher, the buck stops with me. That goes for all matters of safety, behavior and academics.  Having support from time to time is pleasant, but when you're  the classroom teacher, the responsibility falls on you. This means that in order to be effective, you need to have A variety of non visual skills and strategies put in place that allow you to be successful.

Sent from my iPhone

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>   1. Re: Teaching writing (Jasmine Kotsay)
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> Message: 1
> Date: Tue, 2 Aug 2016 20:35:28 -0700
> From: Jasmine Kotsay <jasmine.kotsay at gmail.com>
> To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
>    <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [nobe-l] Teaching writing
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> Hello,
> You have your kindergartners read back their work as well? How does that work? Do you have an assistant in your class with you? Just to be your eyes? What state are you teaching in?
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
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>> On Jul 31, 2016, at 3:54 PM, Catherine Mendez via NOBE-L <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I've spent the last 12 years teaching kindergarten and first grade in a public school with cited students. When I teach writing, I teach my students to read their work out loud to me. Including the punctuation. What's cool about this is that they usually catch their own errors, things like missing words or missing periods. To make sure that they are reading what's  actually on the page and not what they think they wrote, I ask them to touch each word as they read it back. I'm very strict about this, because a lot of times kids will think they've written one thing, and aren't looking closely at their work to realize that they've actually made mistakes. Sometimes their brains are moving faster than their pencils. 
>> 
>> As for spelling, if you know your students well you have a gauge of what they do and don't already know in terms of Word building. Some amount of incorrect spelling is to be expected with the lower grades, simply because they may be trying to write words they don't know. My expectation in the classroom is that if I have taught a particular spelling pattern, and the word they are writing fall into that pattern, they should spell it correctly. Inventive spelling is OK for other things. The way to check spelling is the same as checking everything else, have the student read out loud what they've written. 
>> 
>> You can also have them do peer editing. Often, students are much more critical of one another's work than they are of their own, or likely to catch mistakes. Of course, if you're going to set a peer editing, you need to set up simple protocols to make sure that both partners get equal time being edited, and that constructive criticism  remains within the bounds of courtesy. This can be done with a simple checklist.
>> 
>> Cayte
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
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> End of NOBE-L Digest, Vol 147, Issue 2
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