[nobe-l] teaching writing and editing

Ashley Bramlett bookwormahb at earthlink.net
Tue Aug 16 05:07:16 UTC 2016


Hi Jasmine,

Glad for the encouragement. I think having another student read the writing 
may work out okay. They do not seem to sit by age groups.
I have not worked with them on journals yet; the schedules change a little 
everyday, but when I do, I'll tell you all how it was.
I think the disadvantage of having a kid read their own writing is they are 
imaginative and creative plus it may be embarrassing. The kids may not 
actually read what is there but rather what they make up or what they want 
me to hear. When I tried volunteer tutoring, this happened.
As I said, kids are creative.
When you ask my nephew something about his days or what he learned, you 
never know if he made it up or it is the truth. He embellishes things as do 
all kids.
It will be interesting to see if the kids actually will read the punctuation 
out since they are not used to that. They may unintentially leave something 
out.
I'm also wondering how to assist with spelling. I can tell them spelling 
rules and sound out words. But to write the words if they need to see it to 
learn it, I'm trying to think of a good way. My print writing is not exactly 
straight or even. I have my central vision a little, but I rarely write 
print. I'm thinking I might use magnetic letters to  show them. Any other 
ideas?

I heard some of the journals will be on a blog, so when that happens, I'll 
be able to read it with jaws.

Anyways, thanks for writing in.

Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jasmine Kotsay via NOBE-L
Sent: Sunday, July 31, 2016 1:07 AM
To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List
Cc: Jasmine Kotsay
Subject: Re: [nobe-l] teaching writing and editing

Hello,
Yes, I believe that asking an older student to come over and read the paper 
of a younger student would be a good way of checking the papers. I also 
believe it would help the older students to understand what mistakes they 
may have made. Choosing just a couple of students to work with would also be 
good. It would allow you to be able to hear what they have written, as well 
as have them get used to reading their papers out loud. If you explain that 
you need the shy students to read their papers, and explain why you need 
them to read to you, they may understand this more clearly and try to read 
as best as possible.

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jul 29, 2016, at 11:08 PM, Ashley Bramlett via NOBE-L 
> <nobe-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Hi all,
>
> I’m planning to volunteer with young elementary kids at a summer camp 
> which has low income minority kids.
> I hope to have a part time job in a recreation or educational after school 
> program so I’m trying to get experience in this area.
>
>
> I majored in liberal studies which was psychology and communication. But I 
> had some education classes before changing my major since the education 
> courses were too much to handle at the time, but I still might be an 
> educator if I choose to go to grad school.
> Anyways, so I do have some basic knowledge of child development and 
> teaching based on classes and being around kids.
>
> Some of the activities involve writing in this camp. I have low vision so 
> its not likely I can read their writing as the writing is small and not in 
> dark ink. I can read print best with 20/20 pens.
>
> I need to assist with writing; not the literal formation of letters since 
> the kids know this from school; they are in first grade or above. But
> I’d help with things like thinking of ideas to write about, sentence 
> formation, spelling, and editing.
>
> I know we don’t like to think of limitations, but without seeing, it poses 
> some challenges.
>
> How can I help them with writing? They are writing short journals with a 
> beginning sentence started for them. The topics have already been decided 
> by the camp leader.
> I will try to get the topics ahead of time.
> Brainstorming ideas should pose no problem as that is a matter of asking 
> questions and helping them think of what to write.
> But the rest might be hard.
>
> How can I ensure they have the right spelling, capitalization, and 
> punctuation?
> They probably will ask me to help them spell words they do not know, but 
> what about the words they think they know and write incorrectly?
> How about checking on them? If I were sighted, I’d circulate around the 
> room and look over at their papers to read it or spot  check it to see if 
> they were almost done.
>
> I know after I discuss the topics with them, they can write. Then I can 
> ask them to read it back. But some kids probably struggle with reading and 
> may not read in a way that I can hear the punctuation. I mean they may not 
> read sentences with pauses where there are commas for instance. Then you 
> have the fact that some kids are shy.
>
> I thought of asking the older kids to come over and read the paper of a 
> younger kid. This will work after someone is done. Should I just ask the 
> kids to read it with stating punctuation?
> Should I ask them to verbalize something after each sentence?
> Rather than checking on everyone, should I pick maybe 2 or 3 of them to 
> work with which would allow the time for more verbalization?
> If I really need an adult pair of eyes, there is the camp leader and 
> another volunteer.
>
> Now, I’m not expected to check everyone’s paper and correct it as a 
> teacher with perfect semantics and grammar. But as a perfectionist, I want 
> to help them the best I can and have them learn. I want to catch mistakes 
> since they are young and correct them so they do not continue making such 
> mistakes in the future.
>
>
>
> Thanks for any ideas.
>
> Ashley
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