[nobe-l] Writing complaints

[nmpbrat at aol.com]

I also agree with everything else that has been said.  I agree that in most cases, it is just an excuse and an avoidance technique by the student.  With that said, just one additional thought.....if after questioning them and finding that there may actually be something going on with how they are writing which could be causing discomfort....use resources that are available to you.  You will most likely have an occupational therapist or occupational therapist assistant that works within your school or your district.  Make contact with them and see if they would be willing to do a brief observation of the student and provide feedback as to what their thoughts are on the matter.  This is something that they are specifically trained to see and work with and may pick up on something that the teacher wouldn't.  This is something that I have personally done before.  Just another option. 
Nicole



-----Original Message-----
From: Valerie Gibson via NOBE-L <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
To: National Organization of Blind Educators Mailing List <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Valerie Gibson <valandkayla at gmail.com>
Sent: Wed, Feb 1, 2017 4:57 am
Subject: [nobe-l] Writing complaints

Hello,For those who don’t know, I am almost finished with my classes to become an elementary school teacher. I seek to teach in the mainstream classroom.  I’ve got one more year of field placement classes, and then a semester of student teaching. The field placement classes is a way to sort of get your feet wet in regards to teaching by observing and doing a little teaching in another teacher’s classroom. It’s sort of a midway point between student teaching and regular class lecture.  I am in a “teaching writing for grades K-6” class. It’s an add-on to my field placement classes.  We are reading a book called, A QUICK GUIDE TO Reaching Struggling Writers. The book talks about how to teach struggling writers. It lists complaints or comments that students might say to avoid writing.One of these questions is, “My hand hurts”. The book tells us that we should first make sure that nothing is truly wrong.Have any of you come across this sort of complaint, and if so, how did you handle it?  I know the obvious answer is to check to see if the child’s hand really is hurting, and maybe I’m just way overthinking it, and if so, I apologize. I guess what I’m asking is how did you check?I haven’t started field placement yet. They’re still trying to find me a school, so it’s got me a bit anxious of doing something wrong when it could have been avoided.I’m sure this semester, I’ll be pestering you all with questions as something is brought up that I did not think of, so I’m going to apologize in advance. :)_______________________________________________NOBE-L mailing listNOBE-L at nfbnet.orghttp://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nobe-l_nfbnet.orgTo unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for NOBE-L:http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nobe-l_nfbnet.org/nmpbrat%40aol.com