watch?v=Cnq93SbEuX0 
[00:00:00.39] NARRATOR: Hi, I'm Heather Schaffer and this is a virtual workshop on prewriting strategies for diverse learners. 
[00:00:08.82] Prewriting is the first stage in the five step writing process. After prewriting students move on to drafting, revising, editing, and finally publishing. For this workshop we're just going to focus on the prewriting stage. Prewriting is the stage in which you discover, explore and organize your thoughts on a particular subject or prompt. 
[00:00:28.30] The most commonly used prewriting activities, as seen on the University of Kansas writing center website as well as other major organization websites, are brainstorming where students are simply listing words and phrases related to this subject. Free writing, where students are putting their thoughts into more sentence format, however the sentences still do not need to be written in a logical order. Nor do the students need to worry about using proper grammar or spelling. 
[00:00:54.95] Cluster mapping, or the use of basic graphic organizers such as the beginning, middle, end organizer. And the use of journalistic questions- who, what, when, where, why and how to generate a story. Right now I'd like you to pause the video to discuss what prewriting activities you have your students do in your classroom. 
[00:01:17.52] Now that you've discussed the prewriting activities that you're currently using, I'd like to give you some tips and introduce you to some activities that may be more beneficial to your students. 
[00:01:28.79] The prewriting activities that are most commonly used today in the classroom privilege students who prefer to learn through their reading and writing. Lisa Leopold discusses in her article how many students do not fall under this category, and are therefore given less of a chance to succeed. 
[00:01:43.97] While the writing process does need to end with a published written piece, the prewriting stage can be modified to have visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners without abandoning the principles of the writing process. Incorporating activities that match the student's preferred learning styles will most likely lead to higher student achievement. For this workshop we're going to focus on auditory, visual, and kinesthetic learners. 
[00:02:08.70] Auditory learners are students who prefer to process information orally and they do well with activities that involve speaking and listening. Visual learners prefer to learn through seeing things, they do well with activities that involve graphs, charts, pictures and text. Kinesthetic learners prefer to learn through activities that require physical movement or the use of manipulatives. 
[00:02:30.80] Right now I'd like to discuss your preferred learning style. If you are unsure of your learning style, fill out the self assessment questionnaire from Walling's book on pages 13 through 17, or another assessment from the internet. 
[00:02:44.19] Now that you've determined your own learning style I'd like to show you some activities that you can use with students that share your learning style or for students that use one of the other learnings styles. Visual learners and those who prefer to learn using pictures, graphs and other visual aids. Storyboarding is a great prewriting strategy for these visual learners as it combines drawing with writing. Watch this video from Sylvia Rosenthal Tasiano's blog to learn more. 
[00:03:10.42] [VIDEO PLAYBACK] 
[00:03:10.91] [MUSIC PLAYING] 
[00:03:28.20] -He was actually on of the inventors of the storyboard because he used to do all these really quick sketches to give him ideas of how to do things. So right now we're going to see some of the stuff that he's made, which I know you know his inventions now, and we're going to learn how to storyboard. You're going to have a beginning and a middle and an end to your storyboard, and you're going to do quick sketching. Here I have a boy and a girl going to a museum. So here I wrote girl and boy because that's the image. And over here I wrote the summary, a boy and girl looking at the Mona Lisa. And over here [INAUDIBLE] image, a close-up of Mona Lisa. And the girl is going to discuss the Mona Lisa. 
[00:04:11.03] So basically you're taking, like, a TV show or a commercial, and you're planning-- The storyboard's are basically the pictures which show you what your movie is going to look like. And do really quick thumbnail sketches. Do you see how my sketches are just stick people? We're not going to spend a lot of time on our sketches, we want them to go quickly. Because we just want to get an idea and a feel of what it's going to look like. 
[00:04:35.35] -A person. 
[00:04:35.84] -A person. OK. What's my person doing? 
[00:04:40.34] -Running or jumping. 
[00:04:43.65] -OK. 
[00:04:47.52] [INTERPOSING VOICES] 
[00:04:55.48] [MUSIC PLAYING] 
[00:04:58.97] [END PLAYBACK] 
[00:05:54.31] NARRATOR: Suzanne Harrington also discusses storyboarding in her article. And from her experiences she's learned to have students draw the beginning and ending portions first, and then have them fill the space in between. Prior to choosing this strategy her students fiction writing seem to have no real direction. They didn't seem to know when to end would usually be left with a story that was not very believable with an ending that promised a new chapter or sequel where everything would be explained. Having the students plan the beginning and ending first resulted in more believable and organized stories. 
[00:06:25.85] Another great activity to use with visual learners is the tic-tac-toe graphic organizer, which is presented by Charlotte Mundy and Julian Coleman from Alabama State University. Often graphic organizers are good for generating ideas, but are not very easily translated into paragraphs. This three step writing process is particular for writing five paragraph essays. This strategy works best when writing a specific prompt. The proper used in the example is write an essay persuading the school board members to increase recess time. 
[00:06:57.76] Before starting the use of the graphic organize, Mundy and Coleman had their students discuss big ideas that can be used, and then they choose three and write them in the big idea boxes under the tick category. 
[00:07:11.57] In the tac category students are writing three supporting details for every one big idea. In the toe area, students think of the hot word that can be used when they are writing each supporting detail. A hot word, according to Coleman and Mundy, is a word used that makes students writing clearer and more exciting to readers. The example they give is replacing the word big with their word humongous. 
[00:07:36.78] When students are using this graphic organizer to write their five paragraph essay, they'll first look at the three tic areas to come up with the introduction. Then they'll look across the rows to the tic-tac-toe that go along with each big idea to write the three body paragraphs. They then look back at just the tic column to do their conclusion. 
[00:07:58.46] This strategy can be completed by all students independently after it has been modeled. Although this strategy may be most beneficial to visual learners, you may wish to teach the process to all students for use on timed writing assessments, such as the state exams. Since the completed organizer is so easily and quickly translated into paragraphs, it would reduce the amount of time wasted transferring their ideas into well thought out paragraphs. Having the hot word section will also ensure that students are aware of the word choices they're making, which will most likely result in a more interesting piece. 
[00:08:32.95] The next group activities are for auditory learners, who prefer to process information orally and do well with activities that involve speaking and listening. If you're having students write an argument are persuasive piece, you can have them first participate in a debate and then have them go back to their seats and write their ideas that they have just discussed. 
[00:08:51.13] You can also have students dictate their writing to yourself or to a peer as their peer writes it down. You could have students simply participate in peer discussions or record themselves thinking aloud. Students may also record podcasts of themselves speaking to a peer or thinking aloud. 
[00:09:08.35] Some elementary teachers feel that podcasting may be to advanced for the elementary students. However, you can see in this video that even first grade students have the ability to create podcasts. 
[00:09:17.75] [VIDEO PLAYBACK] 
[00:09:19.25] [MUSIC PLAYING] 
[00:09:24.64] -Welcome to first grade, where we are making our first podcast. 
[00:09:36.17] -We've been making podcasts and I really like making podcasts with my friends because they're really good. 
[00:09:44.09] -Podcasts are very helpful for making you smart. 
[00:09:47.71] -Hi. This is me, host Dominic, with my guest, Kayden. 
[00:09:52.61] -Podcast is like the radio that you listen to on the internet. 
[00:09:58.49] -We've been making podcasts about reading. My job was to answer questions. 
[00:10:05.35] -All I have to do is go to Garageband and pick a new name. 
[00:10:08.34] -There's a red button with a black dot in the middle and when you want to record you press that. And if you want to stop you press the space bar. And if you want to play to listen to it you press the space bar, too. 
[00:10:19.82] -We were working as a team and we did a podcast about recess. 
[00:10:25.11] -Podcasts are great because they teach you something. 
[00:10:27.97] -We read this book and then we made a podcast about it. We talked about what happened to the caterpillar and why we like Eric Carle. 
[00:10:38.05] -Why do you really like Eric Carle? 
[00:10:40.37] -Because he does pretty pictures and mixed colors together. 
[00:10:44.68] -I like listening to my friends podcasts because I'm all about the book they were talking about. And a little about the author who wrote it. 
[00:10:53.24] -We're putting the music to our podcast so then when we [INAUDIBLE] we can hear music. 
[00:10:58.39] -We then add the music and the jingles right there and you click right there again. Then click on what song you like and you just click on use whatever one. And then you just take it and drag it to where you want on here. 
[00:11:10.74] -Afer we make a podcast our teacher puts it on our classroom website. 
[00:11:15.72] -Everybody in the world can listen to a podcast. 
[00:11:19.28] -And they can-- anybody that has internet can listen to it. Podcasts are fun and easy, but they also teach you something. 
[00:11:29.92] -Doing a podcast to make you read better and speak clearly. 
[00:11:34.35] -You can download a podcast on the iPod right here. It's so easy. 
[00:11:40.82] -It is true that first graders can actually do podcasts. I'll prove it. The first time is going to be a little hard, but once they do it for a while it's going to perfect. 
[00:12:01.05] -Get that one. [LAUGHS] 
[00:12:04.53] -We hope you enjoyed learning about our first podcast. 
[00:12:08.00] -I have a feeling it's not going to be our last. 
[00:12:11.48] -Goodbye. 
[00:12:14.47] [END PLAYBACK] 
[00:12:15.47] NARRATOR: As the students said, podcasts can be listened to over and over again through the internet or on an iPod. So students can refer to the podcast as they go through the drafting process, which would be a great tool for auditory learners. 
[00:12:28.61] The next set of activities are prewriting activities for kinesthetic learners. These are the students who prefer to learn by playing with manipulatives or using physical movement. A movable storyboard is a great idea for kinesthetic learners as it allows them to rearrange the cards in order to come up with a good story. Here's an example-- 
[00:12:47.78] [VIDEO PLAYBACK] 
[00:12:48.28] -Storyboards gives you so many options for your tactile learner. It's easy to create, it's a lot of fun. You can add ideas, move them around, delete them. 
[00:13:02.22] [END PLAYBACK] 
[00:13:03.23] NARRATOR: So as you can see they're putting different events, setting or characters on the board and rearranging them until they find a proper format. 
[00:13:10.86] Another great idea for kinesthetic learners is role playing. You can give students props, or simply put a necklace around their neck giving them a role, and have them act out a story before they go down and write it. 
[00:13:22.44] Right now I'd like for you to pause the video to try one of the prewriting activities that matches your preferred learning style. Then discuss what you thought about the activity. Did you find it easier to think of a story using this strategy? Is this something you would use with your students? If so, would you need to modify the activity in any way? 
[00:13:40.36] I hope you enjoyed the activity. Now that you've completed this workshop, I'm going to give you an assignment. I'd like you to read Teaching Writing to Visual, Auditory, and Kinesthetic Learners by Donovan Walling. And then if you have not already determined the learning styles of your students, use the self assessment questionnaire in the book to do so. Then create a lesson similar to sample lesson 2.1 on page 28 to 29 and implement it with your students. Keep notes on your experience creating and implementing the lesson, including any changes you saw in your students quality of and attitude towards writing, and share with your colleagues at a future meeting. 
[00:14:18.09] If you'd like to learn more information about the writing process or different activities to use with your students, you can visit one of these websites. Here's a list of resources that I used in creating this workshop. 
[00:14:33.84] I hope you enjoyed the workshop and that you'll use some of these activities with your students.