Day 2 - StoryBird for Struggling Writers

Today's post highlights StoryBird, a free online storytelling tool to engage struggling writers. Storybird offers an extensive collection of beautiful graphics. Students select the graphics they would like to use in their story, drag and drop the graphics in a sequence of their choosing and then write text. It really is as simple as that.

It is also possible to read Storybirds that others have created, save them to a reading list or embed them in blogs, wikis, or glogs.

Storybird works with Co:Writer word prediction and Dragon Naturally Speaking software. 

Here are two to give you an idea of what a StoryBird can be:

The Holidays are Here on Storybird

When I look up at night. on Storybird

Applications - Struggling writers often have difficulty imagining and developing an idea. Storybird provides the external structure which promotes student success. Reluctant or struggling writers seem to love the ability to select graphics for their own creative stories. Because it is a forgiving, flexibility program, students can easily edit and change their work. Use this tool during a writing block to promote success with writing.

Don't forget to share the site with parents so that students can continue writing at home.

Writing Analysis

High school students are required to write essays pertaining to a variety of topics. It's one of their roles as a student. The ability to write well is a life skill. Never underestimate the importance of teaching a student to write effectively.

Unfortunately, many students with special needs fall far behind their peers with regard to written expression. Often, they are allowed to write less, or allowed to dictate to an adult scribe or receive so much support, the final product does not reflect their effort. Nevertheless, it is imperative we provide opportunities to improve independent writing skills following explicit writing instruction.

Now there is a free, online tool, called Paper Rater, which analyzes writing across five distinct categories:

• Plagiarism detection
• Spell Check
• Grammar Check
• Word Choice
• Style
• Vocabulary Builder

And not only is writing analyzed, but additionally, writing instruction is also offered. It's easy to use, no sign-up required. You copy and paste your original text, select the type of paper you are writing, agree to the Terms of Service and click "Get Report." Instantly, you receive your analysis for review.

I used the tool recently myself; I submitted an abstract for consideration to present at a national AT conference and thought it the perfect time to evaluate the use of this tool for students. The feedback it offered was intuitive to follow, yet basic, possibly a "just-right" combination for struggling writers.

Share this tool with your students. Do your own data collection. Have them submit their work prior to having Paper Rate analyze their work and then compare to what is submitted after they use the tool. Does it make a difference in the quality of the work? Does it change how they approach the writing task? Does it change student performance?
Another tool to share with your students as they build their own toolbelts for a lifetime. (Thank you, Ira Socol).

One Child at at Time....

My friend, Beth Lloyd, at Thriving in School created this post a few weeks ago.

The story behind the story is that the boy who wrote, "Me as Principal," is a fifth grade boy on an IEP (Individualized Education Program) who hates to write and, when forced, will produce very little. Well, the fifth grade curriculum typically includes writing. (In fact, research suggests that in elementary school, at least 50% of the day is spent on fine motor activities, typically producing paper and pencil writing tasks.)
Anyway, Beth talked with her student about blogging. She showed him the cluster map and talked about the potential that he would be writing for a larger audience, certainly more than just for Beth, or his teacher and certainly beyond the four walls at the Hosmer School. He thought about this and decided that this would be "cool." And, more importantly, he wanted to write something that he could publish in the school OT blog. Read what he wrote in the link above.

How do we improve with our writing skills? We write. And here, this student willingly wrote more than he ever had before. How cool is that? One child at a time.....one success story at a time.