Steve Graham EdD

As a teacher of writing in a general education elementary classroom, I was interested in this title because so much of my writing instruction seems to slip through the hands of my capable students with learning disabilities. I watch them gather our mini-lesson discussions and ideas from the meeting area and carry them to their writing area where they carefully set them down on the table. As the pencil and paper come out though, something happens to that knowledge. It is like it rolls off the table, coming to rest underneath a heavy bookshelf, hidden from use. The tools and tips to writing are suddenly gone, leaving these writers frustrated, with no where to go, except the bathroom or to get a glass of water, anything to escape the writing task for even a few minutes.

Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning Disabilities is a practical guide designed to support students in every phase of writing instruction. The authors, Steve Graham and Karen Harris, offer a potent combination of theory and practice as Professors in Special Education at Vanderbuilt University, drawing on extensive research in the area of teaching writing to students with learning disabilities, and as educators with teaching experience in elementary through secondary classrooms. Eighteen writing strategies are presented in this book, culled from numerous sources. All have been validated in at least one study that includes children with learning disabilities. The authors note the potential of these strategies for other student populations. In the portability section of each strategy chapter they document when there is scientific validity for other groups in the research findings. Providing a brief summary, Table 1.1 (p. 2-4) gives a description of each strategy, the genre of writing it is used for, how it helps the writer, and where the strategy is located in the text. Earmarking this page will allow for quick reference to aid teachers in day to day lesson planning.

Graham and Harris detail steps for teaching each strategy, offer tips to consider for modifications, explain what to expect, and suggest extensions. They also provide student worksheet samples and give before and after writing samples that illustrate improvements in writing clarity, descriptiveness and fluidity. Strategies embed a way for students to monitor and evaluate how their writing is developing. For example, the goal setting strategy, PLANS, uses an approach of shared ownership with fifth grade students that is very important to finding success. Students select writing goals from a set of teacher developed choices. This limits the goals to a manageable and achievable set and incorporates student buy-in to the plan. The goal setting organizer includes a space to describe how the writer will accomplish the selected goal, and supports the writer with concrete ideas for writing their paper. After writing, students refer to the plan, determine if the goal has been met, or decided if the paper needs revision to meet the goals. This metacognitive strategy creates a natural reason for revision that goes beyond mechanics and neater margins.

The authors carefully explain the reasons and benefits of using research based literacy instruction and do so in a non-threatening, even humor infused, upbeat way. For example, they cite Robert Hendrickson describing a typesetter’s rule for writing paragraphs, “Set type as long as you can hold your breath without getting blue in the face, then put in a comma; when you yawn put in a semicolon; and when you want to sneeze, that’s time for a paragraph” (p. 41). These anecdotes help provide explanation for the work of struggling writers. Indeed, I see this maligned ‘strategry’ at work with my class of struggling writers.

The introductory section, The Power of Writing, is designed to answer the question, “Why teach differently to the learning disabled student population?” The authors draw parallels to Snoopy in Charles Schultz’ Peanuts comic strip stating that for students with learning disabilities it can feel like they are writing uphill (p.7.) These students fail to use the same strategies that good writers do, and typically focus much of their attention on the physical act of writing. Rather than identify strategies like brainstorming, reviewing a draft and making changes until it is right, struggling writers report that they, “Write big to fill up the paper” and “make it neat and check the spelling” (p. 8). Graham and Harris explain their goals in writing instruction are to help students with planning, writing and revising in ways that improve writing performance and motivation by allowing students to take ownership of strategy use “independently, effectively, and thoughtfully” (p.21.)

To teach any of the techniques effectively, the author detail a specific instructional model for self-regulated strategy development, or SRSD. Designed to help students self-manage the how to’s and what to do’s of the writing process, this instructional model draws inspiration from Maria Montessori’s observation that, “Success occurs when a teacher is able to say, 'The children are now working as if I did not exist.'” This is the ultimate goal of strategy instruction in writing” (p.37.)

Graham and Harris explain six stages that help frame instruction using SRSD: develop background knowledge; discuss it; model it; memorize it; support it; and offer independent performance. These stages are used to teach each of the writing strategy models presented in Sections III through V. Critical to the method are the tenets that teachers are enthusiastic and positive about students’ capabilities; they view students as collaborators in the learning process; they individualize instruction to support the learner in mastery of a strategy and its self-regulation process; and they base instruction on criteria for mastery, giving students time to move at their own pace, not proceeding to later states until they demonstrate success in a current stage.

The bulk of the book is then dedicated to explaining eighteen different writing strategies. These chapters are organized into Sections III through V. Section III details strategies that can be applied broadly, such as goal setting and brainstorming, peer revising, and summarizing strategies. Next, genre specific tools are introduced for story, persuasive, explanatory and report writing. Lastly, Section V covers self-regulating and goal setting strategies.

In the last section, Graham and Harris offer final words on implementing strategy use with students and provide a guide for evaluating these instructional methods. All of these ideas mirror writing workshop and author’s chair themes offered by Regie Routman, Ralph Fletcher, Lucky Calkins and other writing teacher mentors. Go slow and teach for depth rather than breadth. Start with one or two strategies and evaluate how they work before moving forward. Offer many opportunities for writing for authentic purposes, aimed at a real audience. Create a mood for writing. Encourage peer collaboration. Model and promote an “I can do it” attitude toward writing. The authors list seven assessment principles to help teachers “make sure it works” (p. 162). This approach ensures that teachers won’t need to completely change out what works in their current writing workshop to address their struggling students. By teaching, using and evaluating the explicit strategies in Writing Better, educators offer a way for struggling writers, “To learn how to use the same tools as good writers” and gives them a “bridge” to the world of effective, well planned writing (p. 166).

I am excited to plan for next school year by incorporating several Writing Better strategies. My goal is to bolster the staying power of my writing instruction in the minds of my struggling writers. I am encouraged and hopeful that adding these ideas to our class’ toolbox will give students ways to more fully and confidently access the writing process. If, after they take that all-important breather in the trip to the water fountain, these students can return to the page with a their idea glass half-full, I will see progress towards my goal. By offering something more tangible to hold on to, such as the mnemonic strategies and graphic organizers, these Writing Better ideas will not gather dust, stuck underneath the table, and I will forge ahead with PLANS, COPS, STOP, DARE, SCANS and more added throughout our writing year.… (mer)