Transcript Reading and Writing About Age Appropriate Literature ATAINS

Reading and Writing
About
Age Appropriate Literature
ATAINS Conference
Bridgewater, Nova Scotia
April 3-5, 2003
Elizabeth Pass, Assistive Technology Specialist
Halifax Regional School Board
Halifax, Nova Scotia
Start-to-Finish® Books
Paperback book
Computer book with built-in
scanning for switch users
Audiocassette
Start-to-Finish® Books: An Overview
Excerpts from a paper by Jerry Stemach, Dorothy Tyacke, Gail Venable
• Students significantly behind in reading require texts that minimize hurdles
that impede decoding, fluency, comprehension and independent reading.
• For the student, story content must be age-appropriate & very interesting.
For the teacher, it must be tied to curriculum.
• Start-to-Finish books are created using the “Written for Success” formula,
a set of more than 50 guidelines for writing easy-to-read text.
• The subject matter of Start-to-Finish books is appropriate for students
from grade four through high school.
• Each book contains links to curriculum. Ex: Nick Ford Mysteries contain
material related to history, geography, social studies, biography & science.
• Approximately 70 titles offer stories about history, famous people, sports,
fictional mysteries, classic adventures
Start-to-Finish® Teacher Materials
Pre / Post - Reading Resources
Assessment and Tracking
• key words, character & place names • computer based quizzes
• plot and character development
• graph generated for quiz results
• vocabulary development activities
• detailed progress reports for
teacher viewing and printing
Two libraries for progressing students
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GOLD
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grade 2/3 readability
simpler syntax and vocabulary
easily decodable words
limited # of ideas per sentence
limited # of complex sentences
word-by-word highlighting
5000 to 7000 words per book
100 -150 words per page
10 to 12 chapters
450 -750 words per chapter
full page illustrations
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grade 4/5 readability
complex or abstract vocabulary
more ideas in longer sentences
varied sentence structures
varied word order
sentence-by-sentence highlighting
10,000 to 12,000 words per book
150 -200 words per page
10 to 12 chapters
900 -1200 words per chapter
smaller illustrations-various
placements
Talking Word Processor
Write:OutLoud is a word processor that gives speech feedback as
students type words, sentences and paragraphs. They can listen for
word usage, tense inflections, omitted words and misspellings.
• Emerging writers experience the connection between the spoken
word and written word.
• Struggling writers use appropriate words as they use editing tools.
• Developing writers build confidence in their ability to express
themselves.
• All students improve spelling and vocabulary as they edit and revise.
Talking Word Processor
• Individual writing templates can be
personalized with features which
best support the writer’s needs.
• Reads and highlights text to assist
student editing
• Reads and highlights to assist
student reading and comprehension
• Talking toolbar, large buttons and
keyboard shortcuts provide
additional support for students with
alternate access needs.
Talking Word Processor
• Talking vocabulary tools offer
spell & homonym checking
and word definitions.
• Provides auditory and visual
cues of misspellings as
students write
• Imports and reads electronic
text
Word Prediction
Co:Writer 4000 generates possibilities for the word a student is
beginning to type. It generates predictions by combining knowledge
of spelling, grammar rules, context clues, student history and letter
cues. Students overcome mechanical barriers which then allows
them to focus on conveying ideas.
• Emerging phonetic spellers get the word they want.
• Struggling students find the right word with fewer cues.
• Developing writers create good first sentences that are
grammatically correct.
• All students build vocabulary.
Word Prediction
• Speaks predicted words and
completed sentences
• Grammar support fosters better
sentences
• Fewer keystrokes reduces fatigue
• FlexSpell™ offers traditional spelling
predictions for phonetic spellers
• Sends text to word processors, text
fields and email programs.
Word Prediction
• Select main dictionaries to meet student’s
developing language needs
• Select topic dictionaries included with
Co:Writer to enhance task-specific writing
• Create custom topic dictionaries from
wordlists and text documents
• Download additional topic dictionaries
from DJ website
For more information
http://www.donjohnston.com/index.htm
Download additional topic dictionaries
http://www.donjohnston.com/downloads/downloads.htm
© Copyright Don Johnston Incorporated. Used with permission
Permission to use/reproduce presentation and handouts is granted
Please maintain credits.
Elizabeth Pass, Assistive Technology Specialist
Halifax Regional School Board, Halifax, Nova Scotia
[email protected]