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ABSTRACT:
1) To find a common goal for various levels, use the idea of an imaginary line that is called a continuum. Locate a portion of the line in the middle and call it Standard English. Have the students try to write at different levels on the line as well as Standard English. Never attack the spoken language of the student.
2) To help the student find an audience, he has to realize that there can be more than one vocabulary. We have the one we use, and the one stored in the brain that we can call on. Inexperienced writers usually don't realize there is more than one. Teach the students to write the thought as it comes, and if they can't think of the word or can't spell it, to just draw a blank line and go on with the thought. The missing information can be figured out from the content of the rest of the sentence later.
3) To help the student understand sentence structure, compare the functions of a family to the functions of the word family, emphasizing that a family is just like a sentence. It has an authority figure and actions.
4) To help the student who cannot seem to organize his information, play the game of "Corners". Select a topic and have each student go to the corner according to his own personal feelings about the topic. The student then decides with the others in that corner what the reasons are for the choice. These are then presented to the class on the chalkboard.
5) To help the poor speller, have the class give "Reporter" coverage orally. Use a picture for a five minute freewrite, and then have the students take turns reporting. Discuss the importance of spelling to the writer in terms of getting the message across.
6) When the student has very high mechanical errors, put a grid on the left side of the paper and mark the type of error that it is. Underline the error in the sentence with a small line. Emphasize that the real value of mechanical things is to the reader, not the writer.
7) To teach the student where the paragraph begins and ends, draw a semantic organizer of the information. Then compare the organization of information in our environment with that of Eastern culture or Russia.
8) To help a student understand fragments, use pictures of trucks and trailers. You must tell them the connection between the pictures and the sentence structure. Information does not always transfer without explanation.
9) To help the student visualize description, use room fresheners for several days and have the students identify what pictures they had in their heads by the smell. After a repetition of this for several days with different scents, point out that the senses bring out details through prior experience and the value of using sensory words in description.
10) When a student lacks confidence, use colorful pictures of others who have the same problem. If the example lacks color, mount it on very bright cards. Do not be above using bright colors when correcting papers, to mark what the student does right.