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Co:Writer: A great Writing Tool to Use in the Classroom

Co:Writer: A great Writing Tool to Use in the Classroom.

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Co:Writer: A great Writing Tool to Use in the Classroom

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  1. Co:Writer: A great Writing Tool to Use in the Classroom Age-Range: Co:writer is a program that can be used by students of all ages. Basic typing skills are helpful. The program can continue to be used by college students and adults. This project demonstrates use of the program by middle school students with varying degrees of writing and language skills. Educational Goals and Objectives: Illinois State Goal 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes. 3.A.3 Write compositions that contain complete sentences and paragraphs using English conventions. 3.B.3a Provide documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and, display. 3.C.3b Using available technology, produce composititions and multimedia works for specified audiences. Co:Writer SOLO edition is a product established by Don Johnston Incorporated. Co:Writer is one of four programs that make up SOLO. The three other programs are: Write:OutLoud, Draft Builder and Read:OutLoud. It can be used with any word processing program. This project explains what Co:Writer is, how it works, how it can be individualized to meet student needs, how it was used in my classroom, and examples of student work using Co:Writer.

  2. What is Co:Writer? Co:Writer is a word prediction and vocabulary assistant program that can be used within Write;OutLoud or any other word processing program like Microsoft Word. It is installed on a computer’s hard drive so no disc is necessary to use it each time.

  3. How does Co:Writer work? As a student begins typing, Co:Writer provides the writer with grammatically and/or phonetically correct word choices. As more letters are entered by the student, the choice bank changes. When the student scrolls on the word choices, Co:Writer reads the word aloud. When the student recognizes the word he or she wants written next in the sentence he or she can click on the word and Co:Writer will add the word to the sentence. When a student types the period ending, the sentence, Co:Writer will type the sentence into the word processing program.

  4. When the student recognizes the word he or she wants written next in the sentence he or she can click on the word and Co:Writer will add the word to the sentence. When a student types a period ending, the sentence, Co:Writer will insert the sentence into the word processing program. Once the sentence is inserted into the program, Co:Writer will again appear on the bottom of the screen so the writer may continue working.

  5. How Can Co:Writer be set up to work with hard of hearing students? Students requiring FM listening devices can utilize a patch cord to connect their FM transmitter to the speaker system, allowing that student alone to hear the productions read, and leaving the classroom undisturbed.

  6. Can Co:Writer be set up provide different amounts of support for different learners? Teachers are able to log into Co:Writer and modify the settings for each individual writer. For example, the amount of support needed for spelling and vocabulary can be increased for lower level writers, or decreased for more advanced writers.

  7. The teacher can also indicate the writing level of the student ranging from beginning to advanced. Accurately selecting the student’s writing level helps the program determine the appropriate dictionary from which to choose the most appropriate spelling and vocabulary support.

  8. Co:Writer also allows the teacher to determine the size and color of the font along with the background color enabling customization for student need or interest.

  9. A topic dictionary can also be created by the teacher to include words from a current unit or topic. The topic dictionary can be displayed as the student is typing to help provide content-specific vocabulary support needed to write about a topic.

  10. How did I introduce Co:Writer to my students? I first introduced Co:Writer to my students in a group setting. I used the LCD projector so that all students could see the screen and we could work together. I typed a basic question on Microsoft Word like “What is your favorite food?”. Then I showed how Co:Writer would look on the bottom of the computer screen. I modeled how the program would work by typing an answer myself and then gave each student a chance to type. We did this several times until all the students felt comfortable with the program. It did not take long for everyone to feel ready to try it on their own.

  11. How do I use Co:Writer in my classroom? Before beginning a writing assignment I set up the computers to meet the learning needs of each student. I provide a topic dictionary when necessary and set the font size and style. These settings can be saved under each student’s name so they do not need to changed each time a student types. Co:Writer can be used during any content area. My students use Co:Writer to type short answers in content classes like social studies and science. They also use the program to type summaries of their reading stories and write experience stories about field trips and their vacations for our classroom newsletter.

  12. Examples of Student Work “What I Did During Christmas Vacation” By: Brittany I have a gifts big and middle, small. I had Christmas Day socks white, socks gray, clothes wearing. My favorite gifts Bratz two, lotion, video games, new earrings. I look friends girls two, boy one, my mom help makes cookies then my sister gifts lots. My mom looks my new computer. I look my movies Two Spiderman, Alone Home, eat popcorn butter and four pops. A movie sees Big Woman House. The is movie see Big Woman House 2. I outside playing my sister a fun jumprope and ice cream man truck ice-cream cone hears bells. .

  13. Summary of The Bad Cat By: Andrew The girl make a snak. The girl pours the juice on the cup. The mom is sick. The dog is bad the cat is gon. The Dad tak the dog out. Summary of The Bad Witch By: Brittany The witch looks getting a broom. Then the witch sees the dog on the ground. The witch laughs. The dog makes a frog. The witch sees dee on the ground. The Dee makes a frog. Two frogs see the witch flies almost the tall trees. The witch hit the tall tree. The witch falls on the ground. and the witch falls ground loud noises. The witch said oh no. The witch a broom gets fun. One frog is the dog. One frog is Dee. The witch said away. One witch is gone oh man. I am happy. THE ENDS. I am enjoyed.

  14. Write a paragraph describing the Southwest Desert Cultural Region. At the beginning of your paragraph, tell where the Southwest Desert is located and tell the name of the tribe or tribes that lived there. Also tell about the tribe’s culture. What kind of homes did they live in? What kinds of things did they do? How did they get their food? The Southwest Desert In the southwest desert climate dry and only little rain. The Southwest Desert is live in Arizona. Hopi and Zuni were live in the Southwest Desert. Pueblo Indians Built house name is apartment style house. The Pueblo Indians dig little streams to food growing. The Pueblo Indians were dances calls Kachinas Dances and snake dances for come little rain. By: Theresia

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