Overview

Writing Skills Workout, offered free online, can play a critical role helping teachers help children who have fallen behind in writing skills—skills that are essential not only to college but to most good jobs. Children who write one, two, or even three years below grade level, those left behind, often see failure as inevitable and never catch up.

The core of the problem is well known: too little time, too many children in one class writing at too many different skill levels. The stand-alone lessons of Writing Skills Workout address this situation. With computer-based instruction, a teacher is empowered to offer immediate, individualized instruction, whether the student needs help writing a three paragraph persuasive letter or a single compound sentence. Offered with a learning management system, Writing Skills Workout is easy for teachers to use. Children will enjoy self-paced learning wrapped in a theme of space travel.

Our research identifies 17 skills that children in grades 2-5 need in order to compose quality sentences and paragraphs. Consistent with National Core Standards, the 34 lessons of the Writing Skills Workout program fit seamlessly with the widely accepted five-step method of teaching writing. Each lesson will follow the rigorous, proven, instructional sequence of Guided Lesson, Student Practice, and Student Application.

The Student Practice section offers prompts as needed. Lesson field-testing with pre-tests and post-tests will guarantee a minimum student success rate of 75%. Following successful practice, the new skill is then applied to a story previously written by the student, or one provided by the online Teacher’s Guide.

An uncomplicated management system regulates access, records student performance, and displays earned awards in the student's individual portfolio. Assessment and accountability are transparent to child, teacher, parent, and administrator.

The goal of the Waterman Foundation is to place Writing Skills Workout online, available without cost to teachers and students in classrooms and homes everywhere.

Program Description – Lesson Preview