EMPOWER writing program

I’m not sure if this is what you’re referring to, but many of the teachers in our building use Empowring Writers, by something Mariconda, to teach narrative and expository. If you do a search on Amazon using the last name the 2 books she has out will come up. However, they’re entitled something different, so don’t look for that name. There are also other resource books for both narrative and expository, as well as some posters, that you can buy at her workshops. If you want, I’ll bring the information home next week and post it.

Jenn

Jen,

What you describe may very well be what this person was telling me about. Unfortunately, we had no time to talk further. If you have the time, I’d really appreciate if you could post it. By the way, how do you feel about this program? I’d be interested in knowing your thoughts. Thanks.

[url]http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0439260817/qid=1078666007/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-8104927-2695821?v=glance&s=books[/url]

I hope that works! It’s the Amazon site for Barbara Mariconda’s book on teaching expository writing. If not, it’s easy to type her name into the search feature on AMazon and you’ll come up with her books right away.

The program has a lot of hands-on activities and group activites for kids to complete to understand the organization process of expository writing. It would be very effective for a class overall, and as a good introduction to expository writing for everyone, including the LD kids. It also breaks down writing clear and distinct topic sentences, introductions and conclusions, and adding details. It gives a great graphic organizer that you can use. It’s an excellent book for using with (in CT, anyway)kids in grades 4-6 who are learning and practicing expository writing.

I found that some of my LD students, including kids with lots of language comprehension problems, did well on the organization pieces and were able to show me that they understood what went where, what details didn’t belong (all this is hands-on, and I would have them use highlighters, which they loved). They were able to match appropriate topic sentences to the detail sentences, and given three paragraphs on the same topic, were able to tell me which was a poorly written one, which was ok, and which one was rich with details. However, when asked to write anything themselves, they couldn’t. That’s where I’ve found Step Up to Writing to be more helpful. Currently, I’m using both, though I draw more from Step than from Empowering Writers. I do recommend buying the book, though.

The narrative program is similar, though I’ve never used it. It breaks narrative writing down into 4-5 separate parts, and gives the students lots of time to practice each.

I’ll get the ordering information for the other books Monday and try to post it later.

I hope this helps you!

Jenn

Sorry it’s taken me so long to get back to you; here’s the information on how to order the other books Barbara Mariconda has written for the Empowering Writers program:

www.empoweringwriters.com
(203) 374-8125

The Narrative “Basics” Collection is $72.00 for 6 books
The Expository “Basics” Collection is $60.00 for 5 books

They also have books grammar and mechanics and a getting ready to write book for K-1.

Hope this helps ~ good luck! Let me know if there is more information that you would like.

Jenn

Thanks so much, Jen. I’m definitely going to try it. : )

The EMPOWER Program is a writing program created by two speech and language pathologists, Bonnie Singer, Ph.D. and Anthony Bashir, Ph.D. It includes assessment and intervention for written language skills. Information is available at www.innovativelearningpartners.com.