I have a question for those of you using Step Up to Writing: everyone says such positive things about it, and I was curious, does it actually help your students to ENJOY writing, as well as teaching them how to write? I think one of the biggest challenges I face is that my students hate writing, so they put as little effort into it as possible, which certainly doesn’t help when I’m trying to get all of them to elaborate and such! I’m hoping to buy it myself later this spring/summer when I have some extra money (yeah, right!!) and try it with my 4th, 5th, and 6th graders next year.
Re: Writing question
Ditto.
My students used to hate to write. Now, it’s no big deal. Some still hate to rewrite the longer papers but if it is computerized it’s no big deal.
I think you’ll be pretty surprised at the results. Even my most reluctant writers get down to business. Behavior problems have magically disappeared too.
Michelle
In my experience, the reason that a kids doen’t like something is because he can’t do it well. I wouldn’t either if I was poor at it and knew that I was in sped because I had a ‘writing disability’. After they have a positive experience with writing, they seem to like it, some really like it and become very good writers. It is always good to fight your demons and win!