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Word processing makes the dreaded written report a little less dreaded
Fifth graders in Missouri learn that writing more drafts is less work when the
first effort is saved electronically.
By Leslye McCarty
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 ast spring, I
assigned my fifth grade class a written report in conjunction
with our social studies theme, The Hacker Trail--Westward Expansion. As usual,
with the mention of a written report, students groaned, noses turned, and eyes
rolled. I could also sense the tension some of my students identified as having
learning disabilities were experiencing. I plowed on through my explanation and
the expectations with as much excitement as I could, already knowing in the back
of my mind that this assignment would not be as painful and grueling as they
were making it out to be.
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 fter briefly
describing the project, each student chose a topic that was
related to American life around the year 1850. The students then spent time
researching their topics, gathering information from computer CDs like
Worldbook Encyclopedia and Microsoft Encarta. Once we dug into the project,
the students began realizing it would not be as horrible as they first thought.
Since they were able to choose their topics, there was more interest and even
some enthusiasm shown as new and unusual facts were revealed.
The students then prepared their hand-written rough drafts.
This was quite a
chore for some. Children in my room experienced a range of ability levels. While
most performed adequately, some had physical difficulty with writing
while others were unable to organize thoughts into sentences and paragraphs
that make sense. As soon as the majority of the students finished writing their
rough drafts, we went to our school's computer lab, where I had reserved several
periods throughout the week so the students could type their rough drafts. The
resource teacher, Mrs. Smith, and I helped the students type their rough drafts
and save them on their disks.
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 se of the computer
lab was not totally new to my students. They had
been exposed to Microsoft Works, the word processing program we use at our
school, in fourth grade. My students were part of the first class to start taking
keyboarding classes and technology classes at Russell Elementary, so they were
familiar with working in the lab, plus we had visited it off and on throughout the
year as the need arose.
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In just a short time, the students were printing off their final copies
with a look of surprise and excitement in their eyes.
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s the students
started completing the typing of their rough drafts and
printing them, many brought the typed product to me and happily exclaimed,
"Here's my final paper!"
My first reaction was to just stare at them with disbelief, thinking to
myself, "They are serious about thinking they are really done with their reports."
Mrs. Smith and I were tickled at their innocence in assuming that just
because their rough draft was typed, it was automatically a finished, final
product. Most of the students had a fairly hard time understanding that the first
typed version was still simply a rough draft. It took us some time
to explain, and convince, the students that the first typing was still only a rough
draft, but the rest of the work on this project would not take long at all since that
typed draft was saved on their disks.
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 or homework,
the students were assigned to take their first typing home
along with an editing checklist. They were supposed to go through their paper
with a parent or guardian and edit. When students returned the following day
with their checklists and revisions, we went to the computer lab to type in corrections.
In just a short time, the students were printing off their
final copies with a look of surprise and excitement in their eyes. Wow! Their final
products were produced in less than a half hour! All of my students were thrilled; producing a final
draft in much less time than the hours they
would have spent rewriting and possibly even rewriting again to produce a final
project was a welcome accomplishment.
This was a new and rather enlightening experience for the majority of my
students. Each student witnessed how the use of technology has made life a little
easier. Mrs. Smith and I especially noticed an exciting change of attitude toward
the writing process in our students with learning disabilities. The handful of
students Mrs. Smith worked with blossomed in this project. The one student
who still stands out in my mind as I remember this assignment is Mike. This
whole process of writing and then typing and saving on the computer turned out
to be an incredible revelation to Mike. He was identified as having a disability in
reading and written expression, so an assignment of this nature was often
perplexing and laborious for him. Mike was also a bit unorganized, tending to
lose papers and notes that he had spent a great deal of time on. Each student was
supplied with a Hacker Trail folder provided by the school, and this folder
combined with a disk helped Mike keep his notes and drafts together and fairly
organized.
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The use of technology in tasks like a report excites elementary
students, especially students who have a difficult time with the
entire writing process.
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 ike's topic was
the California Gold Rush. His interest in the report went
up and down throughout the steps of the assignment. Taking notes and writing a
rough draft were a struggle he completed only because he had to. Typing the
draft was also difficult because he was a pretty slow typist, and he had trouble typing
exactly what he had written. He managed to produce a typed rough draft,
wanting to immediately rid himself of it and turn it in as his final draft like the
rest of the class. But, like the others, he stuck with the project and saw how
valuable this learning experience was for him. Not only did Mike's written report
give him a boost in his writing skills, he was one of my first students to stand up
and read his report out loud to the class--a task he previously never
would have done, especially voluntarily!
Mike's buddy, John, who also was identified as having a disability in
reading and written expression, was also surprised and delighted to find out
how to make written projects easier, less painful, and less time-consuming. The
use of technology in tasks like a report excites elementary students, especially
students who have a difficult time with the entire writing process. This project of
taking notes, writing a rough draft, typing the rough draft on the computer,
saving the report, and going back into the saved file to revise was definitely a
welcomed skill that these students will use in their future educational and
professional careers. It was a basic skill many adults, including myself, take for
granted. Little did many of my students realize how easy technology has made
their lives, especially their school lives.
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ike Mike, many
students in today's educational system often view the
written report assignment as a dreaded, painful experience for everyone
involved: students, teachers, and parents. Many children with learning
disabilities find writing complicated and frustrating, from generating ideas,
spelling correctly, and using correct punctuation to the actual motor skill of
holding a pencil and moving the hand. The thought of writing and rewriting as
they work toward a final product is not a project these students eagerly
anticipate. But seeing how Mike's dread of writing noticeably decreased because
the complex act of writing and rewriting and even writing again had been made
so much easier with the use of technology and word processing made me
realize that the trips to the computer lab were not a luxury. Word processing
undeniably made learning easier for Mike and other students, and anything that
does this is a necessity.
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Leslye McCarty is a teacher
in Columbia, Missouri. Read more about this author.
Teacher Testimony authors are
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