Designing
a Writing Lab Carl Sannito
If
I were designing a writing lab, I would focus on a four areas:
(1.) Typing
(2.) Pre-Writing/brainstorming
(3.) Writing
(4.) Publishing
But First
Before you begin writing, it’s very important that you decide
where your students are going to save their documents. Some teachers
are lucky enough to have a network environment where students can
walk up to any machine in the school, pull up their files and get
to work. If that’s not you, you can always save files to a
floppy. However, my experience with floppies is that they frequently
fail and get damaged very easily. You might want students to save
their work to a re-writable CD. If that isn’t an option, I’ve
heard of schools that have used portable USB
Flash drives for students. Much more reliable and portable than
a floppy.
Now that you’ve decided on storage, you and your students
are ready to begin.
Typing
There is no point in having the student work in a writing lab if
they can’t operate the keyboard. Students may be able to find
letters on the keyboard without much assistance, but punctuation
marks are not so intuitive. A solid typing program can not only
teach students some basic typing skills, but it can also be used
to reinforce good writing skills.
There are many wonderful typing programs available to students
these days; following are a few that I have used with much success.
For grades 1-3, I would recommend Type
to Learn Jr. This program is only going to
take one or two periods for most students to work through, but by
the time the students are done, they will have been taken through
a tour of the majority of the features of the keyboard.
For older students (grades 3-8), I would highly recommend Type
to Learn 4. This product is a wonderful program that not only
teaches students how to use the keyboard correctly, it incorporates
historical figures and language arts into the lessons. This program
would take students a few months to work through, however I might
use it for a few weeks at the beginning of the year, and then leave
it as something the students can work on in the classroom or in
the lab if they finish an assignment early.
Pre-Writing/Brainstorming
Inspiration
(Grades 5-12) and Kidspiration
(Grades K-5) are the two heavy hitters in this area. Both products
help students see, organize and develop their ideas. Completed charts
and graphic organizers are then turned into outlines to help students
through the writing process. I have used both products and they
are both wonderful, but they require a very dedicated teacher. The
software requires that the teacher give the students specific assignments
and work directly with them.
Writer’s Companion
(grades 2-12) is another great program. It actually steps students
through the writing process, starting with brainstorming and organizing.
As students use the program to generate their ideas, they can also
organize and sequence their thoughts by pointing and clicking.
Writing
Microsoft
Word is an extremely versatile program and it has some great
typing tools, such as the spell checker, thesaurus, and word counter.
However, the interface can be confusing and overwhelming to younger
students. I would use Word with high school students, but younger
students might benefit from software that is more age appropriate.
I would again recommend Writer’s
Companion (grades 2-12). Not only are standard word processing
features built in, but it takes the ideas that a child had previously
generated into a fresh document. The software can read text back
to students and features bilingual education components.
Scholastic
Keys is another wonderful student program that is used with
Microsoft
Office (you must already have purchased and installed Office
before you install Scholastic Keys). It puts a “kid-friendly”
interface on top of the Office applications, so they don’t
seem so overwhelming. Students can create and customize their writings
very easily. The software can also read text back to students.
KidWorks
Deluxe is another program word-processing program that students
can use. I haven’t used the software, but you might want to
check it out.
Publishing
Publishing is where the students generally have the most fun, but
if the students are going to see the fruits of their labor, publishing
requires a printer or two.
One monochrome laser printer is always good to have around as a
workhorse. It doesn’t have to be too fancy, but stick with
a name brand, mid-level printer. Something in the $300 to $500 range
would be about right. Be sure to price the toner cartridges ahead
of time so you know what you are in for.
A color printer is good to have on hand for publications that demand
color treatment. You probably don’t need a color laser printer,
unless you plan on printing out everything in color (that becomes
very pricey). A heavy duty inkjet printer would be fine. Expect
to pay $150-$350, plus ink cartridges. Again, price out the cartridges
beforehand because that’s where you will pay the most money.
One last thought on printing: you might want to establish printing
rules with students as to when and what they are allowed to print;
it makes good economic and environmental sense.
As for software, both Writer’s
Companion and Scholastic
Keys have some wonderful publishing features built right in.
Both allow you to add graphics, format text, change fonts and really
jazz up the papers. Scholastic Keys has a great feature that allows
you to create PowerPoint
presentations (using their “kid-friendly” interface).
Students can record sounds and voices to add into their stories.
If you are interested in having students record voices, you’ll
need to purchase microphones.
Older students can use PowerPoint directly with their work. The
animation features alone are enough to keep kids very focused, but
be careful the students don’t lose sight of the big picture.
Another favorite of mine is Kid
Pix. Although Kid Pix can be used as brainstorming
software (it comes with lots of great ideas for teachers), it really
shines as a publishing tool for younger students. Students can use
it to illustrate their projects and to create presentations. It
is one of my favorite programs and is a hit with students of all
ages.
Other Considerations
You might also look at obtaining some fun fonts and installing
them on your student computers. Fonts can easily be downloaded from Google Fonts, or you can also search the Internet for
free fonts, download them and install them yourself.
I have highlighted programs that I believe run on both Mac and
Windows platforms, but double check with your vendor.
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