Helping Middle Grade Struggling Writers Achieve Success

(Grades 3-6) / Flex Course

PDI Course Number: 19T02 / UCSD Course Number: EDUC41574

Course Description

Do you have students who cringe every time you assign a writing task and wish you knew ways to help them? Writing is hard work, especially for the student who struggles. This online course is designed for teachers in grades 3-6 who want to help their struggling students with key writing skills. Specific strategies will be introduced that improve student writing. First, teachers will learn how to differentiate between struggling writers and those who are learning disabled so appropriate remediations can be selected. Information on the writing process is shared together with suggestions for incorporating specific writing strategies such as the six traits, the use of literature in tandem with writing, and writing across the curriculum. Teachers will also learn how to motivate their struggling writers so they become more interested and focused on the process. By the end of this course, teachers will more fully understand how to best help their struggling writers and will have gained valuable classroom ideas including using writer’s workshop, technology that promotes writing, and appropriate writing assessment. This course is worth 3 ⅓ semester units/5 quarter units (50 hours of training) from UC San Diego Extension. For detailed information on university credit, click here.

"Very valuable. From the very first unit, I was discovering so many things that I will be doing in my classroom next year. I wish I had been exposed to these ideas and resources years ago." - Tina Mischke