Huntington Foundation Funds WOW Writing Grant
The Huntington Foundation has funded a $1,000 mini-grant to provide four licenses for the WOW Writing with the Writing Tree!: 50 Writing Tools for Whiteboards software program. The licenses will allow for the technology to be brought into every primary grade level classroom in the Huntington School District.
"Children have always been expected to become successful writers as they advance through the school system," said Maryann Daly, the SEARCH program's chairperson-teacher. "An emphasis on teaching writing skills has now become a focus in many classrooms today due to the state creating the common core standards related to English language arts."
The WOW Writing program is an innovative Smart Board product based upon the well-known Writing Tree curriculum. Proponents claim the product makes effective writing easy and fun.
"Students have immediate success in a subject that has left teachers challenged and kids struggling," according to promotional material. "The WOW Writing with the Writing Tree!: 50 Writing Tools for Whiteboards program helps teachers teach students to write with an easy-to-use, interactive process that lets kids witness real writing in action. As a class, students learn writing skills by "writing with Carole Marsh," then they write interactively as a class and then they write individually."
Mrs. Daly authored the mini-grant application and believes the program will be very beneficial to Huntington students. "Because it is an interactive program, children have the opportunity to come up and use the Smart Board, which they love to do," Mrs. Daly said. "As someone who uses the Smart Board on a daily basis, I know from personal experience that lessons are so much more exciting for the students when you combine concepts with animations and video clips related to the subject being studied. I also know that lessons using the Smart Board take a tremendous amount of time to create, which can be one reason why more teachers do not use their Smart Boards as often as they would like to do."
The impact of the drive to implement common core standards is being felt in every classroom. "Teaching children to become better writers is key [to the common core effort]," Mrs. Daly said. "Using many different methods to expose all children at all levels of instruction to concepts required to be taught guarantees a greater degree of measurable success. The use of the Smart Board as a teaching tool continues to capture the attention of children of all ages."
Mrs. Daly feels the WOW writing program "is an effective and easy way to create Smart Board lessons related to teaching writing to children from kindergarten through fourth grade," she said. "Once the school license is purchased, it can be used for years to come and at no extra cost to the district; a definite win-win."
The 50 writing tools contained in the Smart Board lessons are meant to make writing fun and to help "create an environment where children will look forward to practicing their writing skills while they witness real writing in action," Mrs. Daly said.