Age-Range: Co:writer is a program that can be used by students of all ages. Basic

typing skills are helpful. The program can continue to be used by college students and

adults. This project demonstrates use of the program by middle school students with

varying degrees of writing and language skills.

Educational Goals and Objectives:

Illinois State Goal 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.

3.A.3 Write compositions that contain complete sentences and paragraphs using English conventions.

3.B.3a Provide documents that convey a clear understanding and interpretation of ideas and information and display focus, organization, elaboration and, display.

3.C.3b Using available technology, produce composititions and multimedia works for specified audiences.

Co:Writer SOLO edition is a product established by Don Johnston

Incorporated. Co:Writer is one of four programs that make up SOLO. The

three other programs are: Write:OutLoud, Draft Builder and Read:OutLoud.

It can be used with any word processing program. This project explains what

Co:Writer is, how it works, how it can be individualized to meet student

needs, how it was used in my classroom, and examples of student work using

Co:Writer.

Co:Writer: A great Writing Tool to Use in the Classroom

Co:Writer is a word prediction and vocabulary assistant program that can be used within Write;OutLoud

or any other word processing program like Microsoft Word. It is

installed on a computer’s hard drive so no disc is necessary to

use it each time.

What is Co:Writer?

As a student begins typing, Co:Writer provides the writer with

grammatically and/or phonetically correct word choices. As more letters

are entered by the student, the choice bank changes. When the

student scrolls on the word choices, Co:Writer reads the word aloud. When the student recognizes the

word he or she wants written next in the sentence he or she can click on the word and Co:Writer will add the

word to the sentence. When a student types the period ending, the

sentence, Co:Writer will type the sentence into the word processing

program.

How does Co:Writer work?

When the student recognizes the word he or she wants written next in the sentence he or she can click on the word and Co:Writer will add the

word to the sentence. When a student types a period ending, the sentence, Co:Writer will insert the sentence into the word processing

program. Once the sentence is inserted into the program, Co:Writer will again appear on the bottom of

the screen so the writer may continue working.

Students requiring FM listening devices can utilize a patch cord to connect their FM transmitter to the speaker system, allowing that student alone to hear the

productions read, and leaving the classroom undisturbed.

How Can Co:Writer be set up to work with hard of

hearing students?

Teachers are able to log into Co:Writer and modify the settings for each individual writer. For example,

the amount of support needed for spelling and vocabulary can be

increased for lower level writers, or decreased for more advanced

writers.

Can Co:Writer be set up provide different amounts of

support for different learners?

The teacher can also indicate the writing level of the student ranging

from beginning to advanced. Accurately selecting the student’s

writing level helps the program determine the appropriate dictionary

from which to choose the most appropriate spelling and vocabulary

support.

Co:Writer also allows the teacher to determine the size and color of the

font along with the background color enabling customization for student

need or interest.

A topic dictionary can also be created by the teacher to include words from

a current unit or topic. The topic dictionary can be displayed as the student is typing to help provide

content-specific vocabulary support needed to write about a topic.

I first introduced Co:Writer to my students in a group setting. I used the LCD projector so that all students could

see the screen and we could work together. I typed a basic question on

Microsoft Word like “What is your favorite food?”. Then I showed how

Co:Writer would look on the bottom of the computer screen. I modeled how the program would work by typing an answer

myself and then gave each student a chance to type. We did this several

times until all the students felt comfortable with the program. It did not take long for everyone to feel ready to

try it on their own.

How did I introduce Co:Writer to my students?

Before beginning a writing assignment I set up the computers to meet the learning needs of each student. I provide a topic dictionary when

necessary and set the font size and style. These settings can be saved

under each student’s name so they do not need to changed each time a student types. Co:Writer can be used during any content area. My students use Co:Writer to type short answers in content classes

like social studies and science. They also use the program to type summaries

of their reading stories and write experience stories about field trips and

their vacations for our classroom newsletter.

How do I use Co:Writer in my classroom?

.

Examples of Student Work

“What I Did During Christmas Vacation”By: Brittany

I have a gifts big and middle, small. I had Christmas Day

socks white, socks gray, clothes wearing. My favorite gifts Bratz

two, lotion, video games, new earrings. I look friends girls two,

boy one, my mom help makes cookies then my sister gifts lots.

My mom looks my new computer. I look my movies Two

Spiderman, Alone Home, eat popcorn butter and four pops. A

movie sees Big Woman House. The is movie see Big Woman

House 2. I outside playing my sister a fun jumprope and ice cream

man truck ice-cream cone hears bells.

Summary of The Bad Cat

By: Andrew The girl make a snak. The girl pours the juice on the cup.

The mom is sick. The dog is bad the cat is gon. The Dad tak the

dog out.

Summary of The Bad WitchBy: Brittany

The witch looks getting a broom. Then the witch sees the

dog on the ground. The witch laughs. The dog makes a frog. The

witch sees dee on the ground. The Dee makes a frog. Two frogs

see the witch flies almost the tall trees. The witch hit the tall tree.

The witch falls on the ground. and the witch falls ground loud

noises. The witch said oh no. The witch a broom gets fun. One

frog is the dog. One frog is Dee. The witch said away. One witch is

gone oh man. I am happy. THE ENDS. I am enjoyed.

Write a paragraph describing the Southwest Desert Cultural

Region. At the beginning of your paragraph, tell where the

Southwest Desert is located and tell the name of the tribe or

tribes that lived there. Also tell about the tribe’s culture.

What kind of homes did they live in? What kinds of things did

they do? How did they get their food?

The Southwest Desert

In the southwest desert climate dry and only little rain. The

Southwest Desert is live in Arizona. Hopi and Zuni were live in the

Southwest Desert. Pueblo Indians Built house name is apartment

style house. The Pueblo Indians dig little streams to food growing.

The Pueblo Indians were dances calls Kachinas Dances and snake

dances for come little rain.

By: Theresia