Trainings

Introduction to the EmPOWER™ Method for Teaching Expository Writing

Bonnie Singer, Ph.D.
September 25, 2008
To download a brochure click here
In this workshop, we will begin by exploring how various systems (e.g., cognitive, linguistic, spatial, motor, self-regulatory) support and constrain one’s ability to write, with an eye toward understanding why so many children struggle with writing. Research-based instruction and intervention methods for addressing common writing problems will be presented. We will present an overview of the EmPOWER™ method for teaching expository writing, covering the first two steps of the method in depth. These are comprised of explicit strategies for helping students get started with their writing assignments, analyze the language of their assignments so they know what to do, set goals, and make plans for how to develop their texts. All instruction and intervention strategies presented can be put to use immediately within a classroom or specialized instructional setting. This workshop is appropriate for general and special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, reading / literacy specialists, curriculum directors, and school administrators.Objectives:

• Explain how and why various processing systems
  influence and constrain written expression

• Teach students strategies for analyzing assignment
  demands

• Develop and modify writing assignments so they elicit desired production outcomes.

Morning Session:

• What writing requires

• The roles of cognition, executive functions, selfregulation, language, memory, motor, affect and
  spatial processing abilities in written expression.
  

• Strategies for initiating writing assignments: The
  Evaluation step.
  

• Strategies for helping students determine WHAT to do
  

• The role of language
  

• Hands on with assignment analysis and application
  and modifications

Afternoon Session:

• Strategies for doing writing assignments: The make a Plan step

• Strategies for planning HOW to do assignments

• The role of language and a consistent, systematic
  routine

• Hands on with assignment analysis and application

• The remaining steps of EmPOWER: Organize, Work, Evaluate, Re-work

• Outcome Data

Presenter: Bonnie Singer, Ph.D.
Bonnie Singer, Ph.D. is a certified speech-language pathologist with a doctoral degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders. Formerly an instructor in the Communication Disorders department at Emerson College, Dr. Singer founded Architects for Learning in 1996, where she directs a staff that provides academic intervention services and consults with schools nation-wide. She is dedicated to developing effective teaching and learning strategies for students who are struggling academically (especially in the area of written expression) and assisting teachers and school systems across the country with addressing the diverse instructional needs of all students so that they are able to reach their full potential in school and in life. Her research and numerous publications focus on the ways in which language and cognition overlap to support and constrain language, learning, reading, and written expression in school-age children.