USING TECHNOLOGY TO

ENHANCE & ENCOURAGE

WRITING FOR ENGLISH
LEARNERS
JOHANE GRAMMONT
ADVOCACY PROJECT

BACKGROUND
Location: Woodward Elementary School
in Brookhaven, Dekalb County
Student Population: high poverty,
transient, special needs, & EL population
Teacher: Language Arts & Social Studies
instructor, pursuing M.E.D in TESOL
Population Deficits: Reading
Comprehension, Critical Thinking, Spelling,
Writing

ADVOCATING FOR ELS

I advocated on behalf of ELs by demonstrating how to
assist English learners in the classroom.
Many teachers are frustrated and unaware of how to
motivate and guide their students.
Training and PLCs are necessary to build
communication and support for faculty, staff, and the
student body.
By teaching teachers how to scaffold writing, I am
empowering English learners by giving them the
support they deserve.

MOTIVATION AND OBJECTIVES

I chose this project because
my students had very poor
writing skills.
My students are always
excited about our technology
center so I thought that
maybe I could infuse
technology to promote
writing.
Teachers need to be able to
access and leverage
linguistic and cultural
resources; they need to

My 1st objective is to inspire a

love of writing in my students.
The 2nd objective is to improve
writing skills for my students.
The 3rd objective is to
encourage teachers to
implement different
strategies to reach English
learners.
The last objective is to promote
the importance of writing for
ELs at my school.
*most teachers at my school focus on
reading, & leave little to no time for writing
instruction.

IMPLEMENTATION
First, I asked the principal for permission
to present a PLC to the staff.
I presented on Wednesday Novemember
9th in the cafeteria.
Next, I passed out a handout to all of the
staff.
Then, I modeled how to use each website
and how to set up an account.
I presented student work & samples from
Els of different tiers, and also included
work from students with special needs, as
well as gifted students.

CHALLENGES/FINAL OUTCOME
Challenges: I had few challenges. At first, students were hesitant to
write.
Suggestions: Students can present their writing to the staff and describe
in their own words how using technology has improved their writing. This
would be a great way to build confidence for English Learners.
Final Outcome: This project surpassed my expectations! I received
overwhelmingly positive feedback from my peers. The teachers loved how
the websites were free and differentiated writing for English learners. They
also liked how all students could benefit from the websites not just ELs. My
students beg me to use Storybird and makebeliefcomix.com.
Storybird is now added to the technology center!

SAMPLES!!!!!!!!!
The boys in my
class love
makebeliefcom
ix! Limited text
space makes
writing less
intimidating.
Els can use
shorter
sentences with
simple syntax.
This is a great
tool to
encourage
reluctant
writers.

Trading Card from

readwritethink.org, is a
great alternative for a
biography. This
student wrote about

STORYBIRD
SAMPLES

A wonderful tool that enables students to create picture

books and poems. The lively pictures serve as a
scaffold. The poem option is excellent for struggling
writers because the words are provided in the
template. Students just have to move the words around
to form their own sentences. There are currently 59
stories on our storybird account. I teach about 62
students, so those are great results!

FUTURE STEPS
Create structured, detailed, and differentiated assignments on
Storybird to target specific writing skills. (Students are currently
writing fictional narratives and free writing on storybird. )
meet with teachers to see if they are implementing the technological
resources I demonstrated at the PLC.
Meet with parents to display student writing progress
Discuss schoolwide implementation with administration or other
teachers in Dekalb County
I would like to advocate for ELs at a county or state level.
Leaving 25 percent of our student population behind in terms of
education and opportunity has only one outcome, disaster for this
country. ( McBride, 2008)

REFERENCES
Allen, J. B. (2007). Creating welcoming schools: A practical guide to home-school partnerships with diverse families. New
York: Teachers College Press.
Archerd, E. (2013). AN IDEA FOR IMPROVING ENGLISH LANGUAGE LEARNERS' ACCESS TO
EDUCATION. Fordham Urban Law Journal, 41351
de Jong, E. J., Harper, C. A., & Coady, M. R. (2013). Enhanced Knowledge and Skills for Elementary Mainstream Teachers of
English Language Learners. Theory Into Practice, 52(2), 89-97.doi:10.1080/00405841.2013.770326
Fenner, D. S., Segota, J., & Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. (2014). Advocating for English learners: A
guide for educators.
McBride, A., & Educational Testing Service, P. C. (2008). Addressing Achievement Gaps: The Language Acquisition
Educational Achievement of English-Language Learners. ETS Policy Notes. Volume 16, Number 2, Summer
2008.Educational Testing Service,

and