Special Education Students Write: Classroom Activities and Assignments

By Ray Marik

As soon as I opened this book, I found myself nodding in agreement. The occurrences Marik describes could very easily come from my own classroom. Although order must prevail and an instructor is forced to be tough at the start, by establishing manners and respect, he creates a climate where students can safely experience success.

After bringing the right climate to the classroom, Marik focuses on before and after results of some successful and unsuccessful activities he has tried. Through it all you can sense how much he really cares about kids and the stories behind them. I learned that while grammar is important, it is secondary to self-expression for a group of students such as these, who typically have traumatic life stories. In these cases, the writing itself can be therapeutic.

Although these students need to be slowly led in the right direction to write something like a descriptive paragraph, they do quite well if they get to be creative and hands-on. Throughout the book, Marik emphasizes that timing is everything. It is important to let the students feel successful at each step before giving instructions for the next step. Similarly, behavior rules are best instituted when the situation is confronted, rather than given as abstract rules in a vacuum at the beginning of the year. This way they will have more impact and there is a physical event that the student can remember as well.

A fabulous book for the special educator!!