Written by Suzanne Feit

The hardest part about writing a blog, for me, is organizing my thoughts into a logical sequence that support my topic. I imagine this is true for many writers. When thinking about writing a blog on Kurzweil 3000 Writing Templates, I decided to use a template to begin. With 10 new writing templates added with the latest software release, there are now close to 30 template choices. I chose Persuasive Paragraph.

I can easily change from Brainstorm to Outline to Draft which allows me to think about my subtopics and the structure of my writing.

It is amazing how the writing process has evolved

Years ago, teachers said we had to turn in our outline to show our writing process. Many of us would write the report and then figure out what the outline might have looked like. It was not easy to move backwards. And with paper and pencil, it was even more difficult to insert ideas sequentially when a brilliant idea was missed and everything had to be erased to make room to insert the idea. I never understood how anyone could know ahead of time how to organize their ideas. I found that the more I got into a topic, the more I realized that an idea needed to be introduced earlier or expanded.

With Kurzweil 3000, writing becomes child’s play

You can open a template and see the writing prompts and explanations of each step. The program encourages you to work in small increment s to develop your thoughts. It’s easy to go back and edit. By clicking the yellow Writing Toolbar icons, you can quickly view the Brainstorm, Outline and Draft of your topic. The last step is, Review Checklist. This encourages the writer to re-read and edit their writing. This can also be customized by the teacher to include any additional writing rubrics.

Built-in supports encourage independent writing, with improved results

It is a huge advantage to utilize the Kurzweil 3000 talking spell checker, word predictor, and word vocabulary lists extracted from any reading passage. Having ready-to-use writing templates that support the writing process is very empowering. There is a NEW set of brainstorming templates to help teachers structure lesson plans aligned to common core and UDL. And, teachers can create their own templates. The reading and writing tools found in Kurzweil 3000 are powerful tools that not only support the student with learning challenges, but can be used every day for whole class instruction to guide the reading and writing process.

Did you know?

A new Tier 2 vocabulary list was added to Kurzweil 3000 with the latest release? Watch a free, on-demand webinar with Jim Burke to hear his strategy behind this academic vocabulary list.
Help Your Students Develop an Academic Vocabulary: An Effortless Solution

About the guest speaker: Jim Burke, an English teacher at Burlingame High School. Jim is the author of more than 20 books, including The Common Core Companion series and The English Teacher’s Companion.

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