Waking Minds
Overview:
 CDIA’s Waking Minds (WM) is a program for students in grades 5-12 that provides instruction, tools, and learning strategies to help students learn to express themselves through the written word. With specific tools for English Language Learners and struggling readers/writers, WM provides:
- Direct instruction in the writing process
- Ample student practice with automated feedback at a variety of levels and with a variety of writing types
- Customized writing assessment activities that replicate district and state writing assessments
- Feedback from eTeachers and eTutors to writing assessment activities
Benefits:
“WM has the potential to support improvement in student’s writing because the evaluative feedback is so systematically chunked that as one’s conceptual and procedural knowledge bases develop so too does control and ownership of one’s writing”
(Lapp, 2007).
With a firm foundation in scientifically based research and the cognitive approach, WM offers all students the opportunity to develop and demonstrate written acumen. This approach is particularly suited to ELL students and students struggling with literacy, as it focuses on cognition rather than basic skills. The crux of reading and writing is metacognition and critical thinking. WM provides features and functions that make content accessible to ELL students but that do not dilute the learning process or output.
Summary of Features of WM 2.0
The link between literacy and academic and personal success has been well established in academic research. Writing
integrates critical thinking, analysis, reading comprehension, creativity, self expression, discussion, and metacognition.
The WM 2.0 system is comprised of administration tools, teacher tools, eTutor evaluation tools, and student learning
components. The significant features include:
WM 2.0 is a supplemental writing product that is web-based product with print components to support classroom instruction. Its
design allows certain segments to be accomplished in the classroom without computers and web access and others that require
computers with web access. The web-based instruction is rich with multimedia assets that support the learning characteristics and
styles of all students.
- Etutors that give high human touch with particular insight into individual student needs
- Online writing guides that humanize the interface with writing tips and techniques about common errors; these offered with humor
and whimsy
- Online video segments of real writers of all ages and types that provide authentic instruction
- Online writing guide with sections on grammar, style, substance, and structure that contain hyperlinks to definitions, graphics,
and animations
- Practice exercises linked to all subcategories of writing guide
- Models of all writing types and genres with step-by-step templates for creation
- Integrated communication activities in all phases of writing:
- Prewriting
- Drafting
- Revising
- Editing
- Publishing
- Audio support of all text
- Access to online bulletin board with classroom- restricted teacher-student access
Writing Assessment
The writing assessment component features the following:
- Techniques and step-by-step strategies for particular writing assessments
- Prompts and directions that reflect those for targeted states
- Online submittal of essays
- Overall scores and teacher and student reports
- Timely individualized feedback in personalized reports from experienced writing tutors that offer guidance on ways to improve in each of the following areas:
- Grammar and Mechanics
- Style
- Structure
- Substance
- An underlying WM Writing Guide that contain information on how to improve in targeted sections of each of these areas
System Requirments
PC Specifications
OS: Windows Vista, XP, 2000
Browsers: IE 6.0 & IE 7.0
Plug Ins: Adobe Flash 8.0 and Acrobat Reader 7.0.9 (for pdfs as appropriate)
Hardware:
Windows 2000 & XP
Intel Pentium II 450MHz or faster processor (or equivalent)
128MB of system memory
VISTA
1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor (or equivalent)
512 MB of system memory
Mac Specifications
OS: Macintosh® OS 10.3.9, Macintosh® OS 10.4.10, Macintosh® OS 10.5
Browsers: Safari™ 1.3.2, Safari™ 2.0.4, Safari™ 3.0.3
Plug Ins: Adobe Flash 8.0 and Acrobat Reader 7.0.9 (for pdfs as appropriate)
Hardware: Macintosh
PowerPC G4 or faster processor
256MB of system memory for Mac OS 10.3.9 and 10.4.10
512MB of system memory for Mac OS 10.5.1
Pricing & Demo Request
Questions for dropdown choices
Unlimited Site License with:
1) 300 essay submissions
2) 600 essay submissions
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