EmPower Writing Program
Objective: Teachers will be able to implement the first steps of the EmPower program (Evaluate, make a Plan, and Organize) within their own classrooms.
Description: The EmPower Writing Program is a program created by Bonnie Singer to provide a systematic approach to writing. This program works well for students with specific learning disabilities in writing or students who struggle with organizing and initiating writing. EmPower is an acronym for the steps within this writing process. For this best practice session we will only focus on the EmPo pieces to the system.
This program has helped my past students to initiate a writing task with minimal or decreasing dependence on staff. They have learned strategies to break down wordy prompts and identify important information. They have discovered that different pieces of writing have different "jobs". They have also recognized that not all writing prompts require the same graphic organizer.
Advice for Implementation: Repetition of steps is necessary for students to be able to eventually generalize the skill(s) on their own.
