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Expanding Expressions Tool

The Expanding Expression Tool (EET) is to be used by teachers, literacy coaches, reading specialists, parents, speech-language pathologist to build:


 * Oral expression
 * Written expression
 * Vocabulary Comprehension
 * Defining and describing
 * Making associations
 * Stating functions of objects
 * Categorization
 * Similarities and differences

The EET provides students with a hands-on approach to describing and defining. “As a mnemonic device, it provides visual and tactical information which facilitates improved language organization” (Smith, 2013, para 2). The writing strategy takes a hierarchical approach taking student’s expression from words to paragraphs to reports. The tool is color symbol coded. With the toll students are able to provide detailed descriptions such as the category an item belongs to, the function of an object, the appearance, what an item is made of, the parts of an item, and its location. It can be used for general descriptions, writing from prior knowledge, autobiographies/biographies, summarizing and more. It provides structure for the struggling students and enhances the skills of those students already strong in the language arts area.

To view student examples visit: []

To view student videos using the actual Expanding Expressions Tool visit: []

References:

Smith (2013). //The Expanding Expressions Tool.// Retrieved from []