Writing is an essential skill for students to learn in order to communicate in their personal lives as well as in their academic and professional careers. When examining ways to teach writing to students with learning and language differences, Kathy Ewoldt, Ph.D., Professor in the Department of Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching at COEHD took a unique approach. This research approach landed her the 2021 Council for Learning Disabilities Outstanding Research Award.
The idea for Ewoldt’s research extends back to her time in the U.S. Air Force. Recalling a process of “reverse engineering,” Ewoldt began to construct the theory for her research.
“When our aircraft go down behind enemy lines, they basically will blow them up,” she said. “The reason they do that is because they don't want that technology to get into the enemy's hands. Because what the enemy will do with that, is called ‘reverse engineering.’ They will break it all down and see the whole system and see how it all operates together. That's the idea of reverse engineering, so I applied that theory to teaching students with learning disabilities how to write an informational paragraph.”
As a resource classroom teacher, Ewoldt would take the English Language Arts lessons being taught in general education classes and teach them to her students with learning disabilities in her resource classroom. It was here she began testing her idea.
“My research really came out of my practice. I saw that it was working with kids, but I just didn’t know why or how, I didn’t understand the theory behind it.”
“I knew anecdotally it was working for my students, and so for the next few years, every time I taught this lesson at the beginning of the school year, I would try and improve it a little bit” she said. “My research really came out of my practice. I saw that it was working with kids, but I just didn’t know why or how, I didn’t understand the theory behind it.”
With this theory in mind, Ewoldt began her research in 2016. At the time, Ewoldt was an Office of Special Education Programs Funded Scholar which placed her into a school site as a research intern. For three years during her doctoral program, she was located at Crestwood Elementary in Las Vegas, NV.
“We were embedded into urban schools to learn what the different variables were,” she said. “We did our internship there so that we could learn more about the contextual experience of doing applied research in schools. We focused mostly on kids with learning disabilities, and a majority of them were also English learners.”
During her internship, she met teacher Juliana Urtubey, 2021 National Teacher of the Year, who conducted a pilot study of Ewoldt’s research. “She said it will forever change the way that she does her writing instruction in her classroom,” Ewoldt said.
Applying her reverse engineering theory, Ewoldt flipped paragraph writing to suit her students. Whereas experts typically approach writing in a sequence of beginning, middle and end, Ewoldt’s theory taught the paragraph writing process in a backward sequence.
“For kids who learn best with direct and explicit instruction, this is effective to give them the basic skills that they need,” she said. “They can take that and develop their creative writing skills or their skills on how to make it their own. It’s a start.”
Ewoldt had been a part of the Council for Learning Disabilities since beginning her doctoral program, and often attended the annual conference. It was there she learned about the Outstanding Research Award. “From the time I saw it years ago, I said ‘I’m going to try at least,’” she said. “I need to make sure my dissertation is at least a competitor.”
After applying and not receiving the award twice, Ewoldt used it as a learning opportunity and a way to improve her approach.
“The lesson learned is that, even though it hurts and stings, the feedback always makes it better.”
“The nice thing about it is, when you get the reject letter, you get feedback,” she said. “The lesson learned is that, even though it hurts and stings, the feedback always makes it better.”
As the saying goes “third time’s the charm.” Ewoldt’s third submission earned her the distinguished honor. Along with the title, she will receive a plaque and a $500 honorarium to be presented at the 2021 International Conference on Learning Disabilities in Las Vegas, NV, where she will also present her work.
For Ewoldt, a first-generation college student and a self-proclaimed “B-C student,” receiving the award was more than she could have imagined.
“I have always admired the people and their work, now to be a part of this group, I get goosebumps just saying that,” she said. “I didn’t expect it and its pretty amazing. I can’t believe it’s me. It’s just unbelievable. It’s very very humbling.”
-Libby Castillo