Begin With ME! is a new classroom-based initiative being implemented in Macomb County, Michigan. This project brings together educators from both special and general education to help young writers. Begin With ME! uses simple, effective technology devices, good support strategies, and motivating reasons to write to help students improve their writing. It provides teachers with resources they need to effectively integrate technology into the writing process across the curriculum for all students.

Today's classroom teacher faces a very real challenge: How do I meet the needs of all my students in such a diverse classroom? This initiative aims to employ a Universal Design for Learning approach to technology integration. Begin With ME! is designed around the premise that, in a classroom where a scaffold of technology devices for good writing and strategies are always available, students will use the specific devices they need to improve their writing.

A variety of elements are combined to create the Begin With ME! project. These elements include a specially designed technology toolkit, ongoing training and support, motivating reasons to write, and well-developed support teams.

Probably the most important component of the Begin With ME! project is the multidisciplinary Building Support Team. Collaborative planning and teaching between classroom teachers, special educators, and technology educators is essential to the project's success. Each team is made up of a classroom teacher, a special education service provider, instructional and assistive technology staff, and the building principal. Teams meet regularly to plan instruction and assign roles for carrying out classroom activities. All support and supplementary instruction occurs in the general education classroom. This model ensures the best possible support for students with special learning needs and presents an opportunity for special education providers to give additional support to underserved, at-risk students.

The technology toolkit is specially designed to meet the needs of all writers in the classroom. It includes simple, cost-effective software and hardware solutions. Devices include talking word processors, word prediction software, visual origination software, note takers, spell checkers, and a variety of other low-tech/no-tech options. These devices are used throughout all areas of the writing process: planning, draft writing, editing, and publishing. Because the devices fit so naturally into the writing process and are available to every student every time writing occurs, they have become a natural and integral part of the classroom writing process.

Team training and support is vital to successful integration of technology and classroom instruction. Begin With ME! delivers training and support in a variety of ways, including hands-on workshops; in-classroom instruction; and access to anytime, online resources. This ongoing training, tied directly to the curriculum, has given Begin With ME! teachers confidence. They have become confident using the technology to teach and subsequently are encouraging their students to use it to write.

Do you have a toolbox at home? When do you use it? When you have a reason to. Hanging a picture, fixing a faucet, or repairing a bicycle are all reasons to get out the toolbox. The same holds true for any classroom toolkit. Students and teachers need a reason to use it. In Begin With ME!, those reasons are called Reasons to Write. Reasons to Write can be as simple as a walk around the school, a classroom field trip, or something more interesting like a virtual field trip or a Web-based research project. These events provide students with an authentic, motivating reason to write, and they provide teachers with a framework for integrating technology into instruction.

Begin With ME! is in its third year. There are 13 districts, 33 teams, and just under 1,000 students involved.

Overall, Begin With ME! students write more, more often, and with better results. Students considered at risk for academic failure demonstrated the most significant improvements. On standardized state assessments, 58.7 percent of the students who scored not proficient on the initial writing sample (2 or below), achieved a proficient rating (2.5 or better) on the final writing sample. In addition, students reported they felt better about themselves as writers after participating in the Begin With ME! project. The teachers involved in the project showed significant growth as well, indicating their level of comfort teaching language arts, teaching language arts to special needs students, and using technology in the classroom had increased significantly. At the beginning of the project, only 40 percent agreed with the statement "I effectively integrate resources/strategies into my writing instruction to support children with special needs." At the end of the project, 100 percent agreed with it. Initially, 54 percent agreed with the statement "I am comfortable using technology in my classroom to support writing." At the end of the project, 91 percent agreed.

Begin With ME! has shown that when teams of education professionals come to share their ideas and expertise, good things can happen for all children. For more information about the project, visit http://www.beginwithme.misd.net or contact Susan Hardin, assistive technology consultant, or Frank Miracola, instructional technology consultant.