Is copywork considered writing?

[journey00]

For 4th & 5th grade? Thanks.

[Farrar]

Yes.

 

I was a copywork doubter, but I've come around. I don't think the grade level means much. I think it's solid useful writing time for any student who needs to improve fluency and doesn't always get the mechanics and spelling correct when copying. After that, I think the focus should be more on dictation, though copywork can still be useful, especially when a student is choosing their own passages from their own reading.

[HS Mom in NC]

Yes, I think it's writing if it's narration based.  That assumes the content is getting more complicated as the child is able, the child is copying his/her own narration and/or the child hasn't mastered spelling and punctuation in the copywork yet.

 

Narration based copywork includes:

 

1. Intake and processing:

 

Hearing or reading something and summarizing the main ideas out loud in sentences in a sensible order. 

 

2. Output:

 

Having someone scribe it then the child copies it or the child is writing those sentences down on their own.

I would call copywork handwriting otherwise.

[SparklyUnicorn]

I consider it writing.  By 4th and 5th I tried (try) to have my kids work more on dictation than copywork, but yes I still have my 4th grader doing copywork.  Sometimes it's just straight up copywork, but most of the time it's something he has dictated to me that I then have him copy.

 

I was skeptical as well, but my now 7th grader does a really good job writing.  And he has done lots and lots of copywork. 

 

 

[8filltheheart]

For 4th & 5th grade? Thanks.

 

Depends on what is being done with the copywork.   I don't know that I consider copywork as writing for even 1st-3rd grades if all a student is doing is copying words with no focus on what he or she is actually writing.   Simply transferring letters and punctuation from a sample onto paper correctly doesn't even require reading what is being copied.

 

However, copywork presented as a teaching tool for what constitutes quality writing and is thoroughly evaluated as such can help students start to assess writing critically.

 

Copying memorable selections for personal edification has existed for ages.   If you Google commonplace books, you will see how this has been a practice for centuries.  (

 

Should copywork be the only form of writing for 4th and 5th graders?  I do not think so.   But copywork as part of writing instruction definitely works.  

[Ellie]

Yes. *Everything* counts as "writing."

[5LittleMonkeys]

If you mean writing as in penmanship - yes.

If you mean it as in composition - no. 

 

I believe 100% in the effectiveness of straight copywork - that is, taking a passage that someone else has composed and copying it -as a tool for learning about punctuation, grammar, usage, structure, style, vocabulary, and spelling. I also think it's effective as a way to polish penmanship skills. To put copywork into the realm of composition, the dc would need to be narrating to you as you write their words,  you help them edit, and then they copy that.  

 

I personally would not be comfortable using only straight copywork with a 4th or 5th grader.  I think that by then, barring any LDs, they should be composing their own written work. 

[GrammarGirl]

No. A fourth grader should be doing some original writing. Have you looked at Treasured Conversations?

[Farrar]

Here's the thing about dividing writing into only original writing and handwriting... I think it ignores that copywork can be a great teaching tool for learning how to do better original writing. It's its own thing in my opinion.

 

I do think 4th and 5th graders should also be doing some original writing, probably even more than they're doing with copywork or dictations (mine do), but I also think copywork can still be a piece of a solid writing approach for that age group.

[HS Mom in NC]

Here's the thing about dividing writing into only original writing and handwriting... I think it ignores that copywork can be a great teaching tool for learning how to do better original writing. It's its own thing in my opinion.

 

I do think 4th and 5th graders should also be doing some original writing, probably even more than they're doing with copywork or dictations (mine do), but I also think copywork can still be a piece of a solid writing approach for that age group.

 

I agree.  I think people have to keep in mind that the content a child is hearing or reading and the complexity of copywork between grades 1 and 5 should be very different.  I think when people stop doing narrations, dictations and copy work as the content gets more complicated and abstract the kids miss out on doing longer higher level summaries and copywork using more complex sentences, more advanced vocabulary and more sophisticated structure in their paragraphs. Too many people drop all of it entirely too soon.

[LindaOz]

Here's the thing about dividing writing into only original writing and handwriting... I think it ignores that copywork can be a great teaching tool for learning how to do better original writing. It's its own thing in my opinion.

 

I do think 4th and 5th graders should also be doing some original writing, probably even more than they're doing with copywork or dictations (mine do), but I also think copywork can still be a piece of a solid writing approach for that age group.

Absolutely. My 4th grade son has been copyworking poetry each morning. Suddenly, out of the blue, he has started writing his own poetry. This is awesome as he is not a natural writer and often struggles for ideas, and yet he is suddenly writing poetry. I credit this to daily copywork and reading poetry aloud.

 

Oh yeah, and his cursive is improving too... ;)