Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever By mariconda

[domestic_engineer]

For those of you who have used Barbara Mariconda's Most Wonderful Writing Lessons Ever, could you please describe how you implemented it in your homeschool?   What was your schedule?  How long did it take you to go through it?   (Just looking for a ballpark estimate.)

 

I just finished reading the book.  While reading the last chapter on her reading program, I'm wondering how to scale down the time estimates she gives.  

 

Thanks in advance!

[lanabug]

I'm planning to use it with my 4th great this year. I'm thinking it will take us about 2 and a half months to get through, doing it 4 days a week.

 

Lana

[Tranquility7]

I'm responding because I'm currently going through that book with my DS9 (rising 4th grader) and we are really enjoying it. That said, our experience with it is somewhat haphazard and also very influenced by other programs that I have read (though not necessarily formally used. Nevertheless, I'll tell you about it since I've actually been impressed with it and think it is giving us something that we aren't getting from other programs.

First, a little background... DS9 is very strong in language arts and generally enjoys writing. I've yet to find a writing program for him that is THE perfect program, so I tend to just collect bits from different programs, TMWWLE being one of them. I am currently going through both CAP Writing & Rhetoric Fable with him and Cover Story - so that is where I get all of our writing assignments currently (we do not do "prompts" as mentioned in TMWWLE). That being said, my approach has also been influenced through my reading/watching/listening of Teaching the Classics, Bravewriter, Classical Writing, Lost Tools of Writing, Kilgallon, etc...

I read through TMWWLE first on my own, then covered the first two chapters very casually with DS as we read different books together. I've done some Teaching the Classics with DS in the past (analyzing literature, figuring out the story arc, etc.), so what Mariconda was writing in those two chapters was not really new to us.

Chapter 3 (Compelling Beginnings) we actually ended up reading aloud at the dinner table... which was GREAT! It ended up being so much fun. The text is written to the teacher, not the student, but DS didn't really care, and I just skipped a paragraph here and there as necessary. He actually liked the sections where she wrote about her conversations with her students, because he could identify with the students and found it funny. We just read aloud and discussed as we went, and then when we encountered the good examples of compelling beginnings, we all (DH and younger DD5 included) kept piping up with entertaining first sentences following her examples. It was great fun and we all really enjoyed it.

Chapter 4 we covered in much the same way, all orally, some at the dinner table, since the first time worked so well for us! It was a longer chapter so we covered it over a couple of days rather than in one sitting.

I plan to cover Chapters 5-8 similarly. We don't really follow a schedule, I just pick up TMWWLE when I am wanting to cover something new with DS. We started it in May and I expect we will be finished with reading through it together by probably November, although we will continue to work on learning to implement her ideas after that (more on that later). It could be read through far faster than that but a chapter a month works for us.

After each chapter, I modify my Self-Edit Checklist (attached below) that DS uses after each writing assignment draft and I add an item or two about what we learned from the TMWWLE chapter. The Checklist contains bits we have learned from all different curricula, and I am always modifying and adding to it. Anyway, then whenever DS writes something, before he hands it over to me, he is to go through the Self-Edit Checklist first (actually, I think he often keeps it beside the computer while he is writing, so he implements it as he goes, which is even better). The checklist helps him go back and independently review his own writing for many of the qualities we have talked about. He will often make some changes on his own and then bring me his draft. We review the draft together, again going through the Self-Edit Checklist, and we edit together as we go. All of the assignments he writes are for either CAP Fable or Cover Story, but we work hard to implement what we are learning from our other programs such as TMWWLE and Figuratively Speaking.

Sorry if I'm oversharing about how we are doing it... I've just been so pleasantly surprised with how much we get out of it, and we are implementing it nothing at all like the book says :-)

 

Checklist.pdf

[domestic_engineer]

Thanks, tranquility7, for all the details!  We are in a similar situation (both kids and parent), and I *was* wondering if I could read it with my oldest and if I could/should include a younger sibling.  So your response was just what I was looking for!  And thanks for sharing the checklist; that's a great idea!

[sbgrace]

It's been quite a while since I used it, and I've had trouble locating my book. I was able to talk tonight to a friend who also used (and enjoyed) it to refresh my memory/get her thoughts, and I finally found my book. I have quickly thumbed through, but I am happy to look  at specific lessons if you have specific questions. 

 

The chapters are generally structured to have an information type section for the teacher. I think of this as building background understanding for myself.

 

Then she would have a section that explained how she would teach this topic to students in her classroom. Sometimes (often?) this is labeled as teaching the whatever to the students or similar. But she describes how her instruction looks. The empowering writing website actually has videos for some of those lessons. A few times, I would show those to my sons, though I don't think it was particularly helpful to them. I did like seeing it in action myself, though. Anyway, I would basically teach the lesson the way she taught it. One on one, which is the way I teach subjects like composition here even though I've got two the same age, worked well for all of them that I recall. I just did the lesson with myself and the child as the only participants. I was the partner in writing when that was called for the lesson (called guided practice I think) or if it was needed by mine particularly. In those cases we composed together. 

 

This isn't a scripted lesson plan, but it didn't feel hard to teach either. I did have to read through the chapter and think about how I was going to approach it..

 

Oh, I created visuals and little things to help us remember. The writing diamond is a good one to have to refer back to. We came up with acronyms to help us recall things. Entertaining Beginnings for example were QDFAST starts (question, description, feelings, action, sound, thoughts).

 

Let me know if you have questions. I will try to help. That book was enjoyable and improved our writing.