Jump to content

Menu

Sentences to Paragraphs to Essays


Recommended Posts

HELP!  My mind is spinning because I need to find something that will do the following:

 

Teach my severely dyslexic/dysgraphic/low memory fellow who is in 11th grade how to put sentences together in a logical format to form the paragraph and then paragraphs into short and eventually longer essays (I'll fine tune the essay part next year) but really need help with sentences into paragraphs.  Any ideas?

 

I've looked at IEW - he doesn't do well with rewriting in his own words readings that he has read.  EIW - maybe but not sure about a grade placement.  My dd used the 10th for her senior year (also dyslexic but no where near the weaknesses he has) and it was okay.  He's certainly not ready for the 10th grade level.

 

I used the Write Foundation last year and he'd place into the sentences to paragraphs level - which I could do but then the Senior year I'd have to skip a level - which perhaps I could do?  Ack!  I don't know.

 

I looked at Meaningful Composition and read through the sample for the Level 4A book and kind of liked the repetitive nature of the lessons (which is necessary for his memory) but that would really put him far behind.

 

Anyone have any success with something I'd never think of using in a million years?  I hate that he struggles so much because when I scribe he's very creative.  He'll definitely type lessons which I know will help him but he needs a writing program like Math U See - small increments with practice.  He balks at writing but understands he needs to master this skill.

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sorry you've gotten no response yet. I'm kind of in the same boat with ds1. We are working through Diana Hanbury King materials for now but another member told me about another program that looks really promising. I cut and paste this from a message I got from her. It sounds very similar to a program called Treasured Conversations. I am using it with one of my dc but it is meant for a younger audience because of the characters in it but I think it could easily be modified. The author of Treasured Conversations recommended School Composition by William H. Maxwell for the older crowd, although it is a old book.

Writing with Kris seems to use a kind of graphic organizer making it more visual.

 

Anyway this was her message:

 

 

Her name is Kris Cordell and her program is called Writing With Kris. I emailed her and you can purchase her handbook on line, but you have to contact her. She's not really set up to order like you would with Amazon or something. It's very simple and doable. Her basic philosophy is if you can master the paragraph, you can master the essay. So, my kids write a paragraph a week and we work on mastering that. Mondays, we brainstorm and make a web. The center is the subject. This week it was "my cousins". Then, there's four branches off that, which are the main points. "Anna, Kaylee, Lydia, Sarah". Then, off each main point is two supporting details. So, off of "Anna" would be "likes to play games" and "is my age". Then, you write a key word outline. Your main points would be the Roman Numerals and the supporting details would be the letters under the Roman Numerals. The next day we make a sentence outline. It's taking the Keyword Outline and making good sentences out of each key word. The next day they write that up as a rough draft and I edit it and then they make a final draft and I grade it. We don't do a lot of re-writes uless they just do a terrible job. The thing I like is that it a small amount of writing, so it's easy for me to grade, it's easy for them to manage and we work at making those few sentences really good.

 

HTHs!

Edited by MyLittleBears
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I was going to suggest Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills series as well. There are four books -- one elementary level (book A), one at the 5-6 grade level (Book 1), one for grades 7-8 (book 2), and one for high school (book 3). Take a look at samples online if you can, in order to see which one to start with. They won't necessarily take you a full year to get through, so if you have almost two years left of school, you could get through levels 1-3.

 

The benefit is that nowhere on the book does it say that book 1 is for grades 5 to 6. You can just start at level 1 and work your way through it.

 

We used level A with my youngers and level 1 and part of level 2 with my oldest. I liked it. But in the levels we used, it did not have the students work on revising their work, so I would add that in. You could have your student follow the lessons in the book to create the paragraphs, then you could have them type it and revise it. You could easily give them a list of things to look for when revising, depending on the needs of your student, and as they progress, you could add things to that list.

 

Another thing I might add to the program is the use of graphic organizers. You could easily print some templates out and have him use them to plan out the writing. The workbook provides space to write the paragraphs but doesn't always give space for the pre-writing process. We've found that using graphic organizers really helps my kids with dysgraphia. Hanbury King does break the writing process down into steps, but having those steps put onto a graphic planner would be an additional help hat wouldn't be hard to add in.

 

So I would use it as a springboard. Have the student get his thoughts down, using this program, but then work with him on the revision process to make the writing stronger. Level 3 might cover revising; we didn't get that far.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could introduce him to 'algebraic thinking'?

Which is not just about math?

 

While arithmetic involves an additive process, to arrive at an answer.

With algebra, it rather starts at the answer, the conclusion.

Then looks back at how it can be arrived at?

So that we begin ordering paragraphs, which be used to get there?

 

Then within each paragraph, we have Variables.

Which are Sentences.

 

So that it could simply be turned around, to: Essay, to Paragraphs, to Sentences.

From the full picture, to filling in the details.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

We have similar issues here & I'm ordering Killgallon's Paragraphs for High School.  Not sure it will be the trick but I'm feeling hopeful because Killgallon's sentence composing got my other child over a hump..... 

http://www.heinemann.com/products/E04253.aspx

There's a sample you can look at there...

Edited by hornblower
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Have you looked at Essentials in Writing by Matthew Stephens? That's described by the author as a Math-U-See approach to writing, and each level follows the sequence you mentioned too (first works on sentences, then on paragraphs, then on essays and research papers). I would do a slightly lower highschool level for your son (maybe 9 or 10), because it will be more incremental. The lessons include short videos (usually 3-5 minutes) that teach one concept and model how to do it, and then the student practices that concept. I found it was more incremental than IEW in that respect, and it really helped my struggling writer. Here's a blog review I wrote several years ago, when I used it for my then 9th grader. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

 Share

×
×
  • Create New...