writing for struggling student

[tmkclscroggins]

Can someone recommend an easy to use writing class - preferably online - for a seriously struggling 9th grade boy. We've done so many classes but his writing is not improving! We've done some home2teach, a semester with write@home, a progymnasmata class with Regina Coeli. After all of these classes, his writing is still very elementary.

 

We are in need of a tried and true method. Something easy to teach and something that helps him just write basic expository type papers - maybe step by step.

 

CAN SOMEONE HELP US? I'm so worried that he won't be able to get into college because of this.

 

 

thanks,

melissa

[wendybern]

Would you consider IEW? http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ It worked for my dd. After years of struggle and little progress, we switched to IEW, she enjoyed it, the stress was gone, and she ended up being a great writer. It is formulaic, but it gives them lots of tools, and they grow out of the awkwardness once they master the tools. The teaching is all on dvd, so very easy for you, or you can look for a class -- they have lists on their website, http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/instructors.

 

Wendy

[jelbe5]

Not an online course but Apologia's Jump In! might do the trick. This is what I am using with my 14yog. It is very user-friendly and is written to the student. The student is guided through the workbook to complete various writing projects. The assignments are step-by-step and breaks the projects down into bite size pieces. It is geared to Jr. High but may be used with older students. You can look at a sample at the Apologia website. I purchased my set from CBD as it was less expensive.

 

Adrianne in IL

[pbjmeyer]

Would you consider IEW? http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/ It worked for my dd. After years of struggle and little progress, we switched to IEW, she enjoyed it, the stress was gone, and she ended up being a great writer. It is formulaic, but it gives them lots of tools, and they grow out of the awkwardness once they master the tools. The teaching is all on dvd, so very easy for you, or you can look for a class -- they have lists on their website, http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/instructors.

 

Wendy

 

 

Similar story with my son. IEW for the past year has made an incredible difference. I recommend the investment in SWI-C and the DVD's, which makes teaching it easier and helps make the system clearer.

 

Joyce

[Rhonda in TX]

My 13 yo has always struggled with writing. IEW has been absolutely amazing. He wrote a two page paper (typed, double-spaced) last week. For a child that I had to drag any writing out of previously, this is HUGE!

 

I also recommend SWI-C if you don't want to teach it yourself.

[Chris in PA]

:iagree:

I am going to put in another vote for IEW. My 11th grade dd has always struggled with writing. She couldn't put together a logical paragraph no matter what we tried. We used outside courses, Writing Strands, and several other resources. I finally broke down and purchased IEW SWI-C and it has worked a miracle. Her writing has improved tremendously this year and she actually said, "Mom I finally understand writing". I am also using US History Based Writing Lessons Vol. 1 with my 6th grade ds and it is going well. He also struggled with writing. I can't say enough good things about it. It is a time investment but well worth it. I love the program.

[4wildberrys]

I suggest taking a look at Meaningful Composition 8+. It is based on IEW style, but teaches the writing step-by-step and is written directly to the student. I just ordered it after looking at samples online and it seems that there is a lot more hand holding and specific, guided directions in this program than a regular IEW program. But if the Christian content in MC is not for you, then I also second IEW!

[Faithr]

Hi Melissa! May I make a different suggestion. It might not be a matter of finding the right curriculum for your son. What exactly is the issue for him? I have a struggling 9th grade writer right now too but I don't see hopping from one curriculum to the next as an answer for him. It hasn't worked thus far so I am doubtful it will work in the future. I think he needs to mature and also come to a better understanding of WHY good writing is so important. Right now, for my son to push on is to just reinforce the drudgery of writing (in his view.) It is painful to watch!

 

So I'm letting it go for now in terms of curriculum. Sometimes when you let something lie fallow for a while the field becomes more fertile. Instead of requiring him to write we are going to study great writers. We've been watch Teaching the Classics which teaches lit analysis. We are also going to watch the Teaching Co.'s Building Great Sentences. After we've focused on it in this way, we'll figure how to do the actual exercise of writing.

 

One thing that I've observed from having older kids is that there can be a vast difference between a 9th grader and an 11th grader. Especially if the 11th grader is motivated to go to college/worried about the SAT essay, etc. They are much more open to writing classes, etc. When they have that internal motivation they are the ones that want to work on their weaknesses; it isn't the mom seeing the glaring inadequacies and pushing the student. There is such a big difference in attitude and openness. Also I think when you get to 11th and 12th grade the student isn't so busy growing and going through bodily changes. I think more brain cells can be devoted to struggling through something one is not a natural at.

 

My very humble 2 cents.

[Ellie]

You might check out WriteGuide.

[titianmom]

Have you seen this?

 

http://www.handsonessays.com/index.php

 

I'm seriously looking at this one for over the summer. I realize you've tried other ones but if money is an issue, this might work for ya.

 

The exercises appear to be simple but effective, then they have to write a paper or two and do a timed essay, etc. She has video of the overview and a sample online.

 

Kim

[titianmom]

Mine has the aptitude to become a very very good writer, but she lacks the will and interest. It's so sad to see someone with talent ignoring said talent and only doing a very mediocre to poor job on a paper.

 

I haven't tried a lot of courses, just used a very straightforward one in a textbook and reference manuals to try to help her. She knows her grammar and structure and organization quite well, she just doesn't want to practice and put in the effort...

 

So I think a summer course like the Hands-on Essay will help get her motivated because the teacher on the DVDs/workbook doesn't drown them with information (like IEW overkill IMHO), but gives them just enough info to succeed at the level your boy and my daughter are currently. It gives them the opportunity to figure out what needs to be done without them realizing that they're actually doing work, and she seems to make the tasks look more like an adventure instead of drudgery. That's why I'm going to check it out.

 

If we like it I'll post a review to share if her writing actually improves a great deal or not; the test IMHO will be in the History assignments next year, not nec as a result of the course. It's one thing to make it through a course with flying colors, it's another to actually apply what's learned in other areas of school later on.

 

If this simple course doesn't do the trick then I'm thinking that it doesn't matter what I do, it's up to her to apply her skills and to grow up some.

 

Kim

 

Hi Melissa!

.....

One thing that I've observed from having older kids is that there can be a vast difference between a 9th grader and an 11th grader. Especially if the 11th grader is motivated to go to college/worried about the SAT essay, etc. They are much more open to writing classes, etc. When they have that internal motivation they are the ones that want to work on their weaknesses; it isn't the mom seeing the glaring inadequacies and pushing the student. There is such a big difference in attitude and openness. Also I think when you get to 11th and 12th grade the student isn't so busy growing and going through bodily changes. I think more brain cells can be devoted to struggling through something one is not a natural at.

 

My very humble 2 cents.

[Hopewell]

I was looking for more opinions on IWE and got what I hoped for! I, too, have a struggling 9th grader, fresh out of public school. I'm looking at this for next year Thanks,

[Kim in SouthGa]

I really recommend IEW. My son used to cry over his writing assignments. He is using SWI B (he is 13, 8th grade) this year, in a coop setting. I think the co op setting has a lot to do with it also, but he just thanked me profusely for handing him 3 books on WWI to research for his super essay (12 paragraphs). This is a huge thing for him.

hth

[Yolanda in Mass]

Hi Melissa! May I make a different suggestion. It might not be a matter of finding the right curriculum for your son. What exactly is the issue for him? I have a struggling 9th grade writer right now too but I don't see hopping from one curriculum to the next as an answer for him. It hasn't worked thus far so I am doubtful it will work in the future. I think he needs to mature and also come to a better understanding of WHY good writing is so important.

 

I would agree with this recommendation 100%. Writing is thinking and reflects maturity as well since immature thinking will yield immature writing. Yes, there's structure that needs to be learned and many, many other writing elements, but ultimately it's all about thinking and maturity. Writing can also be a painfully slow process, so don't expect quick results especially with a student who is struggling. Be patient, make sure he's reading lots of good writing, having lots of opportunities to have discussions that elevate his level of thinking, and make sure you're not expecting too much from him. Good luck!

 

Yolanda

[Yolanda in Mass]

You might check out WriteGuide.

I tried it and was not happy at all with it for lots of reasons. Could give you details if you'd like. Wasn't sure if you were suggesting it because you used it or had heard of it.

[Faithr]

Hi Yolanda,

 

I've used Writeguide for several years now and have always appreciated it. It has been a big help for us. What problems did you have with it? I do admit that some of the writing tutors are better than others, but we've still been very satisfied. Things that I've liked about it:

 

1. You can design the writing course for your student. The parent gets to call the shots on pretty much everything.

2. The student HAS to write the instructor (or whatever they call them; I haven't had my morning tea yet!) every day. Which puts some discipline into the program for us procrastinators.

3. The student gets an e-mail back from the instructor every day. So the feedback is quick.

4. I like the way the student learns through constructive criticism. Where the student is strong they get kudos and where the student needs work they get gentle critiques. My oldest dd was in a homeschool writing class where the teacher loved to mark up everything in bright red. Very discouraging. We went to Writeguide and the relief was palatable!

5. Sometimes my kids, being teens, aren't as open to my corrections as they are to someone who is a 'real writing teacher.' This has eased stress in our relationship when, I the mother, had to work on correcting other aspects of life (like other subjects, discipline issues, dealing with college stuff, etc, etc.) I so appreciated having some of the burden lifted but still being able to design and structure the writing requirements.

6. My kids felt more independent about writing using this program.

7. They came to really like their instructor. We've never done just a month long course. Usually we sign up for a semester. That gives my kids time to develop a nice mentor/student relationship.

8. We are Catholic and many of the instructors are Catholic. I've used Writeguide to help prepare my kids for Confirmation. It was great combining writing with Confirmation prep and knowing the instructor knew what they were talking about in terms of our faith. It was also nice to know that my kids could choose to write about pro-life stuff or about a saint's biography or refer to the spiritual aspects of a topic and the instructor was very receptive and knowledgeable about those things.

 

All in all, we've been very happy with it. It really suits us very well. My 17 yo right now is writing a novel using Learn to Write the Novel Way from Konos and Writeguide to discipline him through it. It's great!

[Yolanda in Mass]

Faithr -

 

If I recall correctly the pricing for Write Guide is done on a monthly basis with the assumption that a writing project takes about a month. Forgive me if my memory is faulty. Anyway, our problems were as follows:

 

1. After submitting an outline, my son was asked to write an introductory paragraph for his essay. The coach mistook it for his entire paper (???) and we spent days writing back and forth clearing up the misunderstanding. It was so incredibly frustrating. She was quite confused and did apologize for it, but it was clear to us by her subsequent comments that she never quite got it.

 

2. No matter how well or poorly a paper was written, it always took exactly one month - always, no matter what. I was tempted to submit a final draft from a prior course once to see if that would also be stretched out to a month.

 

3. The edit and revision process was not logical, systematic or efficient at all. You don't correct mechanics in the first week, then structure or organization in the 3rd. For example, the coach would make a mechanics comment about a sentence, my son would correct it and think she would move on, but then she would bring up another mechanics comment that could have been addressed with the first. This was a real time-waster in my mind, almost as if she was looking for ways to extend the project. My son would get so frustrated with her inefficiency.

 

4. Our cover school (they review our work and maintain our records) commented that the writing coach improperly passed on non-cited sources. Our supervisory teacher further stated that if our son were to submit the paper accepted by Write Guide to say a college teacher, it could be marked down significantly for the lack of citations or even charged with plagiarism since the sources were not cited. She also said that it's negligent not to point that out to a student. She even told us that we should tell Write Guide that because it was so significant but we never did.

 

5. The coach gave my son comments that were meant for someone else. Clearly, she was overloaded which would explain some of the comments which made absolutely no sense. Again, to clear up the confusion always kept the clock ticking and no matter what - it always took one month per project.

 

We didn't even bother finishing the last paper with them as we found the effort simply wasn't worth the benefit. We did it on our own. We thought the one-on-one daily writing would be better than the once a week on-line program we had used in the past, but we were wrong. We went back to the other one and have been quite happy with the results and the quality of instruction. I will not name the coach we had, but she is not a novice and was still with them as of a couple of years ago. My older son used them about 4 years ago.

 

Yolanda