Advice on my 7th graders writing assignments

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

When my dd has to write something for school that she does not want to- I get maybe 5th grade level writing from her :glare:. When she writes something on her own that she wants to, it is done just beautifully! How do I get her to do that in writing assignments that she does not want to do? I do try as much as possible to get topics she enjoys, but in reality that is not always possible and I explain that to her.

 

 

Any advice?

[kewb]

I don't have any answers but I feel your pain. My 7th grade ds is the same way. You would think I asked him to remove a limb the way he goes on about a writing assignment.

[NanceXToo]

I'm not sure- although I would venture a guess that it's pretty normal for all of us (kids and adults) to have more enthusiasm for something we want to do than for something we don't.

 

Maybe you can't always give her a choice of topics, but can you give her a choice of directions to go in within a given topic? Not sure if that would help. Maybe like she could write something as if she were a news reporter live on a scene describing it. Maybe another time she could write something in the form of a letter to a character or historical figure. Like, sort of give her some creative choices to the extent possible?

[Sophia]

Maybe grade with a rubric that has specific elements you are looking for?

That way you can even ask her to go over it before she turns it in to you.

[Samiam]

I have the same issue with my DS12. Brilliant child, huge vocabulary..but composition....it is so not what he is capable of. It's short, choppy, blah and very elementary-ish. We are constantly, constantly working on it. I don't know if he really, truly that incapable of putting words on paper (although he can do it brilliantly verbally) or if its a lack of effort on his part.

[wy_kid_wrangler04]

I don't have any answers but I feel your pain. My 7th grade ds is the same way. You would think I asked him to remove a limb the way he goes on about a writing assignment.

 

:grouphug: Thank you! I am not alone!

 

Maybe grade with a rubric that has specific elements you are looking for?

That way you can even ask her to go over it before she turns it in to you.

 

I do like that! I will try that.

 

I have the same issue with my DS12. Brilliant child, huge vocabulary..but composition....it is so not what he is capable of. It's short, choppy, blah and very elementary-ish. We are constantly, constantly working on it. I don't know if he really, truly that incapable of putting words on paper (although he can do it brilliantly verbally) or if its a lack of effort on his part.

 

Is this a 12 year old thing? :glare: Will she grow out of it? :001_huh:

[Guest]

Quote: Maybe you can't always give her a choice of topics, but can you give her a choice of directions to go in within a given topic? Not sure if that would help. Maybe like she could write something as if she were a news reporter live on a scene describing it. Maybe another time she could write something in the form of a letter to a character or historical figure. Like, sort of give her some creative choices to the extent possible?

:iagree:

 

 

This is my dd also. I have to say that I find a lot of typical middle and high school writing assignments ones that I personally would not be particularly invested in either! I don't blame kids for turning off when the topics or assignments are so lame or dry or downright imbecilic.

 

In our case, I found ways to elicit dd's ideas about what she would like to write, or to provide her with a few choices of creative angles. There's nothing sacred or magical about essay topics in a given writing program. And as with math, where not every kid has to do every problem for things to click, same with writing -- not every child has to write every essay on every book or in every subject in order to show you they have a perfectly decent handle on what to do if they find it engaging.

 

And kids can learn amazing things from non-curricular materials when they are interested. Dd has spent the last several months reading every last piece of fan fiction she could find online about Lord of the Rings. She then decided to write her own spoofs, and I was astonished when I saw that she was using certain quite sophisticated grammatical and rhetorical structures she'd read in other people's stories and then incorporated into her own because she liked the sound and pace of them. My attempts to direct her to exactly this kind of thing through MCT or even just through "literary" books had fallen flat!

 

Yes, kids need to know how to write a decent short essay, and ideally, even a five page research or persuasive paper, by the end of high school. But this does not mean that junior high needs to be devoted exclusively to the incremental practice of this type of writing. Some kids need that, need structure, rubrics, guidelines, outlines... and others do not. Some kids thrive or at least show gradual improvement or mastery with repeated practice of "the essay," while others do not.

 

I made a bargain with dd: if she could show me she could write a decent essay on a level I knew her capable of, on a topic of my choice, then the rest of her writing was open to her input, negotiation, and was even largely of her own choice. I'd much rather have her engaged with what she is writing than turn her off writing altogether. There are many, many genres and forms through which kids can gain fluency, experiment with rhythm, learn to proofread and edit their own work, organize their ideas -- in fact, practice all the skills they would use in a traditional assignment... only with their minds turned on.

 

I swear dd has a brain setting labeled "sieve," and if I ask her to do something she finds boring or completely worthless, she turns the switch to that and I might as well not have bothered. This is a child who is otherwise responsive, very good about doing her work, concerned about how she is doing, engaged in learning; so I have no problem whatever with involving her in the decisions surrounding writing.