1Togo Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 (edited) I have a question about writing from an outline. We're doing 3-level outlines here using various sources, and the work is going well. In fact, since these are sentence outlines and the sentences in the outline are good, there doesn't seem to be much in the way of writing other than working on sentence structure and transitions. What else should we be doing? P.S. I see this as good work because it is teaching dd to develop topic sentences and find appropriate support, but the writing part isn't much of a challenge. Edited December 2, 2010 by 1Togo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
1Togo Posted December 2, 2010 Author Share Posted December 2, 2010 I am bumping this hoping for input. As I said, the outlining is good work, but I don't see the point of the writing, and I also don't see how this work leads into the complex work of original essays. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sweet Home Alabama Posted December 2, 2010 Share Posted December 2, 2010 Bumping for you, 1Togo. I have just started 3-level outlines with my 7th grader this week. It's our first year trying SWB's middle school writing. We started the year with just a one level outline and gradually progressed to the three level. I don't have much in the way of suggestions since we're so new to it. What about practicing different kinds of writing: descriptive, persuasive, expository, operational, etc. This would put a spin on how the paragraph/essay is written. Or, maybe write to different audiences. You could also use one of your outlines and develop it further turning an interesting topic into a longer essay..... just trying to help you think. Maybe someone else will have better ideas...:001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted December 5, 2010 Share Posted December 5, 2010 I bumped your thread on the high school board, hoping you'll hear from experienced people. What else should we be doing? P.S. I see this as good work because it is teaching dd to develop topic sentences and find appropriate support I'm just getting going with rewriting from outlines, so not much experience here. The only thing I have to offer is that for my son, this rewriting is good exercise of exactly what you mentioned above - learning, by imitating, how to logically develop an idea in a paragraph. And continued practice in grammar and mechanics. I don't see the point of the writing, and I also don't see how this work leads into the complex work of original essays. I see this time as a busy-minded holding pattern for my ds. The outlining is now just repetitive practice for him, and I expect the rewriting will become so, sometime in the next year and a half or so. My understanding is that the purpose is to give time to get really comfortable with this process, and the bonus is that he gets to dig further into his history/science/literature reading - essentially, he is now doing a logic-level-writing study of these content areas. I expect that once he is comfortable with the basic process of putting thoughts into logical paragraphs, he will be able to take on learning new writing techniques (in rhetoric study). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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