writing...why so difficult to decide

[Mom-ninja.]

I use and like WWE. I plan to use WWS.

 

I thought I wanted to also incorporate MCT, but I think I've nixed the idea because my oldest hates all forms of creative writing.

 

Now, I'm oogling the IEW catalog.

 

I can do WWS and IEW right? That wouldn't be overkill? I think my ds needs the hand holding that I've heard one gets with IEW.

 

Who here does WWE/WWS and IEW?

[Tammyla]

:grouphug:

[Jen500]

I use and like WWE. I plan to use WWS.

 

I thought I wanted to also incorporate MCT, but I think I've nixed the idea because my oldest hates all forms of creative writing.

 

Now, I'm oogling the IEW catalog.

 

I can do WWS and IEW right? That wouldn't be overkill? I think my ds needs the hand holding that I've heard one gets with IEW.

 

Who here does WWE/WWS and IEW?

 

Did you do the beta testing for WWS? I would get WWS when it comes out and then decide if you need more. My boys thought the WWS samples were very explicit in their instruction.

 

As for MCT, I've only used the Town level, but most of the main writing assignments weren't creative writing. I think my dc chose science topics for many of their assignments.

[Capt_Uhura]

I think WWS w/ IEW would be overkill. I don't think there are enough hours in the day. I did the WWS beta and doing WWS w/ WWE4 was a lot for my not totally writing phobic DS but doesn't love writing by any stretch of the imagination.

[Mom-ninja.]

Sigh. Ok. Now, do I keep faith and stick with WWE and WWS hoping it will work for ds *and* that the new levels are available when we'll need them? Switch to IEW? Gah.

 

I'm starting to panic a bit I guess. Ds is 10 and in WWE 3 right now. If I told him to sit down and write a sentence it would be a struggle. His writing is so weak. His vocabulary is weak. LA is not his strong suit at all.

 

I guess I should post an example of his work, and ask if it's typical for a boy in WWE 3.

 

IEW has been described as formulaic writing, and honestly, I think that would fit ds well. He needs something to explain to him step by step.

 

I need a writing program that is geared for very reluctant and weak writers.

[Capt_Uhura]

My DS10 is in WWE4 and I think a fairly average writer. He has no issues w/ WWE4 outside memorizing the long dictation passages. He is also doing Killgallon Sentence Composing for Elementary and it's fairly straight forward. Given that history, WWS was work for him. It's written to the student but I was still there going over it with him, discussing it with him, etc. If your DS struggles to write a sentence, then WWS will need to wait a year I think. SWB expects that kids have finished WWE1-4 or at least writing at that level before starting WWS.

 

Question: can he narrate a good sentence to you? Is his struggle in forming the sentence or is it in getting the sentence on paper? How is he w/ the dictation in WWE3?

[Mom-ninja.]

I would not start WWS until he finished WWE 4 which will be next year.

 

He does very well with WWE 3. We are about half way. He is good at dictation and has come a long way with it. He used to struggle a lot with dictation. Now, he can hold those words in his head well.

 

His main weakness is narration after reading a passage. He struggles answering the questions I ask after he has read a passage, and he never knows what to say for narration. It's the same for history. He has a hard time narrating. Now, once I get a narration from him (which is me pulling it out of him bit by bit) and I have him do dictation from his narration, he can do that well. His struggle is coming up with his own words to narrate a passage.

 

This may be because of his reading. He's a struggling reader and not fluent where he ought to be. He's having a reading assessment done on Wed. by a private school psychologist. She will hopefully be able to pin down for me what his exact problems are with reading and give me information on how to help him.

 

So, he can do dictation but not narration.

 

We tried Sentence Composing (posted in the K-8 forum about it) and decided to stop. He absolutely could not do it. He could unscramble the sentence parts, but he could NOT come up with his own sentence to imitate the model. Many many many tears before I finally said enough.

[Capt_Uhura]

Oh ok, I thought you meant you would do WWE4/WWS next year. It sounds like you have everything under control!! I would definitely download the WWS samples when they come out and you'll have time for folks to actually be able to post about WWS once it's available. The beta testers were under gag orders lol. I still think WWS and IEW would be overkill.

 

Have you posted any of his writing in the Writer's Forum?

Edited April 5, 2011 by Capt_Uhura

[Bloggermom]

Actually my son is doing WWE 3 and doing IEW SWI-A (Student Writing Intensive) at the same time. I don't think it is too much. In fact, he is starting to feel much more confident in his writing abilities. I don't see an overlap too much at with WWE/IEW however... I haven't tried WWS yet.

[ktgrok]

I would not start WWS until he finished WWE 4 which will be next year.

 

He does very well with WWE 3. We are about half way. He is good at dictation and has come a long way with it. He used to struggle a lot with dictation. Now, he can hold those words in his head well.

 

His main weakness is narration after reading a passage. He struggles answering the questions I ask after he has read a passage, and he never knows what to say for narration. It's the same for history. He has a hard time narrating. Now, once I get a narration from him (which is me pulling it out of him bit by bit) and I have him do dictation from his narration, he can do that well. His struggle is coming up with his own words to narrate a passage.

 

This may be because of his reading. He's a struggling reader and not fluent where he ought to be. He's having a reading assessment done on Wed. by a private school psychologist. She will hopefully be able to pin down for me what his exact problems are with reading and give me information on how to help him.

 

So, he can do dictation but not narration.

 

We tried Sentence Composing (posted in the K-8 forum about it) and decided to stop. He absolutely could not do it. He could unscramble the sentence parts, but he could NOT come up with his own sentence to imitate the model. Many many many tears before I finally said enough.

 

 

Have you tried reading to him aloud, rather than having him read it? If reading is the log jam I'd start doing narration with read alouds, so that his writing isn't suffering from his reading troubles. Plus, it will allow him to HEAR what good sentences sound like. Also, what is he using for grammar?

 

Katie

[elegantlion]

I would not start WWS until he finished WWE 4 which will be next year.

 

He does very well with WWE 3. We are about half way. He is good at dictation and has come a long way with it. He used to struggle a lot with dictation. Now, he can hold those words in his head well.

His main weakness is narration after reading a passage. He struggles answering the questions I ask after he has read a passage, and he never knows what to say for narration. It's the same for history. He has a hard time narrating. Now, once I get a narration from him (which is me pulling it out of him bit by bit) and I have him do dictation from his narration, he can do that well. His struggle is coming up with his own words to narrate a passage.

 

This may be because of his reading. He's a struggling reader and not fluent where he ought to be. He's having a reading assessment done on Wed. by a private school psychologist. She will hopefully be able to pin down for me what his exact problems are with reading and give me information on how to help him.

 

So, he can do dictation but not narration.

 

We tried Sentence Composing (posted in the K-8 forum about it) and decided to stop. He absolutely could not do it. He could unscramble the sentence parts, but he could NOT come up with his own sentence to imitate the model. Many many many tears before I finally said enough.

 

We worked through WWE 3 as remedial work for my son this year. It was exactly what he needed.

 

He's also a delayed reader, reluctant reader, but has higher comprehension.

 

He had a hard time with narration, partially because we had never done much. We also talk to each other in fragments, we're very casual in real speech. However, I started making it a game to see if he could answer my narration questions in full and complete sentences. Also I would maybe change my wording from what was in the WWE text. Without saying so, all he needed to do was reword my question to a statement and add his answer.

 

My son is very literal. Part of his hesitation in answering stems from the "duh, I know what I read, why do I need to tell you." mentality. I have repeated to him a thousand times that it is part of the process of learning to hold a thought in your head.

:grouphug: It's so hard to see them struggle. WWE did work to breakthrough some mental blocks for my ds.

[Mom-ninja.]

Have you tried reading to him aloud, rather than having him read it? If reading is the log jam I'd start doing narration with read alouds, so that his writing isn't suffering from his reading troubles. Plus, it will allow him to HEAR what good sentences sound like. Also, what is he using for grammar?

 

Katie

 

Yes, I guess I should go back to reading aloud to him instead. We use FLL 4.

 

 

We worked through WWE 3 as remedial work for my son this year. It was exactly what he needed.

 

He's also a delayed reader, reluctant reader, but has higher comprehension.

 

He had a hard time with narration, partially because we had never done much. We also talk to each other in fragments, we're very casual in real speech. However, I started making it a game to see if he could answer my narration questions in full and complete sentences. Also I would maybe change my wording from what was in the WWE text. Without saying so, all he needed to do was reword my question to a statement and add his answer.

 

My son is very literal. Part of his hesitation in answering stems from the "duh, I know what I read, why do I need to tell you." mentality. I have repeated to him a thousand times that it is part of the process of learning to hold a thought in your head.

:grouphug: It's so hard to see them struggle. WWE did work to breakthrough some mental blocks for my ds.

 

My ds will say the same thing! He'll say, "Why do I have to tell you what the passage says. You can read it." :glare:

 

Perhaps I should change my wording when asking for narration. Instead of saying, "Can you give me a short summary of what happened in this passage?" I can word it differently so he doesn't freeze. Maybe going back to how it's asked in WWE level 1 by asking what his favorite parts are and then moving to asking what the important parts are.

[2squared]

When my dd was having trouble coming up with a summary narration, I started asking her for three sentences - one from the beginning, one from the middle, and one from the end. Those instructions seemed to give her a roadmap.