homefront Posted June 22, 2011 Share Posted June 22, 2011 Is this a good or bad idea? The child in question wants to run from almost every form of writing. Copy work gets done but is a pain for at least me. Narrations are wonderful but dc is not ready for writing them out due to perfectionist tendencies. Dc will give me very a short perfect sentence, with out trying something harder. I'm wanting to try mixing it up to see if I can't get more writing out of dc. The graphic organizers would be used as another form of copy work. Dc would take a narration and fill it out. This child is a visual learner, and has no mechanical issue with writing or fine motor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
homefront Posted June 22, 2011 Author Share Posted June 22, 2011 Bumping because I need some input... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccumbers Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 Bumping again because I'm curious also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peacefully Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccumbers Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I love the game idea. Thank you! Not a graphic organizer, but I recently have been playing this writing game with ds who LOVED it tremendously and begged for more. Each person thinks of a secret animal, character from history, object in space, fictional character, famous quote, etc. (you can see how this can be applied across content areas). We write this on a slip of paper, fold it up, and put it away. Then we write Yes/No questions to each other to try to figure out what the other person's secret word is. If a someone guesses wrong, they automatically lose, so there is incentive to keep writing questions to get more clues. Usually my ds starts to moan if he has to write more than three sentences. The last time we played, he wrote ten sentences (with lots of interesting vocabulary), and after he won, he BEGGED to play another round. This game is taken straight out of Peggy Kaye's Games for Writing, which I highly recommend if you have a young (K-3) reluctant writer. There are fewer activities that are suitable for older students. The game that we play is one of the few that I could see working for an older kid too. For younger kids, I would help with spelling and other conventions. For an older kid, I would say that I don't have to answer the question if there are more than x number of errors. To make the game "fair" with an older kid, I would probably give myself a handicap—say, I can't use certain letters or words, or the kid won't have to answer my question. When I was a credential candidate, I did a fairly extensive research project on graphic organizers. I think they are a valuable tool, but I don't really see how a GO covers the same ground as copywork. Are you thinking about using a GO instead of a written narration? I think it's a fine idea to use a GO after reading, but lots of GOs require the student to do a particular kind of thinking (comparison-contrast, sequencing, hierarchies, etc.). Bubbles, webs, thinking maps (whatever you want to call them) are the most open-ended type of GO, but even these won't get you to the same type of skills as narration. Not to say that a GO is inferior to narration or that you even have to use narration at all. It's just that it a GO is getting at a different type of thinking skill, IMO. Just my two cents. I'm interested in hearing your other responses. I also have a ds who is a reluctant writer but does fine with narrations and most writing conventions. I'm realizing that I am seriously working against this kid's grain to insist on a narration/copywork model of writing instruction. I've been on the hunt for other ideas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reet3 Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I haven't delved real deeply into the IEW methodology, but I like the way they handle teaching how to add interest into writing with the use of "dress-ups" and other tools. It seems to be an easy way to get a reluctant writer moving. My DD is a good writer and I used pieces of it to get her thinking more deeply about using a variety of interesting words. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jmccumbers Posted June 27, 2011 Share Posted June 27, 2011 I've been looking into IEW myself, but I can/'t really figure out where you start or what is necessary to buy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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