Tell me how you teach writing...

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

Ok I am not so interested in what course you use, but your method.

 

For instance, do you sit down with them while they write?

Do you proofread and correct every paper?

Do you let them work on their own?

What are your children's ages, and how much are they required to write?

Do you believe in journals, and is that a separate part of the experience?

 

Is your child reluctant to write and what have you done to resolve this?

 

Whooo this is long...:glare:

[TracyR]

Okay . Lets see.

My older two are 10 and 8 . At this point I have them write out their compositions .Once they are done then I go over them together . Showing them what I'm correcting and explaining why .

How much they write depends on the piece or subject they are writing about . It can be anywhere from one to three paragraphs long . I expect 2-or 3 from my 10 and 1-2 from my 8yr old . If they write more fine . But those are my minimums .

 

Both of my girls were VERY ( with a capital V ) reluctant writers up until recently . How did I resolve it finally after using other writing programs and dealing with crying and the " I don't knows " ? With Writing Tales . Their writing problems have resolved , they ask to do it everyday without complaint and the improvement is just awesome ! I even bought the program for my nephew who is 8 and he went from taking an hour ( literally ) writing one sentence and my sister reports that he too everyday asks to do Writing Tales . After his first composition she couldn't believe it . He wrote the most he has ever written and it was just in one day .

I did do journaling but my girls weren't that interested in it . They may the older they get . They enjoy writing their own stories more then journaling . So I let them do what they enjoy right now to keep those juices flowing .

I know everyone here does their own thing and sometimes it takes some tweaking to find what works for a reluctant writer. But that has what has helped us greatly .

[Wee Pip]

Dd age 7.5, reluctant writer. Started this year able to write 1 sentence, but with a big tantrum:) Ended this year writing more for fun, and able to write 2-3 sentences (but still throws big tantrums during school, LOL). I've used Peggy Kaye's methods in her book Games for Writing. Basically - make it into a game. Sit beside them, and either compete (who can write the most words? who can write the best arguments?) or write together as a team (I write a few words, you write a few words - together we'll have a great project). Not all the games have gone over big. We do not edit and we do not correct spelling. Spelling was a big issue for her; she wanted to spell everything right, and she still gets her letters reversed. I've tried to make this a non-issue. I think if we do try to edit something in the future, I'll see if I can write something for her to edit, so its more of a team effort. We do a writing project like this once every week or two. I have not assigned journalling - this has always been a big flop when I do. Lately she has been journalling on her own out of boredom. I take a small notebook (half sheet of paper size) with us places and she'll write in it in the car. She has started writing more for fun - designing signs for her home restaurant or hotel, writing silly nonsense letters to her sister. As you can tell, our "writing" hasn't been very consistent or organized. Her spelling book (Spelling Workout) has a small writing assignment once per week. I skipped these assignments at first because it always resulted in tears. She is now able to write 1-2 sentences for her spelling assignment. We're slowly chugging along. I'm hoping to make writing an official formal subject next year, but for now, I'm just trying to keep it low pressure.

[Rhondabee]

So, I'm using Rod & Staff, and say it teaches different ways to develop a paragraph. So, I take that one lesson and think of as many ways to use it cross-curricularly as I can. (I can do this with my 4th grader, or my 7th grader - each one will have paragraph instruction at their level.)

 

BUT...I don't just let R&S do the teaching. My kids have to see *me* in action. I model the whole process for them beginning with how to brainstorm ideas, how to organize, how to make a rough draft, etc. Then, I sit there and write for them while THEY brainstorm on a different topic, and I sit with them and guide their organizing. And, at first it was ALL me.

 

The next time we use that lesson, say, in history, I model it AGAIN - and let them create the final copy. Each time we re-use that type of paragraph, I back off a little until they no longer need me.

 

As each writing skill is addressed, we use that in all our narrations, etc.

 

I don't usually have them make final copies of cross-curricular writing, though we do proof it and make changes to it. If alot of changes are needed, that's a sign that something didn't stick and I need to re-teach or re-insert myself into the pre-writing phase a bit more next time. I don't change things that haven't been addressed by R&S. For example, my 4th grader doesn't have to place a comma at the end of an initial adverb clause because we haven't covered adverb clauses, yet. (well...sometimes I will be a stickler and ask, "Didn't you pause there?)

 

We do final copies on all writing assignments that are given in R&S (tho' we usually change the topic to reflect our science or history). Sometimes I will have them do a final copy of their book "reports" as well.

 

My kids are just finished with 4th and 7th, both boys; and the 7th grader is *so far* ahead of where I feared we would be. My 4th grader still needs LOTS of work! We probably don't do enough writing, but I try to follow the guides in WTM.

 

We don't do creative writing or journaling - I even let them skip the "write a story" lessons in R&S, tho' obviously we read them and talked about how they applied to stories we had just finished reading. But, they are both boys, and girls might not balk at that so much.

 

Have you looked at the Wordsmith series? If I didn't just love R&S for grammar, I would use Wordsmith for writing. (SWB has a review under the FAQ sections/other curricula.)

 

hth,

Rhonda

[MerryAtHope]

Ok I am not so interested in what course you use, but your method.

 

For instance, do you sit down with them while they write? Sometimes we all write together. Then when we're done, we read what we've written to each other. My children love this! They especially love if they just get to express their ideas without the pressure of having to also correct everything.

Do you proofread and correct every paper? No. We revise about one every month or two, which involves a lot more than the "mop-up" of errors :). We work on the fun stuff when we revise--focusing on one literary element like a great hook or description or metaphors or alliteration, etc.... Instead, I use copywork and dictation to focus on editing. After my kids do this & before they turn in their work, the check one at a time for "COPS." Capitalization, organization (word spacing, legibility), punctuation, spelling. They're getting better at it & can translate this into their own work.

Do you let them work on their own? My kids were almost 9 & 11 when they started writing longer pieces (paragraph +) on their own. Before that we did lots of oral writing (they spoke, I scribed what they said).

What are your children's ages, and how much are they required to write?

They are 9 & 11. They do copywork once a week (several sentences), dictation once a week (same passage but shorter selection), and writing once or twice a week. That includes journal writing, free-writing on a new topic, or revising an existing assignment.

Do you believe in journals, and is that a separate part of the experience?

Journals are lots of fun. My kids have several (I think they love the "idea" of journals more than the actual journal, LOL!). Some get filled with pictures, early ones were filled with scribbling, some are filled with words now. We also have interactive journals--I write to my kids & encourage them or ask a question & they write back to me. These are great for encouraging writing, even if they are only short writings. They're also great for our relationship with our kids :)

 

Is your child reluctant to write and what have you done to resolve this? Try a journal with black lined paper & use gel pens! Great for encouraging reluctant writers. Not editing their work (save editing for dictation/copywork). Give them an audience (can you type it up & send to Grandma, let them put a picture with it). Have them read it aloud to Dad. Make a nice book of it. Grab a pen when they say something funny & say, "I've gotta remember this" and write it down, then share with Dad or a neighbor or someone later--show them their words are valuable & worth recording! Lots of these ideas I've gotten from The Writer's Jungle. The black journal was an idea from Miller Pads & Paper, great store & site!

 

Whooo this is long...:glare:

 

HTH! Merry :-)

[Lori D.]

We have 2 boys, the older a reluctant and laconic writer, and the younger an out-of-the-box thinker who struggles with writing -- just getting him to initially hold a pencil was quite an achievement! (lol). This has been the toughest subject for me to teach -- but I appreciate this question because in writing out our writing journey I see real progress -- slow, but real progress! : ) So thanks for the opportunity to share our experiences. Hope this is of some help to someone! Warmest regards, Lori D.

 

 

For grades 1-3

Writing was copy work, with some narration or a short paragraph. Copy work was done individually, about 4x/week (1-2 sentences to copy). Narration or some sort of paragraph they dictated to me, done 1-2x/month. Occasionally, they used the narration as their copy work.

 

 

 

For grades 4-6

Writing was broken into a number of short "bites" done throughout the day -- nothing longer than a 5 sentence paragraph at one time; usually just 1 step in the writing process at one time (the steps = brainstorming; keyword outline; sentences from outline; revising; final clean copy), and not taking more than 10-15 minutes. Not every one of these were done each year:

 

- a writing "warm-up" (single sentence usually)

Done independently, using "Ready Set Revise" about 3x/week. I corrected these.

 

- editing practice

Done independently, using "Take Five Minutes: A History Fact A Day for Editing" about 3x/week. To correct these I would give a hint of what they missed, and they would make the actual correction.

 

- cursive copywork to practice penmanship (thru grade 5)

Done independently, usually 3-4x/week. No more than 2-3 sentences.

 

- daily short journal entry

Done independently, usually 3-4x/week. Started with 3 sentences, and worked up over the months/years (!) to 10-12 sentences. I did not correct or revise these -- this was a "free write" assignment to get them thinking creatively and strengthen pencil holding muscles.

 

- short (1-3 paragraph) book reports

Done over 4-5 days in a single week, these were done partly independently, and partly together. We managed to do approximately 18-24 book reports per year.

 

Once they finished reading the book, I handed them a form I had made, with various questions/blanks to fill in (author, title, main characters, etc., plus longer questions, such as a 1 sentence summary of what happens (plot), what the most interesting part of the book was to them and why, etc.) They would fill in the questions over 2-3 days, and then we would together take 1-2 days to turn their answers into 1-3 paragraphs.

 

Sometimes they would dictate their sentences/paragraphs to me, and I would write them out, and then have them type up a final clean copy (a good way to also practice typing skills), or I would type it up. Or, sometimes we would practice the IEW keyword outline technique and they would dictate to me their keyword outline, and then I would hand that to them and they would write it out as the paragraph(s) for the book report. We would then take a day to go over the book report together and edit/revise.

 

 

 

 

- short (1-3 paragraph) reports

Similar to the book reports -- partly independent, partly together and taking 4-5 days to complete the report. In the early years, we worked more together, in the later years they worked more independently.

 

We really practiced the IEW keyword outline techniques here: pick a subject; read about it; summarize key facts into a keyword outline; write 1-3 paragraph report from the research; revise/edit; type up a final copy. I tried to "mix it up" as to whether they dictated the paper to me from the keyword outline they made, or whether they dictated the keyword outline to me and then they wrote the complete sentences/paragraphs from that on their own.

 

We always edited/revised together. They always typed up the final copy on their own; when they were first learning to type, I would give them 2-3 days to type it up if it were a longer paper.

 

In 4th grade, we didn't do many reports -- a few short science topic reports.

In 5th grade, we did short summaries on a state or a president.

In 6th grade, we used research ideas from the BF Geography Guide that went along with the Holling C. Holling books.

 

 

 

- writing program

For more "formal" writing instruction and additional types of writing. (We used Wordsmith Apprentice.)

 

Done more independently, 3-4x/week. They preferred we read and discuss the teaching text together (though it is written to the student), and they did the exercises and writing mostly independently. Once in awhile, I would break an assignment into a smaller chunk and they would either do part in the a.m. and the other half in the p.m., or on 2 consecutive days. Once in awhile we did an exercise orally rather than writing it out. We edited/revised longer assignments together; I usually didn't edit or grade the short exercises.

 

 

 

For grades 7-8

 

- writing program

For the formal writing instruction in all areas of writing, and for assignment ideas. (We used Jump In, Wordsmith, and the 4 books Descriptive Writing/Narrative Writing/Expository Writing/Persuasive Writing from Scholastic.)

 

- 5 paragraph essays

Done partly independently and partly together, as needed. Didn't do as much of this as I'd hoped -- managed about 12-18 per year.

 

- 1-2 paragraph reports

Done independently, 2x/week. Made our own atlas: on one notebook page they taped a printed a 3"x4" outline map of the country and marked it; added statistics for population/capital/major language(s)/major religion(s)/major resources; then read about the country in the World Book encyclopedia and then wrote a 6-8 sentence paragraph summary about the country. Good practice in research, notetaking, keyword outlining, and writing complete sentences from outline.

 

 

 

For grade 9

 

- writing program

For the formal writing instruction in more complex types of writing. (We're *loosely* using Put That in Writing 1, with modification.) We read the instruction together, then come up with our own assignments, usually taking 1-2 weeks to do an assignment; some are 1 paragraph long, others are 5 paragraphs long, or even a multi-page assignment.

 

- 5 paragraph reports

More independent. Some assignments came easily with almost no help from me; others were like pulling teeth. For editing, worked towards just marking an arrow on the line where there was an error to be fixed. Revisions still talked through together, but with me making fewer suggestions of how to fix it -- just pointing out where the writing needs help. Initially planned for 1 a week, but we've fallen short of that goal -- maybe got through a dozen (?) this year.

 

- timed essay practice

Borrowing this idea from Momof7. : ) Done once a week, as practice for the timed SAT / ACT essay writing. We pick one topic and all of us sit and write 2-3 paragraphs in 15 minutes. Eventually we'll work up to 5 paragraphs in 25 minutes. No correcting or revising, other than what each of us has time for in our own writing. Got this idea from a Momof7 post back in April, so only have done this for a few weeks.

 

- longer research paper

Done together -- was hoping this would be more independent, but the topic and the length combined really threw him and there was a lot of hand-holding on this one. It would have been better if I had broken this into more shorter goals and had him turn in bits at a time. Hoped to do 2 of these in the year; got through 1.

[Closeacademy]

Ok I am not so interested in what course you use, but your method.

 

For instance, do you sit down with them while they write?

Do you proofread and correct every paper?

Do you let them work on their own?

What are your children's ages, and how much are they required to write?

Do you believe in journals, and is that a separate part of the experience?

 

Is your child reluctant to write and what have you done to resolve this?

 

Whooo this is long...:glare:

 

With K through 3, they compose and I write it down word for word for them. I have them copy their composition into their own penmanship and illustrate it if they want. Because they don't have to worry about physically writing we have not had problems with actual composition.

 

For 4th plus, they should be able to type or write their compositions on their own.

 

My plan is to:

 

Sit down with them while they write or at least be nearby for 4th to 7th, by 8th they should be able to write on their own time.

 

Yes, we will proof-read and correct every paper together. This process will involve reading the paper aloud to make sure that it sounds right as well as looking over the paper for mistakes.

 

Once they are confident in the revision process they will be able to take over more of those duties and present me with a final draft to proof-read.

 

They are in K and 2nd. For 1st, I require copywork and 3rd grade will be working on narrative composition based on Bible stories of about 1 page per week. I am an English major and am looking at offering literature and composition classes locally in the next couple of years.

 

Journals are good and we are looking at leading into them this year.

 

Hope this helps.:001_smile:

[Rhondabee]

I'm gonna haf'ta steal your "Make Your Own Atlas" project. What a cool idea!

 

Thanks for sharing~

Rhonda

[SusanG]

My 8 year old was a VERY reluctant writer. We tried Writing Strands, and it was a nightmare. 2 weeks of him sitting at the table crying and literally freaking out. I purchased Sonlight's LA program and it wasn't any better. We ended up shelving writing for 8 months, and we just started up again this week, actually, using Spectrum Writing 3. I think that passage of time, and the focus on other areas of learning, must have done the trick. He sat down and wrote two paragraphs yesterday - and not only did he not freak out, but he was actually enthusiastic about doing the writing. When we sat down to proofread, I was pretty impressed with what he had accomplished.

 

We're doing to try daily writing from this point on, using Spectrum 3 and then easing into Writing Tales 1 in the fall. I'm glad I didn't push him last year, because apparently letting writing "slide" was the correct course of action for us :).

[Lori D.]

Enjoy, Rhonda! We're still adding to it, too. : ) I forgot -- we also put a sticker of the country's flag on that page, and also throw in any other coloring or info pages we run across into these "atlases" as well. : )