yellowperch Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 By the end of the fourth assignment, my son is often fried. We usually just go over it, and talk about the glaring errors. Mostly, the pieces are fairly good and he gets cheerful feedback. But I do feel like there are learning opportunities lost. Ideally,the fifth day could be for polishing, but our weeks don't really lend themselves to a solid fifth day. How do you handle the longer pieces? What is your process if the piece meets the standards laid out in the rubric but aren't really the best your child could create? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cosmos Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 By the end of the fourth assignment, my son is often fried. We usually just go over it, and talk about the glaring errors. Mostly, the pieces are fairly good and he gets cheerful feedback. But I do feel like there are learning opportunities lost. Ideally,the fifth day could be for polishing, but our weeks don't really lend themselves to a solid fifth day. How do you handle the longer pieces? What is your process if the piece meets the standards laid out in the rubric but aren't really the best your child could create? I posted a thread about this a few weeks ago but didn't get much response. Hopefully your thread will catch a few more eyes. :) What I have decided to do is schedule a time for revision but not on the same day that he does the writing. When ds first does the assignment, I expect him to meet the standards in the rubric plus follow all grammar rules that he has mastered from his grammar program. If I notice a grammar or mechanics error that he has not yet learned, I make a mental note about it but don't say anything. Working through the things he already knows is plenty for him at this stage! Then I ask him to type up his writing assignments over the weekend. Only the actual writing pieces, not the outlines or thesaurus work. So from the first week there were four narrations. Now in later weeks he generally has one narration and one other piece of writing from practicing the topos. So sometime over the weekend he types up what he wrote during the week. Occasionally he catches an error or makes slight changes while typing. Sometimes he introduces new errors. LOL Then once or twice a week we spend some time going these typed up pieces and revising them. With my son I'm focusing on improving his writing at the sentence level. Are the thoughts in the sentence well-connected? Are the words carefully chosen to express the intended meaning? At this time, I also introduce grammar concepts that are new to him and show him how they apply to his writing. We don't do these revisions during the normal time that he works on writing, which is part of his independent work. Instead, it's during our "teaching time", an hour or so that we spend working together each day. He actually enjoys this revision time. He can see how the changes make his writing better, and since we are doing it together it doesn't feel like an onerous task to him. I try as much as possible to let him come up with his own solutions to improving the writing. After that, I ask him to type in the changes and print out a final copy as a homework assignment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Create Your Ritual Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 We look at the 4th day's writing assignment as completing a rough draft. I am trying to encourage them to self check and correct their own mistakes in comma usage, capitalization and spelling. If they happen to leave out something I note it for them and go over the paper with them present. The following day they rewrite their final drafts. If we are crunched for time then I just move it to Monday.. or I guess it could technically be 'homework' for the weekend at a 5th grade and up level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amyco Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 My ds really dislikes rewrites and revisions, no matter how much I explain that's what writing is all about. Last week he was instructed to add quotes to his paper and about had a meltdown--"Do I have to rewrite the whole thing?" lol I keep telling him he should type it--his typing skills are fairly good--but he doesn't want to. I like the ideas I am hearing here. I think my personal take on it is that these assignments are practice and I don't expect it to be perfect. His grammar, spelling, and mechanics are usually fine. I probably should require a polished final draft once in a while. I'm too soft on him, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colleen in NS Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 How do you handle the longer pieces? What is your process if the piece meets the standards laid out in the rubric but aren't really the best your child could create? I make sure my kids meet the standards laid out in the rubric, and meet the standards of the grammar/mechanics/spelling they have already learned elsewhere. I don't really know how I'd evaluate what is the best my child could create - that is more subjective, I think. I do find that having them meet the other standards helps them to create better (clearer) sentences/paragraphs, though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 In The Writer's Jungle, the author suggests collecting writing for a couple of weeks and then letting your child pick one assignment to really polish. I like that idea. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 We write the assignments on her laptop, so it's really a lot less trouble to revise. My thought is, this is much more realistic - she's NEVER going to have to rewrite a work assignment by hand, everything in her professional life will be on the computer. May as well get her used to those skills, like learning to REALLY proofread and not just rely lazily on the spellcheck ;-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted October 25, 2011 Share Posted October 25, 2011 I'm having them do the initial write-up long hand. My son has very poor stamina for writing. When the SAT becomes all on computer, then we'll ditch the writing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HSMom2One Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 We write the assignments on her laptop, so it's really a lot less trouble to revise. My thought is, this is much more realistic - she's NEVER going to have to rewrite a work assignment by hand, everything in her professional life will be on the computer. May as well get her used to those skills, like learning to REALLY proofread and not just rely lazily on the spellcheck ;-) I can see how this makes sense in the day and age we live in, but on the other hand I still want my dd to be able to write by hand. There may come a time when she'll be in a situation where a computer is not handy for one reason or another. We never know where life will take us or what may happen in the world. To know how to write well by hand is a basic, fundamental skill that every educated person should possess. Blessings, Lucinda Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Deniseibase Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 I think I may have given the wrong impression, sorry! :D I AM teaching my daughter to write by hand, she writes by hand for many of her subjects, especially math and science where writing on the computer is still cumbersome, and the shorter assignments for WWS we do by hand. But, for the longer writing assignments in WWS where I know it is likely that she will be revising, we do those on the computer. I completely agree, everyone should know how to write by hand! Sorry for the confusion!! :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yvonne Posted October 26, 2011 Share Posted October 26, 2011 In The Writer's Jungle, the author suggests collecting writing for a couple of weeks and then letting your child pick one assignment to really polish. Thanks for this suggestion! I've been struggling with the rewrite or not issue. On the one hand, the paragraphs could &, I think, should be improved. On the other hand, the boys were starting to try to make them as short as possible just so they wouldn't have as much to rewrite in the final draft. :It was especially sad because they had done such a nice job on the first few weeks' assignments, before I started asking them to do a final draft. :( Picking just one to polish every two weeks might be the solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowperch Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowperch Posted October 26, 2011 Author Share Posted October 26, 2011 I like that idea, too. I think I should use the fifth day to go over grammar points and others, and let DS chose a piece to polish every third week or so. That sounds fair and effective, with student input thrown in for good measure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
linj2fly Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 I don't ask him to rewrite anything. I ask him to proofread it before I grade it, then we go over it together. I ask him to correct any spelling or capitalization/punctuation errors that I catch. (Depending on the mistake, I say "there's an error in this line/sentence," esp. if I know that he should know it). Then we talk about the content together and grade it against the rubric/examples. Sometimes his sentences don't 'sound' right to me, and I can't explain why. He fights me on it, so I search an online grammar check, plug in the sentence, and then we talk about it. I have to say, though, I haven't found a site I absolutely love yet. He needs a lot of typing practice. So I type his 'corrected/proofread' (not re-handwritten) composition into this program: http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/lessons.php?lang=EN&lesson=16 (Click on "Practice your own text). Then he types out the corrected composition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted November 19, 2011 Share Posted November 19, 2011 In The Writer's Jungle, the author suggests collecting writing for a couple of weeks and then letting your child pick one assignment to really polish. I like that idea. This is how we operate here. I believe Julie Bogart states that not all pieces are worthy of rewrites and I agree. I treat papers like I do math tests; they get the grade. The work we use to teach writing is like our day-to-day problem-solving; it is for learning, not necessarily polishing or grading. When my son chooses a work for rewrite every couple of weeks, there is usually a skill that he has picked up that he wants to try out on one of his existing pieces. This makes the project more worthwhile to him and less of a grind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 I posted a thread about this a few weeks ago but didn't get much response. Hopefully your thread will catch a few more eyes. :) What I have decided to do is schedule a time for revision but not on the same day that he does the writing. When ds first does the assignment, I expect him to meet the standards in the rubric plus follow all grammar rules that he has mastered from his grammar program. If I notice a grammar or mechanics error that he has not yet learned, I make a mental note about it but don't say anything. Working through the things he already knows is plenty for him at this stage! Then I ask him to type up his writing assignments over the weekend. Only the actual writing pieces, not the outlines or thesaurus work. So from the first week there were four narrations. Now in later weeks he generally has one narration and one other piece of writing from practicing the topos. So sometime over the weekend he types up what he wrote during the week. Occasionally he catches an error or makes slight changes while typing. Sometimes he introduces new errors. LOL Then once or twice a week we spend some time going these typed up pieces and revising them. With my son I'm focusing on improving his writing at the sentence level. Are the thoughts in the sentence well-connected? Are the words carefully chosen to express the intended meaning? At this time, I also introduce grammar concepts that are new to him and show him how they apply to his writing. We don't do these revisions during the normal time that he works on writing, which is part of his independent work. Instead, it's during our "teaching time", an hour or so that we spend working together each day. He actually enjoys this revision time. He can see how the changes make his writing better, and since we are doing it together it doesn't feel like an onerous task to him. I try as much as possible to let him come up with his own solutions to improving the writing. After that, I ask him to type in the changes and print out a final copy as a homework assignment. This is very helpful! we'll definitely be doing this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Roxy Roller Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 http://www.sense-lang.org/typing/tutor/lessons.php?lang=EN&lesson=16 (Click on "Practice your own text). Thank you for this link! I love the idea of typing my DC's work in so they can practice their typing skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beth in SW WA Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 In The Writer's Jungle, the author suggests collecting writing for a couple of weeks and then letting your child pick one assignment to really polish. I like that idea. Great idea. I'm :bigear: on WWS threads now since I received the set and love it! Not sure if dd is ready for a while but I'll work a bit ahead to get a feel for it. It reminds me of CW in some regards. The CW six-sentence-shuffle is coming back to haunt me (did I really say that?). :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted February 1, 2012 Share Posted February 1, 2012 Great idea. I'm :bigear: on WWS threads now since I received the set and love it! Not sure if dd is ready for a while but I'll work a bit ahead to get a feel for it. It reminds me of CW in some regards. The CW six-sentence-shuffle is coming back to haunt me (did I really say that?). :) We only began this week but I really like it so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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