Ideas to make writing more interesting?

[boscopup]

I figure this is probably something that a lot of folks have to deal with, so... give me your ideas for making writing interesting for a kid that:

 

-is writing-phobic

-hates copywork (no challenge, I think)

-does great with dictation (until it gets long, due only to writing stamina, not memory ability)

-hates journaling type things (his journal from school was mostly just the writing prompts copied with nothing added to it - he's the type of kid mentioned in SWB's lectures... doesn't do well with creative writing yet)

 

So far, I've added notebooking, having him draw a picture and write one sentence (original sentence) about what he read. He's doing very well with that. I help him with spelling (the words he wants to use are beyond what he can spell at this point). We also do WWE2 as written. We just finished week 13, and he's not had any problems with the dictation so far. When doing copywork, he never gets anything wrong. It's just drudgery for him, I think because there is simply NO mental challenge to it. I think he needs a little bit of mental challenge, but again, not the creative writing stuff done in schools.

 

I have Killgallon in mind for later, and I like that it starts out at sentence level. That's the type of thing he needs. He would enjoy something like that. He does like doing silly things (like if FLL has you think of a word to complete a sentence, he'll ask if it can be a silly sentence :D). So the type of creativity used in something like Killgallon is fine. It just needs to not be, "How do you feel when..." or "Tell me about your favorite..." All that touchy feely journaling stuff... He hates it. I hate it (so glad I didn't have to do that in school!). I was originally thinking of doing some Killgallon next year, but I read that it'd be better for after learning about clauses, gerunds, and the like. We're doing FLL3 this year, and it's very easy for him. He picks up grammar concepts easily. We won't hit those grammar topics this year though.

 

Next year for 3rd grade, I definitely plan to do MCT Island and WWE3. I have heard that there isn't much writing to MCT Island level. I'll continue with the notebooking, adding on more sentences as he's able (I imagine we'll be doing 2 sentences by the end of this school year).

 

So I guess the biggest thing is that copywork is what he needs to build up strength and stamina, and to get letter formation more automatic (he has to think about it still), yet it's drudgery for him and intellectually not challenging. How can I make it a little more fun and interesting, without heading over to the journaling/creative writing side so much? I need something inbetween... maybe creative, but not sharing your feelings. He could probably write about Star Wars all day... except that all the character names he wants to use are ones that *I* can't even spell. :lol: So I have to limit him a bit here.

 

Thoughts?

[LindaOz]

What are you using for copywork? Maybe it would be more fun for him to do copywork from a story either he is reading or that you are reading to him. That way he can already relate to what he is copying because it is part of something he is enjoying. Maybe you could have him select a favorite part of a book to copy, or even a quote from a movie that he likes. It just might add more interest.

 

Just a thought.

[boscopup]

What are you using for copywork? Maybe it would be more fun for him to do copywork from a story either he is reading or that you are reading to him. That way he can already relate to what he is copying because it is part of something he is enjoying. Maybe you could have him select a favorite part of a book to copy, or even a quote from a movie that he likes. It just might add more interest.

 

Just a thought.

 

I've tried from books that interested him, and he'll be all gung ho until he actually starts writing, and then he dawdles and complains. :tongue_smilie:

[Stuart]

What about having him copy jokes or funny phrases. While not educational it would help improve his stamina, hopefully without as much complaining.

[peacefully]

.

[justLisa]

We are not doing so much copywork right now, and skipping that part from WWE. As you know we started cursive, and it is going FAR better than I would have assumed! I cannot believe how much quicker he writes. We have most of the alphabet done now, so by the time we are back to school from the holidays he will be able to write everything in cursive I would presume (he agrees to finish his HWOT cursive book during break). Some how cursive became the magic ticket for him I guess. I got the 4th grade book, and he is doing SO well.

 

He has started writing a couple sentences for history, and filling in charts and diagrams and such in science class. I took your advice and got him a sketch book notebook, and I ask him one important fact from the chapter and to illustrate. Well, his narration is excellent at this point, but then I left him to write on his own after copying difficult spelling words on a separate page, and when I cam back little sister was sneaking his book back to him:glare:. Apparently he bargained a game of barbies and Uno if she will draw his picture.

 

The other day I asked him why he hates copy work and he said, "because it's already there! Why would I have to write it again!" LOL, so I dunno what to say to that. He NEVER makes a mistake with copywork. I don't remember a single time. So there is one thing I'm trying to get creative with also.

 

I'm excited to use MCT next year also. I started with it this year, and jsut realized I wanted FLL3 under our belt first. I think it will spark some creative writing in just the right way. And I say that being very against that journaling type of thing, as we cannot stand it.

 

Here are a few things I have done lately: Last week he wrote out the Transformer theme song, after googling it to check his own spelling. Then one day I told him we would have a funny writing day, and I asked him to write about a pretend conversation with anyone he wants. I figured this would be good puncuation practice . Of course the f-word (gas) came up alot. :lol:

 

On Monday I started taking a different approach to spelling, and instead of having him write what sentences are in the workbook, or to be dictated, I make a worksheet in Startwrite and write my own gross(think little boy humor) and silly sentences for each spelling word, and he copies the sentences. Somehow he does not view this as copywork since we've always copied spelling words! It works like a charm, and it is totally separate from writing, since it is spelling time. I print out a list of sentences on Sunday, and give it to him Monday to finish on his own account. He likes to be responsible for one thing during the week that he can do "whenever he wants." An example: Our word list this week included the words sudden, and sister and I wrote : All of the sudden, I heard a loud noise coming from the kitchen. When I arrived at the location, I realized by smell, that the sound was that of a giant fart from my sister! Does your DS use the computer ? Maybe you could steer a bit from the copy work and have him write on his own a little while looking up words. That has been working for us. I know the point of copy work is to see proper writing and duplicate it, but DS has completely mastered that. It doesn't matter if he cannot spell or understand a single word of it, he can STILL duplicate it. I'm ok with steering away from that and so far it's going well. When he writes while using the dictionary (online) there is little to correct and he takes correcting well. It's typically one letter here and there. Maybe your DS would be the same since he gets grammar easily. DS seems to remember grammar well, and punctuation r ules we have learned seem to transfer well.

[Critterfixer]

I don't get a lot of complaining about copywork, but I have found that both of my boys prefer to write when we have spent some time working on a selection. Most of my copywork for them comes in the course of using Wheeler's Speller, as does dictation.

We use Aesop CW for writing. I'm finding that they really do want to work through their own narrations via the spelling, grammar and vocabulary stuff we do with the selection. The last day I spend with them in critique and revision of their writing, encouraging them to read through and really work on the elements of saying exactly what they want to say. (They really enjoy seeing a long disjointed narration go down to just a few sentences of summary!) Once I've helped them say what they really want to say in a small space, the copying and illustration of that work goes well, because they own it.

[ErinE]

What are his interests? If he's passionate about Star Wars, can he write something about that? My son is 9 and he hates writing, but he will spend hours talking about Star Wars, football, or whatever science book he's picked that week. I decided to harness this energy into writing about things he loves.

 

I still require WWE writing for history, science, and literature, but I really wanted to ramp up my son's writing habit. So we've written a couple paragraphs on things he likes. He read a book about planes in history and he had a weekly assignment for a few weeks to write a paragraph for each plane he liked. For each paragraph, he followed the same steps. First, we sat down and talked about topic sentences, supporting details, and conclusions. He wrote a topic sentence and wrote down five to seven supporting details. The next day, we talked about keeping the details related and then, he wrote three supporting sentences. The final day, we went into more detail on conclusions and he wrote a final sentence. Each day was 15-30 minutes. The final day, we read the paragraph aloud and we would talk about the importance of the flow, word choice, audience, etc. He made a few changes then I typed it up and printed it out. This took a lot of guidance on my part.

 

This has really spilled over into his other writing; his output has better narrative flow. But we still spend time talking about the narration before writing it down.

 

We're now working on a five paragraph essay on professional football teams. He has five short books on various teams. I discussed the goals with him: pretend you're writing to a boy your age who knows football, but doesn't know the different teams. From your books, pick which three teams you'll write about. Next week he'll research: reading a different book each day and taking notes on the most interesting facts. The following week or two, I plan to have him work on the essay starting with discussion and then writing the introduction, supporting paragraphs, and conclusion. After, we'll take a week to discuss and correct, then I'll type it up, print it out, and let him illustrate.

 

We might do one more essay before the third grade is over, but once we complete this exercise, we'll return to paragraph writing for awhile. Aside from history, literature, and science, his output is one assigned paragraph every two to three weeks.

 

To help find topics, we visit the library once a week. Before we go in, the kids are required to tell me one topic they really want to know more about. We search for the books together and only then are they released to find the fun books.

[ErinE]

For some reason, I thought I saw fourth grade! Oops! Sorry for the really long post above.

 

Trimming down the output, perhaps he could research topics he's interested in and write a sentence and illustrate. If he tells you about General Grievious with his four light sabers have him write him down. In a few months, you could introduce paragraph writing and have him work on a few before the end of the year.

[boscopup]

Thanks for the ideas, everyone! I'll try some things out this week! :D

[boscopup]

Update: Today, I had DS pick 2 sentences out of any book he wanted. I said they can't be 3-word sentences. ;) He sat in the den for a LONG time, reading a Magic School Bus book and a Clone Wars chapter book. I nagged him a bit to pick something before I did. :tongue_smilie:Finally, he came to me and showed me the sentences he wanted to copy: "Lungs help you breathe. Muscles help you move." Though he wanted to change "you" to "us" in the sentences, so I agreed to that change and made a copywork sheet in Startwrite with 30pt lines (that's a comfortable size right now).

 

We then discussed both sentences, using the grammar we've learned so far in FLL3. We also discussed the spelling of each word, and pointed out that without the 'e' in "breathe" would be "breath". He really enjoyed our discussion.

 

He then began to copy... with some of the neatest handwriting I've ever seen him do! :001_huh: He copied it relatively quickly (not dawdling), and he seemed to enjoy it somewhat! Hooray!!!!!

 

We'll continue with WWE2 copywork as usual, but throw in some of this self-chosen copywork now and then to mix things up and keep it interesting (I worry that if I did all of his copywork that way, he'd lose the enthusiasm). Thanks so much everyone!!!! :D

[Critterfixer]

Nothing like owning your work to make it worthwhile! Glad things are working better for you both.:thumbup1:

[LindaOz]

Update: Today, I had DS pick 2 sentences out of any book he wanted. I said they can't be 3-word sentences. ;) He sat in the den for a LONG time, reading a Magic School Bus book and a Clone Wars chapter book. I nagged him a bit to pick something before I did. :tongue_smilie:Finally, he came to me and showed me the sentences he wanted to copy: "Lungs help you breathe. Muscles help you move." Though he wanted to change "you" to "us" in the sentences, so I agreed to that change and made a copywork sheet in Startwrite with 30pt lines (that's a comfortable size right now).

 

We then discussed both sentences, using the grammar we've learned so far in FLL3. We also discussed the spelling of each word, and pointed out that without the 'e' in "breathe" would be "breath". He really enjoyed our discussion.

 

He then began to copy... with some of the neatest handwriting I've ever seen him do! :001_huh: He copied it relatively quickly (not dawdling), and he seemed to enjoy it somewhat! Hooray!!!!!

 

We'll continue with WWE2 copywork as usual, but throw in some of this self-chosen copywork now and then to mix things up and keep it interesting (I worry that if I did all of his copywork that way, he'd lose the enthusiasm). Thanks so much everyone!!!! :D

 

That's great. Well done!!! :001_smile:

[Lori D.]

For writing-phobic / writing-hating / struggling writer children:

 

- Keep it Short to Start

1-3 sentences for ANY writing session; later in the day, do a second writing session no longer than that; and then a third writing session, each separated by at least an hour of non-writing related school -- one session can be your copywork; the other two related to the writing program. For a 4th-5th grader without a writing disability, after a month or two, creep up in your requirement, to 2-4 sentences; a few months later, 3-5 sentences (5 sentences is a full paragraph!). Obviously, if there is disability, you have to work with the student.

 

 

- Spice Up Copy Work

Use limericks, riddles, jokes, or silly sentences in which almost every letter of every word starts with the same letter of the alphabet. Another idea: a "bite" of an exciting story each day.

 

 

- Change Up How You Do Narrations

Have DS pull a slip of paper from a jar to choose how that week's narration will be done:

* verbally -- no writing

* regular written narration on paper

* videotape it "on camera" like a news anchor -- work from key word notes

* write it out with dry erase markers on the white board -- or the window!

* draw an illustration or make a poster of the key points and verbally construct a narration from it

* write with colored markers or pens on paper

* come up with more variations of your own!

 

 

- Do a different kind of writing each week:

 

1. Share Writing a Story

Take turns, each write few words at a time (use dice to determine how many words) -- this and other writing ideas from Peggy Kaye's Games for Learning, or Games for Writing. (For slightly older children -- say, grades 3 or 4 and up, use 2 dice.)

 

2. Write a Goofy or Fun List

(ex: 4 things I'd take into space; 7 ingredients for a witch's brew; names for 3 Ninja moves; top 5 places I'd go on vacation; rules to your own "Calvin Ball" game; etc.)

 

3. Free Write/Journal Write (3-6 sentences, 2-3x/week)

Our DSs do NOT like creative writing, so we used prompts like: "What I hate about..." "What I like about..." "Where I'd like to visit..." or things based on their interests at the time, such as Ninjas, gaming, pirates, movies, sports, a recent event or vacation, etc. -- make it more factual rather than "feeling" oriented. Boys especially don't seem to be able to write a personal "response" at this age; they don't seem to have connected with emotions and themselves yet to do so. Also, lists were a less painful alternative sometimes than a free-writing paragraph.

 

* good list of all-purpose prompts: http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/prompts.html

* another good list of all-purpose prompts: http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1492.html

* prompts by grade level from Write Source: http://thewritesource.com/writing_topics/

* quotations for use as prompts (for middle/high school ages): http://teachers.net/lessons/posts/1860.html

* prompts for creative writing: http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/

 

4. Book Report

About one every 2-3 weeks, writing answers to various questions from SWB's list here (scroll 3/4 down the page, look under the heading of LANGUAGE ARTS), and then spending 2 days pulling the answers to the questions together into 1-2 paragraph book report -- this part completely involves mom, but it is good practice for how to pull material collected into a coherent paper...

 

 

 

PROGRAMS that have worked with writing phobic-DS and struggling writer DS

 

- Ready, Set, Revise -- write 1-2 sentences as a writing warm-up 2-3x/week

(A painless writing warm-up program for gr. 4-6)

 

- Comicstrip Writing Prompts -- for gr. 3-6

 

- Wordsmith Apprentice (gr. 4-7)

Wonderful, gentle intro into writing, esp. for writing phobic boys; first time they didn't moan and groan about writing! And they loved the silly one-page comics. Can be used as a lite supplement or a fun break from a more formal/structured program.

 

- Jump In (gr. 6-8)

Similar in gentle, incremental, informal, friendly tone as Wordsmith -- and a more in-depth sequel to Wordsmith Apprentice than Wordsmith! Great esp. for struggling writers in helping them think of what to write, how to organize their writing, and how to come up with specific examples/details/facts to support their writing. Do be aware of "hot button" topics (pro choice; abortion) mentioned a few times as one of several ideas for writing assignments. The program is supposed to take 2 years, by interspersing free writing from prompts after each unit, but... the prompts are very lame, and when using Jump In with an older student, it worked much better to just skip the free writing and take 1 year to do the program.

 

- Scholastic Writing Series (gr. 5-8)

Descriptive Writing; Narrative Writing; Expository Writing; Persuasive Writing. While written for a classroom, and not that great as a stand-alone writing program, lots of creative and interesting informational details and exercises/assignments. Not a good choice for a spine writing program, but makes a great supplement for creative, unusual and fun short exercises and writing assignments. See at Rainbow Resource Catalog.

 

- IEW

Okay, we only have used the key word outline CONCEPT from seeing Pudewa live, and from watching some of the teaching DVD with a friend -- BUT, it was a very helpful idea, and made writing manageable for writing phobic elementary through middle school boys. It helped us to organize thoughts; spread the writing out over several days; by the end, write complete coherent paragraphs -- and if you do another paragraph over several days, and then another paragraph over another several days, in 2 weeks time your writing phobic student actually has a 3-5 paragraph PAPER!

 

The big help IEW gave us was a way of breaking the writing into small "bites" to spread the writing out over the day, or over a week.

[Lori D.]

Oops! I see your DS is only first grade. At age 7, writing, esp. for a boy who hates it, is best if kept VERY minimal.

 

TOTALLY agree with the Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye -- a BIG hit here with our writing-hater, and writing-struggler. They LOVED that game where you roll the die and only get to write that many words on your turn. Honestly, they really would BEG for a re-roll if they rolled the "1", so I did finally relent on that one, and allow them to use it as a "re-roll". LOL! And of course, key to this activity is to only do no more than once a week so it's always a huge treat.

 

Also, at that age I kept it short, just like you said in your update, to no more than 2 sentences. When we did an occasional narration, he would dictate to me, and I wrote it down. Then we would use that the following week as his copywork -- just 1, no more than 2, short sentences a day.

 

BEST of luck! Warmest regards, Lori D.

Edited December 12, 2011 by Lori D.

[boscopup]

Thanks Lori D.! That is very helpful. He is in 2nd grade, btw. So we currently do a couple sentences already. I'm hoping to be up to a short paragraph by the end of the year.