She cries when I ask her to summarize.

[kidswife]

My 7 y/o daughter completed WWE1 and FLL1 and we're now in WWE2 and FLL2. She has always enjoyed the time with these subjects, but I think it's mostly because it's one-on-one time with me (which is a premium around here).

 

We're about 3/4 through level 2 and for that past 2 weeks, she's really struggled/dreaded/complained/sometimes cried her way through the summary part of the writing. I've explained to her about my writer's block I struggled with in high school and college. (I do NOT want my kids suffering the same fate!) Once you get over the hump of not knowing how to start, the words flow much more easily. And it is true in her case. She just dreads and complains about how to start the summary. After her first sentence comes out, she's fine.

But I dread her crying. I know it's coming!

Should it be this way? I do have part Tiger Mom in me (reference Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother) so I'm not against pushing through this tough stuff, because it will get easier later. But I'm also questioning if I should go another route with my writing curriculum.

I heard SWB speak at a convention and I just thought "whatever that woman puts together for a writing curriculum, I'm gonna do it!" This is because out of all subjects, Writing is the one I'm least confident in teaching, and SWB seems VERY knowledgable.

I use My Father's World as my core and they recommend Writing Strands. I'm just wondering if I should switch to something more "Fun", or if this is a battle best conquered early.

Thank you for any advice!!

 

-Theresa

[nansk]

I don't have any suggestions, because we are towards the end of WWE1. But if my dd shows reluctance or non-readiness with summarizing, I would 1. take a break from WWE for a couple of weeks, and 2. provide lots of hand-holding to help her compose her summary.

 

If you want to take a break from WWE and must do something else, consider Primary Language Lessons (either Serl's or Sheldon's) as a gentle narration+copywork+dictation program.

 

Alternatively, for something more workbooky, take a look at Diana Hanbury King's Writing Skills book for gr 2.

[boscopup]

It sounds like she's hit a point where it's becoming more difficult for her. I would probably back up a bit. What has changed since before she started crying? Is it the removal of the leading questions? The removal of the questions that summarize the narration for you? You may need to add those back in for a bit. Try using other materials that you are reading for school, and throw in the questions there.

 

It's also ok to help her get started. You're only in level 2. If you listen to SWB's writing lecture again, she talks about how to lead a child through their narration, sometimes coming up with the whole thing yourself and leading them too that, but they're still learning in the process.

 

Don't worry about keeping up with level numbers on the books. If you need to do some of 3rd grade in level 2, that's fine! This is a process. Do what she is ready for. She may be struggling with it now, but make a jump forward later. You just never know.

 

(we're not quite 2/3 through WWE2... we'll be doing level 2 through the summer, I'm sure :tongue_smilie:)

[Hunter]

Just because a child CAN do something doesn't always mean they SHOULD :-0

 

I don't have any answers. I was a STRICT mom and pushed my kids pretty hard academically, but as I'm getting older and recovering from Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome...I'm learning...that...I'm struggling for words.

 

The reason I was such a tiger mom was that I believed self-worth was wrapped up in achievement. So I pushed myself and my children to the breaking point. Now that I believe all humans are born HUMAN and therefor worthy just because they ARE, it took so much of the pressure off.

 

I still believe in a quality education, but I believe a child has a right to a developmentally appropriate curriculum, and I think a lot of classical materials are just too much too soon.

 

Doing our best doesn't START with pain. Doing our best STOPS with pain. Pain means something is WRONG. Now I'm not talking about letting a child rule the day and refuse to try new things. I've often found that work ethics are best done with physical labor and not academics though.

 

Good luck! I'm just talking in GENERALIZATIONS here.

[Critterfixer]

From the perspective of someone who just finished revising chapter summaries on Villette by Bronte....

 

Summaries are hard for the detail inclined. I'm just hazarding a guess, but I would suspect that the OP's child has trouble summarizing because it is all so interesting or so important that picking one thing or two things out of the text as central issues is hard. It is hard to do, especially with literature. Science and history are often easier, but not always.

But, summary is a really, really great thing. Often, just by doing it you gain immense insight into what the writer was fixed upon, and your own mind begins to take it in and work through it. I hate summary, and I love it too. The detail isn't written, and yet it colors the choice of words and sentence structure in the summary.

 

Here is what I did to revise my summaries. I asked myself to define the action(s) of the chapter. Only by doing this was I able to retain the nuances while driving at the point. If I couldn't relate the details to that point then I felt I had not captured the main point yet and more study was needed.

 

To get the same idea across to a younger student I would probably use my blackboard and do a brainstorming session before pen ever hit paper. (My hand hurt after all that revision. I'd have done better to digest before I wrote!) Work through pieces together. Write down the best sentence or the most vibrant part of the piece. If is is highly detailed, try to tie that to the most active part of the selection. Think about the question, "If this goes away, will there be a story?" Often the "this" should serve as the spine of the summary.

 

I bet just some simple modeling by you of the process and the knowledge that she is not alone to do it all by herself will be enough to ease the frustration. It is important. A lot more important than I first thought and well worth the effort of teaching it. Lead, show, demonstrate and praise. And don't push through just to get through it. Learning to summarize is so important that I'd stop right there and stay on it until it becomes an easy thing for her to take a simple story selection and summarize it without batting an eyelash. Then move on.

Edited April 4, 2012 by Critterfixer
Don't you hate it when you find your mistakes after you get quoted?

[fairy4tmama]

 

To get the same idea across to a younger student I would probably use my blackboard and do a brainstorming session before pen ever hit paper. (My hand hurt after all that revision. I'd have done better to digest before I wrote!) Work through pieces together. Write down the best sentence or the most vibrant part of the piece. If is is highly detailed, try to tie that to the most active part of the selection. Think about the question, "If this goes away, will their be a story?" Often the "this" should serve as the spine of the summary.

 

 

THIS

DS 9 is just in WWE 3 and he is less then fond of summarizing (although loved wwe prior to summarizing) we just started using the white board to write down his first attempt and then evaluate each part and decide if you could still know what the passage is about if you dropped it.

 

I also agree with the others that a break or a step backward(more hand holding) may be helpful.

 

We came to WWE late. We took a break mid level one (but returned to it after at ds request at the beginning of this year) and alas we are mid 3rd grade and just beginning level two. I.am.so.glad. it worked out this way...if we had hit summarizing any sooner we most certainly would have had tears and likely tantrums. He would just not have been ready for it! Now at 9 with a little more maturity and skill he is challenged and most certainly taken out of his comfort zone, but, he is not overwhelmed by it.

 

HTH

[Critterfixer]

Another thing that may be useful for teaching summary would be the Steck-Vaughn books that are skill specific. I find them very basic, and I don't like the stories which are so basic that they annoy. But, I like the idea and the exercises on summary and detail. It is a little work to do, but taking a selection and working through it with some of the questioning and fill in the blank questions re-worked for your selection could serve to take a lot of the fear out of coming up with that first sentence.

[JessReplanted]

Narration is painful here too. I would start the first sentence for her so that she can get over the hump.

[MomatHWTK]

Maybe you could work backwards. Ask her to list all the things that she remembers about the story. Then help her identify what were the key points from those that she remembers.

 

If she's not remembering the key points, then you have identified your sticking point. If she includes the key point in her list, then you can work on helping her figure out why it's most important.