Tapestry of Grace and a writing program

[Reflections]

I am leaning towards using TOG next year. I need some hand holding for high school. I'm just too overwhelmed with the little one running around, I need something more laid out/open and go for 9th grade. And the idea that I can use it with ds7 and then later with ds3, makes it seem worth it.

 

BUT I am wondering what instructional writing program people are using with it - if any at all. TOG has the writing program add on, but I don't know anything about it. I like WWS and I was seriously considering Lost Tools or IEW or some combo for next year.

 

I guess my question is: if you use TOG, do you supplement with another writing program?

[Candid]

I love Tapestry but have gotten rid of all their writing materials. They provided guidelines for types of papers, but in terms of the nuts and bolts of writing I didn't find them helpful. BUT writing is my weak point. Everything else seems to come first in our house, so I am totally out sourcing writing next year.

[Reflections]

I love Tapestry but have gotten rid of all their writing materials. They provided guidelines for types of papers, but in terms of the nuts and bolts of writing I didn't find them helpful. BUT writing is my weak point. Everything else seems to come first in our house, so I am totally out sourcing writing next year.

 

 

 

That's what I was thinking - that people are using something different for the writing component.

 

I wish I knew someone irl so that I could lay my hands on a copy of TOG just to see how it works. I may end up purchasing a unit or two of the DE to see...

[homebody2k]

A writing teacher in my area offers a TOG writing class each year - she uses whatever year most of us are in. That will cover, Lit and writing for us next year (9th grade) and we will just do history and projects at home. Costs 200.00 per child per semester. Well worth it

[Renaissance Mom]

I love TOG and have used it for seven years. I don't particularly care for their writing instruction. However, their writing assignments can be quite good. I teach my children to write with IEW. Once they've mastered certain skills, I have them practice them with TOG assignments. For example, last year my oldest dd worked through IEW's The Elegant Essay. Because the exercise prompts in the EE were rather foreign to dd, we used TOG topics/prompts to actually do the EE exercises and assignments. This year we did Windows to the World from IEW to teach how to approach writing about literature. Instead of a couple of the Window's assignments, we substituted something from TOG. (Windows assigns a characterization essay on a short story. Dd did the pre-writing exercises for that short story to be sure she understood how to approach it, but then she repeated the prewriting exercises and wrote the essay about a character in the Odyssey, which she read as part of her TOG work.

 

For what it's worth, I don't mix and match for my grammar kids. They pretty much do writing with IEW. But once they are solid on the various IEW units, I'll add in additional practice with TOG prompts or assignments.

[Reflections]

A writing teacher in my area offers a TOG writing class each year - she uses whatever year most of us are in. That will cover, Lit and writing for us next year (9th grade) and we will just do history and projects at home. Costs 200.00 per child per semester. Well worth it

 

 

I would participate in something like this...but I don't think we have that in our area..off to google.

[Reflections]

I love TOG and have used it for seven years. I don't particularly care for their writing instruction. However, their writing assignments can be quite good. I teach my children to write with IEW. Once they've mastered certain skills, I have them practice them with TOG assignments. For example, last year my oldest dd worked through IEW's The Elegant Essay. Because the exercise prompts in the EE were rather foreign to dd, we used TOG topics/prompts to actually do the EE exercises and assignments. This year we did Windows to the World from IEW to teach how to approach writing about literature. Instead of a couple of the Window's assignments, we substituted something from TOG. (Windows assigns a characterization essay on a short story. Dd did the pre-writing exercises for that short story to be sure she understood how to approach it, but then she repeated the prewriting exercises and wrote the essay about a character in the Odyssey, which she read as part of her TOG work.

 

For what it's worth, I don't mix and match for my grammar kids. They pretty much do writing with IEW. But once they are solid on the various IEW units, I'll add in additional practice with TOG prompts or assignments.

 

 

 

This is what I was thinking. That I would use IEW - probably Windows to the World and Elegant Essay to go along with TOG. I really want to do Lost Tools of Writing with her too..... maybe for 10th grade.

 

I'm going through TOG website with a fine tooth comb trying to figure it all out - I really like the concept.

[BlsdMama]

The writing program add-on is Writing Aids. I have used Tapestry and am not currently using Tapestry. I didn't follow the writing assignments but we followed our own.

 

That said, I believe there is value in Writing Aids, however, NOT as a teaching program. I personally believe you'd have to either be able to teach writing intuitively to use it *OR* use another program if that wasn't in your comfort zone. The reason is simply that Writing Aids gives poor writing instruction.

 

So, what is Writing Aids strength? The rubrics! The lists of various writing assignments is great as well.

If you buy WA, make sure you either buy it used or buy it with the CD in good condition. The CD is where the value lies - I can't tell you how much I love her rubrics. They are clear, concise, and provide value to the student as far as providing a "checklist" of expectations. Each rubric very clearly states what an excellent paper, a good paper, an average paper, and a sub-par paper would look like for EACH type of writing listed. So, there is a separate rubric for literary analysis as there is for an argumentative essay. I find the hardest part of teaching writing at the high school level to be providing a student with clear expectations and grading! This overcomes both of those!

 

So, would I buy it? Absolutely.

Would I use it as writing instruction? Absolutely not.

[TXMary2]

I love the writing assignments, but the insructions are often vague. I enrolled my high schooler in a English Comp class for dual enrollment, and we use reference books as well as the Purdue Online Writing Lab website.

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I think it depends on your writing goals. What are you trying to teach? Grammar, spelling, creative writing, report writing?

Do you want your assignments to tie to lit, history or another topic?

 

I decided to take the Thinking Questions and Accountability Questions and turn them into short answer essays, the kids select 1-3 depending on the week. I use a completely different program for lit so dd is working on their writing assignments. You can use just about any writing program with TOG. The IEW history series can match up nicely. You could try the Elegant Essay. And quite frankly I think there is benefit in using Writing With Skill even in early high school years. I plan on adding a few self generated research papers or essays as end of unit/year projects or even a few AP style essay prompts.

[Reflections]

The writing program add-on is Writing Aids. I have used Tapestry and am not currently using Tapestry. I didn't follow the writing assignments but we followed our own.

 

That said, I believe there is value in Writing Aids, however, NOT as a teaching program. I personally believe you'd have to either be able to teach writing intuitively to use it *OR* use another program if that wasn't in your comfort zone. The reason is simply that Writing Aids gives poor writing instruction.

 

So, what is Writing Aids strength? The rubrics! The lists of various writing assignments is great as well.

If you buy WA, make sure you either buy it used or buy it with the CD in good condition. The CD is where the value lies - I can't tell you how much I love her rubrics. They are clear, concise, and provide value to the student as far as providing a "checklist" of expectations. Each rubric very clearly states what an excellent paper, a good paper, an average paper, and a sub-par paper would look like for EACH type of writing listed. So, there is a separate rubric for literary analysis as there is for an argumentative essay. I find the hardest part of teaching writing at the high school level to be providing a student with clear expectations and grading! This overcomes both of those!

 

So, would I buy it? Absolutely.

Would I use it as writing instruction? Absolutely not.

 

 

This is something to keep in mind. My expectations can sometimes be too high or not high enough - I struggle with the middle ground. Maybe I can find some samples of WA and figure out if we'll use it.

[Reflections]

I think it depends on your writing goals. What are you trying to teach? Grammar, spelling, creative writing, report writing?

Do you want your assignments to tie to lit, history or another topic?

 

I decided to take the Thinking Questions and Accountability Questions and turn them into short answer essays, the kids select 1-3 depending on the week. I use a completely different program for lit so dd is working on their writing assignments. You can use just about any writing program with TOG. The IEW history series can match up nicely. You could try the Elegant Essay. And quite frankly I think there is benefit in using Writing With Skill even in early high school years. I plan on adding a few self generated research papers or essays as end of unit/year projects or even a few AP style essay prompts.

 

 

Wellllllll, we will be using WWS in high school because there is no way she'll be finished by summer. So I'll probably pick it up where we left off and then start a new program. Once I get TOG in hand, I'll probably make similar plans. I want us to be writing heavy this year. Oh, my poor kids.....

[seekhim4ever]

I want to comment on one aspect of your initial post that seemed to fall through the cracks.

• You wrote that you are "just too overwhelmed with the little one running around, I need something more laid out/open and go for 9th grade."
  

I have been using TOG for 7 years so I would affirm that it is "laid out" for you. As for feeling overwhelmed with having a new high schooler AND little ones, IEW takes a lot of training for the teacher. If you are not trained already, you may want to consider that it is teacher intensive up front.

 

Since you said that writing is not a strong suit of yours, I would agree that TOG may not provide the depth of instruction you desire. It may be worth giving it a shot first though. They provide links in the Loom to online resources that support the weekly assignments for each level. With the online support and Writing Aids manual, we are doing well. There was a time I thought I wanted a more rigorous writing program but after a couple of attempts we returned to the TOG program. There are just so many hours in a day and I am finite so we have gone back and I think my children are fine writers - and what's more, they really enjoy writing!

[JumpedIntoTheDeepEndFirst]

I want to comment on one aspect of your initial post that seemed to fall through the cracks.

• You wrote that you are "just too overwhelmed with the little one running around, I need something more laid out/open and go for 9th grade."

 

I have been using TOG for 7 years so I would affirm that it is "laid out" for you. As for feeling overwhelmed with having a new high schooler AND little ones, IEW takes a lot of training for the teacher. If you are not trained already, you may want to consider that it is teacher intensive up front.

 

Since you said that writing is not a strong suit of yours, I would agree that TOG may not provide the depth of instruction you desire. It may be worth giving it a shot first though. They provide links in the Loom to online resources that support the weekly assignments for each level. With the online support and Writing Aids manual, we are doing well. There was a time I thought I wanted a more rigorous writing program but after a couple of attempts we returned to the TOG program. There are just so many hours in a day and I am finite so we have gone back and I think my children are fine writers - and what's more, they really enjoy writing!

 

 

As to the bolded above- an excellent point to address and a rabbit trail that has nothing to do with which writing program is best.

 

I have a both a K and 9th student this year. Obviously my work to help the 9th grader and the hours that takes is far more than I need to spend with the K student. My biggest piece of advice is to spend your summer planning. Get as many schedules, grading rubrics, plans, pre-reading, tests generated, etc. that you think you need for your rising 9th grader done as early as possible. That would have made our year much smoother in many aspects. No matter which program you pick get that 9th grader writing regularly-that matters more than the perfect program.

[Pamela in VA]

I love TOG and have used it for seven years. I don't particularly care for their writing instruction. However, their writing assignments can be quite good. I teach my children to write with IEW. Once they've mastered certain skills, I have them practice them with TOG assignments. For example, last year my oldest dd worked through IEW's The Elegant Essay. Because the exercise prompts in the EE were rather foreign to dd, we used TOG topics/prompts to actually do the EE exercises and assignments. This year we did Windows to the World from IEW to teach how to approach writing about literature. Instead of a couple of the Window's assignments, we substituted something from TOG. (Windows assigns a characterization essay on a short story. Dd did the pre-writing exercises for that short story to be sure she understood how to approach it, but then she repeated the prewriting exercises and wrote the essay about a character in the Odyssey, which she read as part of her TOG work.

 

 

We also use IEW writing with TOG and finished EE this year. I have WTTW to use along with Y1 next year, but haven't really tried to coordinate the assignments yet. It seems this is what you did this year and I wonder if you'd be willing to share exactly how you tailored the WTTW assignments to the TOG literature for Y1.

 

Thanks so much!

Pamela

[mandymom]

We use TOG, but used Wordsmith Craftsman this year for my high schoolers and Jump-In Writing for my middle schoolers this year. Both were good comprehensive writing programs. Next year, I plan on using the writing assignments in TOG, and referring back to the writing programs we used this year as needed. I will probably have my middles go through Wordsmith Craftsman when they hit 9th grade as well.

[Renaissance Mom]

I didn't coordinate the two very closely. We only did wttw lessons when we weren't working on a tog lit work. I had decided that we would read and do Tapestry assignments for the Egyptian poetry, Gilgamesh, the Iliad, the Odyssey, all of the scheduled Greek tragedies, and the Aeneid. I had also assigned a translation of Mayan myths and legends that wasn't on the tog list. In between those assignments, we worked on wttw lessons. When dd got to the characterization essay lesson in wttw, she did the prewriting and charts for the short story, discussed it thoroughly with me, and then did the actual essay on a character in the Odyssey. So all I did was cut the tog lit list way back and work in the wttw lessons, plus adapted one of the wttw essay assignments --- nothing too dramatic. My personal advice is to not try and correlate things too strictly. Just set up a flow that includes your major priorities and don't try and do everything. This particular combo worked for us, but some other combo might better suit your goals.

 

:)

[Reflections]

I want to comment on one aspect of your initial post that seemed to fall through the cracks.

• You wrote that you are "just too overwhelmed with the little one running around, I need something more laid out/open and go for 9th grade."

 

I have been using TOG for 7 years so I would affirm that it is "laid out" for you. As for feeling overwhelmed with having a new high schooler AND little ones, IEW takes a lot of training for the teacher. If you are not trained already, you may want to consider that it is teacher intensive up front.

 

Since you said that writing is not a strong suit of yours, I would agree that TOG may not provide the depth of instruction you desire. It may be worth giving it a shot first though. They provide links in the Loom to online resources that support the weekly assignments for each level. With the online support and Writing Aids manual, we are doing well. There was a time I thought I wanted a more rigorous writing program but after a couple of attempts we returned to the TOG program. There are just so many hours in a day and I am finite so we have gone back and I think my children are fine writers - and what's more, they really enjoy writing!

 

 

For additionally writing, I am going to use one of IEWs theme programs: Ancient History Based writing lessons - it does not seem as teacher intensive as SWI.

 

And, yes, I have to keep in mind that there are only so many hours in a day.

 

:)

[Reflections]

 

As to the bolded above- an excellent point to address and a rabbit trail that has nothing to do with which writing program is best.

 

I have a both a K and 9th student this year. Obviously my work to help the 9th grader and the hours that takes is far more than I need to spend with the K student. My biggest piece of advice is to spend your summer planning. Get as many schedules, grading rubrics, plans, pre-reading, tests generated, etc. that you think you need for your rising 9th grader done as early as possible. That would have made our year much smoother in many aspects. No matter which program you pick get that 9th grader writing regularly-that matters more than the perfect program.

 

I started the planning aspect last month and I am scared that I am not going to have it all together by August.... :willy_nilly:

 

And the writing regularly is my ultimate goal!!!

[Reflections]

Thanks everyone for replying! It really is helping me plan out the year.....

 

 

 

 

 

 

even if I don't wind up using TOG.... :leaving: