Writing with Skill vs Creative Writer?

[athena1277]

I was going to get WWS for dd next year (5th grade), but I see that The Creative Writer is also for middle grades. Does it matter which you do first? Are they too much alike to do both? If you could give a bit of compare/contrast on these also I would be most appreciative.

[Chrysalis Academy]

WWS is expository/nonfiction writing. It is designed to be done 4 days a week.

 

The Creative Writer is creative writing - stories and poems. It is designed to be done once a week.

 

So they are non-overlapping and compatible, you can do WWS M-Th, and CW on Friday, for example.

[athena1277]

WWS is expository/nonfiction writing. It is designed to be done 4 days a week.

 

The Creative Writer is creative writing - stories and poems. It is designed to be done once a week.

 

So they are non-overlapping and compatible, you can do WWS M-Th, and CW on Friday, for example.

 

 

Do most people use both in the same year? Would it be ok to do WWS in 5th grade and the CW in 6th? Or would it be better to do both, maybe do one the first week and the other the next and take 2 years to do both?

[NotSoObvious]

If you have a child who loves to write, you could do both the same year.

 

But I will warn you, WWS is a LOT of writing, especially for kids coming out of WWE. It's an excellent program though.

 

I'm going to have my dd (who loves to write) work on The Creative Writer over the summer.

[NotSoObvious]

 

 

Do most people use both in the same year? Would it be ok to do WWS in 5th grade and the CW in 6th? Or would it be better to do both, maybe do one the first week and the other the next and take 2 years to do both?

 

 

 

You could definitely spread WWS over two years.

[athena1277]

If you have a child who loves to write, you could do both the same year.

 

But I will warn you, WWS is a LOT of writing, especially for kids coming out of WWE. It's an excellent program though.

 

I'm going to have my dd (who loves to write) work on The Creative Writer over the summer.

 

She hates writing. The narrations in WWE4 are pure torture in her book. Of course, so is anything that requires her having to think about something instead of just writing a simple answer.

 

I may need to rethink my plan for writing next year.

[PeterPan]

She hates writing. The narrations in WWE4 are pure torture in her book. Of course, so is anything that requires her having to think about something instead of just writing a simple answer.

 

I may need to rethink my plan for writing next year.

 

 

You might wait several years. My writing phobic dd (as in we've done OT and finally went for evals) just bloomed with writing this year. That's age 13 doing WWS1. Her writing kicks butt this year. Go to the share thread in the writing workshop section and see. It's ok to do other things and give them time to mature. Rising 5th? Look at Writing Tales 2.

 

You mentioned Creative Writer. I got CW2 and 3 for her to fiddle with this summer. Also (name slips my mind, Writing Magic is the book) is good. WT2 will pull in your dd's creative side. If you want to do CW1 over the summer, that would be fine. And as far as WWE4, sometimes what's going on there is a working memory issue. If that's part of what she's struggling with, it's something you can work on separately with digit spans, metronome work, etc. If it's something else (spelling, pain with writing, etc.), that's a bit different obviously. Anyways, I always hate to hear about people struggling with WWE, because the books really confound the medical and academic. If you have a weakness in working memory, connecting it to an academic subject just makes them hate the subject. So you identify it and work on them separately.

[Chrysalis Academy]

I agree, don't feel obligated to do WWS with your 5th grader, and don't feel obligated to finish it in one year. We're doing it spread out, started at the end of 4th and we won't finish till halfway through 6th. It's excellent writing instruction, but very burn-outable for the younger set, and completely appropriate for older kids, too. I may not even touch it till 6th grade for my younger dd, although my 5th grader has used it successfully this year.

 

And agreeing with OhE - Gail Carson Levine's creative writing book Writing Magic: Creating Stories that Fly is a more gentle, whimsical introduction to creative writing that might be a better introduction than CW. My dd found CW very dry, and dropped it in favor of Levine's book, which she then dropped in favor of . . . nothing so far. But creative writing is non-obligatory at our house, so I'm fine with her doing a 5th day of expository writing, instead of creative writing on Fridays.

[PeterPan]

And just to repeat what is already common knowledge: SWB's ds did WWS1 in *9th* grade.

[Chrysalis Academy]

During our current WWS break (we'll finish it up next year in 6th) I am reading The Writer's Jungle, and we're doing exercises from that book. It's been very enlightening and is leading me to modify my approach to writing, though I do love SWB's writing lectures and curricula. I'm trying to learn from them, and from other sources, how to teach writing myself, rather than feeling stuck following WWS slavishly. Anyway, The Writer's Jungle/Bravewriter might be really helpful for you as a writing teacher/coach. I am definitely finding it helpful.

[PeterPan]

There's a lot in WWS that makes sense a lot later for some kids. ANY form of writing will be good preparation for WWS. I think people get too stuck on the specific recommendations in WTM and forget that the only goal is THE ABILITY TO GET THOUGHTS TO WORD AND WORDS TO WRITTEN. And there are LOTS of ways to do that!

 

So yes, you should pursue WJ and CM-style narrations and book reports, and youtube videos and journal prompts and ALL SORTS OF THINGS. If the dc can get this thoughts to words and the words to written (via paper or typing), he's golden. You can teach structure and analysis and organization LATER. What you don't want to have to go back and rebuild is just that comfort in getting their thoughts to words and their words to written. That's what you focus on. WTM is right on that. What's too narrow is reading the list of how you can do it (via the prescription in WTM) and thinking it's the ONLY set of activities that work for it. Diversity, lots of ways, always the same goal.

 

Organization and analysis are EF (executive function) and developmental.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Yes! Not to mention that WWS is considerably more challenging than what is described in WTM or SWB's writing lectures as appropriate for a 5th grader. You can do writing across the currciclum as described in WTM for a 5th grader, and save WWS till later, and not be an inch "behind", whatever that means to you.