Fix It or ??? to help encourage self-editing skills

[Momto6inIN]

This would be for my 2nd DS, who is finishing up 8th grade. He is a fantastic creative writer, but not so much on academic writing. He is slowly working his way through Wordsmith Craftsman and is making improvements on the organization and structure of his essays. But he's still not doing well on editing his own work and leaves tons and tons and tons of errors in his writing. He's gone through Analytical Grammar (all 3 seasons) and while I love it and he can correct a sentence pretty well when it's presented to him like that, I just haven't seen the crossover into his self-editing skills that I'd like to see.

 

I'm thinking that because IEW's Fix It has them re-write the corrected passages at the end of each week into a coherent story that it might be just the ticket for him ... but I'm just not sure. We/he have not used any IEW materials in the past, and I'm not sure if the way they have them parse/mark the sentences in Fix It would be confusing to him or not, since it's different than the way AG did it. And he doesn't know the IEW "lingo" at all. So would I be better off looking at something else? If so, what? TIA!

[OneStepAtATime]

Well, the grammar part, if  you start with Book 1, would almost certainly be all review based on what he has already done.  That might not be a bad thing since he would be focusing more on editing than on basic grammar.  There is only one sentence to work on each day.  It may not be rigorous enough for the level of writing he may be at.  At the same time, maybe you don't need lots of editing.  Maybe just focusing on one sentence each day would give him a chance to really break things down and focus on specifics.  

 

 Don't worry about the lingo, by the way.  That is explained in the TM and in the student pages.  It is designed so you can use it without using other IEW products.  

 

I like Fix-It a lot but I don't know how well it would work for your situation.  You might give the placement test and then try out one book.

[Momto6inIN]

If I decide to go with Fix It I would probably have him do all of 1 week each day through the 1st book, then probably 2 sentences per day til we get through the 2nd and maybe 3rd books, if all goes well. I thought about even having him just skip the parsing/marking the sentences and just focus on the editing/punctuation. Do you think that would work? Or would that make a mess of the whole point of the program?

 

He really likes the story aspect of Fix It - it appeals to the creative writer in him :) - so I thought his enjoyment of writing the story might overcome his reluctance to use something that seems too easy for him at first.

[Momto6inIN]

I also looked at Editor in Chief by the Critical Thinking Company ... but the writing in Fix It appealed to us more. But maybe we should do that instead even if it is not as appealing? Would that do the trick too?

[AmyontheFarm]

I can tell you that the Fix it! program has been a success for my son.  He has transferred what he learned into his everyday work.  Start with Book 1 and he might fly through parts of it but it is a good base.

[MerryAtHope]

Something that helped my kids:

 

1, praise for all the errors he can find and fix (make the editing step a definite, separate step from any other rewriting, so his attention is focused JUST on that, and you can see the changes from one draft to the next).

 

2, for errors you think he should be very familiar with, put a light pencil X next to the line, and have him try to find it. Again, encourage for any he can find and fix.

 

3, model/show how to fix other errors as much as he needs. If there are "tons" and it would be overwhelming for him, focus on certain ones, and save some types of errors for the next time around, perhaps doing a proactive type of lesson where you teach how to do something in particular. 

 

4, have him do a final rewrite where he fixes all errors he found and all that you found.

 

Celebrate the final product!

 

 

[OneStepAtATime]

If I decide to go with Fix It I would probably have him do all of 1 week each day through the 1st book, then probably 2 sentences per day til we get through the 2nd and maybe 3rd books, if all goes well. I thought about even having him just skip the parsing/marking the sentences and just focus on the editing/punctuation. Do you think that would work? Or would that make a mess of the whole point of the program?

 

He really likes the story aspect of Fix It - it appeals to the creative writer in him :) - so I thought his enjoyment of writing the story might overcome his reluctance to use something that seems too easy for him at first.

For the record, the first several weeks of book 2 are review of everything learned in book 1.  I am wondering if you should start with Book 2?   Although the story in Book 1 might be appealing and with the fast pace you are planning it probably would be a great review and intro to this system.

 

I highly recommend him doing the marking on the sentences.  Don't skip that.

[Momto6inIN]

Thanks everybody! I think we are going to go ahead and try Fix It 1 at a fast pace and see how it goes. He kind of rolled his eyes at me this morning when I had him marking nouns and putting in end punctuation, but I think it will be good for him to begin at this level.

[Momto6inIN]

Something that helped my kids:

 

1, praise for all the errors he can find and fix (make the editing step a definite, separate step from any other rewriting, so his attention is focused JUST on that, and you can see the changes from one draft to the next).

 

2, for errors you think he should be very familiar with, put a light pencil X next to the line, and have him try to find it. Again, encourage for any he can find and fix.

 

3, model/show how to fix other errors as much as he needs. If there are "tons" and it would be overwhelming for him, focus on certain ones, and save some types of errors for the next time around, perhaps doing a proactive type of lesson where you teach how to do something in particular. 

 

4, have him do a final rewrite where he fixes all errors he found and all that you found.

 

Celebrate the final product!

 

These are some good tips ... thanks! I especially like the idea of keeping editing separate from rewrites. I think sometimes he gets bogged down with having to look at ALL the corrections at once.

 

[OneStepAtATime]

These are some good tips ... thanks! I especially like the idea of keeping editing separate from rewrites. I think sometimes he gets bogged down with having to look at ALL the corrections at once.

 

Then you may want to start with book one of Fix-it and just do one lesson a day, 5 days a week instead of 4, for a couple of months.  They start with just one thing to label/edit.  They build up over time and do review lessons.  Hitting him with a ton of sentences daily all at once might make him hate the program.  Once he is in a groove and used to the program you could easily ramp it up then.  

[Momto6inIN]

Then you may want to start with book one of Fix-it and just do one lesson a day, 5 days a week instead of 4, for a couple of months. They start with just one thing to label/edit. They build up over time and do review lessons. Hitting him with a ton of sentences daily all at once might make him hate the program. Once he is in a groove and used to the program you could easily ramp it up then.

I think it's mainly his own writing he doesn't like to do all at one time. Since he's such a creative writer, he kind of sees me pointing out his errors/places for improvement as a mother would see you pointing out her child's flaws lol

 

I think he'll be ok with errors in someone else's writing! :)

 

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[HollyDay]

We have used FInd the Errors and Editor in Chief.  Oldest dd liked Editor in Chief.  Youngest liked Find the Errors.

[Momto6inIN]

We have used FInd the Errors and Editor in Chief.  Oldest dd liked Editor in Chief.  Youngest liked Find the Errors.

 

I haven't heard of Find the Errors ... I'll look at that one too. Thanks!

 

[HollyDay]

I haven't heard of Find the Errors ... I'll look at that one too. Thanks!

 

 

I purchased it from Rainbow Resource.  There are 2 levels