What's next? (another writing question)

[Mommy to monkeys]

I'm trying to determine what course to take as far as writing for my oldest son who will be in 9th grade next year.  I asked a similar question earlier this school year and we were in a really bad place as far as writing went.

 

So I let go of the curriculum, gleaned ideas from the ever helpful hive, and trusted my instincts in teaching him. It's made a world of difference and I'm thrilled with the progress we've made. Our current routine is to do two narrations per week (one history, and one literature) as well as  work on one project (report, essay, creative piece) per month to go through that whole process of brainstorming, organizing, writing, editing etc.  After a few months on a roll I thought we should get the IEW back out....Nope. Frustrating. Too many steps made every assignment take forever. It felt like were going backwards instead of forwards (I still need to send this back...)

 

I have come to a realization that in teaching I do much better without ultra scripted material. I get completely lost in the details if I can't see the big picture. I thought I wanted step by step but really what I need is clear expectations for each assignment....and then I can just reverse engineer a plan from there that fits each child. Does that make sense or do I sound like a crazy person? (Maybe better not to answer that.)

 

I've been using the books Write On and Writers Inc to get ideas for different types of assignments and that's working really well. I'm not exactly sure what I'm looking for, but I do need to know what types of assignments he needs for high school as well as how long they should be etc.  That type of thing. Guidelines. Or perhaps a really bare bones writing program? Help me out. What am I looking for? I'm not panicked as I know we moved forward, but I need help to gain some focus on what's next.

[Mommy to monkeys]

Anybody have any ideas at all?

 

I'm thinking maybe getting my hands on an old ultra cheap set of abeka english 9 lessons plans just to see what/how many assignments might be a good idea. 

[Critterfixer]

Well, I have an idea, but I've not taught ninth grade yet, so I don't know if it would work for you or not. I'd get as many samples of upper grade complete writing curricula as I could stomach. I'd look at the scope and sequence for each. Then I'd do a lesson and see how I liked it. If I could easily figure out the objective, and could come up with three ways that I could teach that lesson to my student, and if I didn't want to stab my eyeballs out just looking at it, I'd think about purchasing that book. Then I'd work ahead of my student, week by week, making sure that I could teach that lesson.

I wouldn't look for my student--I'd look for me. If I liked it, I'd know that I had a snowball's chance of being able to teach it and manage to check off my boxes for assignments for that grade level.

 

 

[Mommy to monkeys]

Well, I have an idea, but I've not taught ninth grade yet, so I don't know if it would work for you or not. I'd get as many samples of upper grade complete writing curricula as I could stomach. I'd look at the scope and sequence for each. Then I'd do a lesson and see how I liked it. If I could easily figure out the objective, and could come up with three ways that I could teach that lesson to my student, and if I didn't want to stab my eyeballs out just looking at it, I'd think about purchasing that book. Then I'd work ahead of my student, week by week, making sure that I could teach that lesson.

I wouldn't look for my student--I'd look for me. If I liked it, I'd know that I had a snowball's chance of being able to teach it and manage to check off my boxes for assignments for that grade level.

 

You've hit on my issues. There's a huge push to make sure you find curriculum that meets the learning style of your student regardless of whether said materials make the teacher want to stick a fork in their eye. I'd really prefer to keep my forks separate from my eyes this next year....

[Critterfixer]

 

You've hit on my issues. There's a huge push to make sure you find curriculum that meets the learning style of your student regardless of whether said materials make the teacher want to stick a fork in their eye. I'd really prefer to keep my forks separate from my eyes this next year....

 

The way I look at it, if I don't want to look at the curriculum, and think about it, and work with it, I won't want to teach with it. I'd rather have something I can teach and adapt than find the perfect program for a certain learning style.

 

That said...all I have to be able to do is stand the thing and see the point of it. I'm reasonably creative and can alter assignments to appeal to my boys. What I want most is to have assignments that push me a little bit, that make sense, that target areas in writing that I appreciate, and have a good rubric for assessment.

WWS fits that bill this year. It isn't the most exciting program in the world, and it's too wordy for my students, but I can see what needs to be learned, I can adjust the pacing whenever I want to, I can skip sections if I like, I can spend more time on other assignments, I can easily adapt the lessons to fit with science or history, or literature. 

I feel the same way about Classical Writing, and hope to do Diogenes Maxim next year. 

So I'm pretty flexible. I totally threw out the Homer workbook one year and did the whole thing with fairy tales that I had chosen for plot analysis. That was a great year. Both CW and WWS meet my criteria of no-forks-in-the-eye, clear objectives, decent rubrics for editing, and adaptability. 

[Carol in Cal.]

Bravewriter's Help For High School might be just the thing.

It presents two kinds of essay--the kind that presents information, and the kind that expresses and supports a conclusion.  Those are pretty much the main varieties of high school essay.

 

If you want to branch out, get Jenson's Format Writing to see other essay formats.

 

Consider adding in an MLA portion at some point--learn to footnote properly is a good high school skill to have.