9th Grade English

[BusyMom5]

I'm trying to put together an English credit my 9th grader.  So far I have 

Literature-

How to Read Lit Like a Professor for Kids:  I think this will be great the first few weeks.  She's more familiar with the books cited in this book rather than the regular version  (we might use it fir English II).  

Glencoe Book studies- Start with To Kill A Mocking Bird, try to do 4-6 novel studies over the year- include some liteary essays.  Open to other great novel study units, preferably secular.

I think that will get the lit portion, now on to writing....

She's a good writter, great at organizing information, staying on topic, topic sentence, supportive detail.  She could use some help with editing, stronger word choices, better phrasing- the polish, sounding more mature.   She would prefer something that is clearly laid out and easy to follow.   I don't think she needs grammar anymore, outside if editing.  I thought about reading Eats, Shoots and Leaves as a refresher.   A few plans we've come up with:

EIW- we have used this in 5th and 7th grades, not a fan of a video based program, but much easier to watch than IEW.  My concerns are that it will focus more on form instead of word choices, style, editing and polish.  Also concerned it may be yoo formulamatic.  I do have another kid who needs that structure,  this kid does not.  If you recommend this program, please lmk which level I should get. The pro on this one- easy for me!  We've used it before, I think she would be fine, but may not get as much depth in her writing. 

Writing and Rhetoric - possibly jumping in around book 5, focusing on the word play sections.  We have used the first 3 books. She loved them, very creative approach.  Still work on formal essays in history, but let this be more about having fun with words.  The plan would be books 5, 6, and 7 in 9th grade, and books 8, 9, and 10 in 10th grade.  Itay be possible to work more quickly?  Problem with this route,  it won't really teach essays in a sense, worried it will be too religious  (I'm fine with Bible verses, not fine with preachy or assumed stances ).   The pros on thus one- I'm hoping that the logic part will help her better support her ideas, and she will like the a word Play sections 

Killgallon books- nor sure which ones to use.  Weve used Middle School sentences and paragraphs,  she wasn't a total fan.  Problem with this route- it won't teach any essays, no writing assignments, probably better as a suppliment to something else.

Nanowrimo - this would be for fun!  Maybe take about 3 months to write a short story, really polish it up and enter it into contests?   Problem with this- I've purposefully steered clear of critiques of her writing.  I don't want sonething she loves to do to feel like school.  I did brung this up,  she was interested,  but agreed she might not be ready for me to graDE her creative writing.

 

I'm wondering if anyone has any good ideas for me?  Which plan looks,best?  I don't want to overschedule!  This student does write about an hour per day for fun.  I think it would be great if the skills we learn can be used in writing Fan Fiction type stuff, too.  I feel like I've got decision paralysis!   

[MaryCPothoven]

IEW has a grammar program called Fix It!  Although it may look simplistic at first sight, it is actually very flexible and thorough.  You can make it as in depth as you like.  It covers grammar and editing, has explanations in the teacher's guide, and it builds from easy to harder concepts in a seamless manner.  I have used it with all four of my children, three of them have graduated.  They all did do very well on the SAT, even one National Merit Scholar who often thanks me for using IEW!   I also used their writing program, the video classes are just an introduction.  They have many other courses that are not video based.  For literature, I use EIL - Excellence in Literature.

[Momto6inIN]

I'm not familiar with most of the writing programs you listed, but if she really likes W&R and it's working for her, I'd say go for it! If she knows how to organize her thoughts into writing already, then she might not need a lot of explicit instruction on "how to write an essay".

[royspeed]

18 hours ago, BusyMom5 said:

She's a good writter, great at organizing information, staying on topic, topic sentence, supportive detail.  She could use some help with editing, stronger word choices, better phrasing- the polish, sounding more mature.

 

BusyMom5:

About your daughter's writing: One thing that may help her take her writing to the next level is reading great essays. — It amazes me that we ask our students to write essays before they've actually read any.

The challenge is finding a collection of really fine essays that most students will find moving and inspiring. — I searched dozens of texts & anthologies and was disappointed by the mediocrity of the selections. (Frustrated, I ended up creating my own collection of great essays and building an essay-writing course.)

You can get a lot of mileage out of having your student read great essays. For instance, when my students find a particular essay really moving, I ask them How was that done? — In effect, I ask them to reverse-engineer the writing, and this is a powerful exercise for any student:

• The student locates the specific passages he or she found moving or inspiring (or just really interesting).
• For each passage, the student must pinpoint the particular things the writer did that made the passage so effective. (Students are usually able to locate specific techniques, like a really killer simile or metaphor, or effective use of parallel structure or repetition of a key phrase, or a devastatingly effective example.)
• Then I ask: Is there anything here worth stealing for your own writing?  — For most students, this question is eye-opening. It's not about stealing a particular sentence or idea or image (i.e., plagiarism); rather, it's about peering deeply into how writing works, identifying key tools and techniques that anyone can use, any time.

One feature of writing instruction that's usually underestimated: teaching our students to write for readers. — Left to their own devices, most students will either write for the teacher or write with no one at all in mind. Yet writing for readers is the whole point of writing. It's not just a vapid, academic exercise, nor is about earning a grade or gaining a credit. — It's a real-world skill, and certainly one of the most important skills our students will learn during their high school years. 

When I'm teaching students to write effective openings, for instance, I show them how to test their openings, i.e., determine whether their openings are effective. — Here's how it works:

• I have my students read just the opening of a student essay — then we stop.
• I poll the students: Okay, I say; raise your hand if you feel like reading on... 
• From the number of raised hands, the student who produced that opening can immediately see whether his or her opening is engaging to readers.

Also, I believe in teaching real writing tools. With openings, for instance, I show my students seven different approaches for crafting an effective opening. The same goes for all the other challenges of effective writing — our students deserve real tools for:

• establishing a key idea and then explaining/exploring/illustrating that one point all the way to completion;
• crafting sentences that are light and crisp, delivering a real punch;
• editing for clarity or impact — e.g., taking an unwieldy sentence and revising it to make it easy for readers to digest;
• writing efficiently;

— and so on. 

Hope this helps, BusyMom5, or is at least interesting.

—Roy Speed

[BusyMom5]

Thank you for the responses.  I do have the Norton Sampler and had planned to use if for essay dissection!  I agree that most programs don't do a good job of teaching the finer skills of writing bc they are focusing on the form.  Of you have any specific books you recommend,  please lmk!  I'm pretty sure this year I s going to be a hosge podge of things.  I know my direction, just looking for ways to get there.

[katilac]

On 6/25/2019 at 1:44 PM, BusyMom5 said:

 Problem with this- I've purposefully steered clear of critiques of her writing.  I don't want sonething she loves to do to feel like school.  I did brung this up,  she was interested,  but agreed she might not be ready for me to graDE her creative writing.

My kids wrote a lot and did NaNoWriMo every year. I was perfectly fine with backing off on school writing requirements to give them time to do this, without grading any of it. I actually rarely read any of it! 

I didn't have detailed grading scales for English with so many points for writing and so forth (same for history, actually). We were actually light on assigned writing, because many of the purposes of writing assignments in a classroom setting were filled in other ways. Detailed discussion, for starters. With one or two students, they were "on" the entire class period, lol. I didn't need regular writing assignments to know that they read the material and understood it. Regular writing practice was fulfilled through their own activities and they got feedback from their writing communities. I think this approach can work very well for strong, willing writers. I would urge you to at least consider the idea of letting her creative writing count as part of her classwork with absolutely no critiques from you required. For literary essays, consider going with the bare minimum if you have regular discussions, just enough to show that she gets the concept and to find holes in her skills or reasoning.

On 6/25/2019 at 1:44 PM, BusyMom5 said:

She's a good writter, great at organizing information, staying on topic, topic sentence, supportive detail.  She could use some help with editing, stronger word choices, better phrasing- the polish, sounding more mature. 

Make sure that you are evaluating her writing in the correct context. If you have a teacher friend, maybe ask to see a few examples of middling writing and good writing for the grade level.