Bravewriter Faltering Ownership for co-op use?

[staceyobu]

We use IEW in our co-op for elementary school. We've had sort of a book discussion group for 7th and 8th but are wanting to include more writing for that age group. I don't really want kids doing IEW for years and years since each book is so similar.

 

I've had some suggestions for Bravewriter, but when I look at it, it's not something I would purchase for myself for home use because it doesn't seem very structured. Are there enough writing activities to work on once a week in a co-op setting? We would plan on alternating writing instruction and some lit discussion. With COVID, I'm not sure that we would be able to do "tea times" or that sort of thing in co-op in the fall because we may still be in a position of requiring masks in class.

 

[kristin0713]

BW recommends working on one big writing project a month. I loaned my copy out so I'm not sure, but I think there are 10-12 project suggestions in Faltering Ownership. There are a bunch in The Writer's Jungle as well.  Without knowing how your co-op is set up, I think you could use BW as a framework, but it does require a lot of parent involvement and coaching throughout the week.  One thing you could do during class is free-writes and brainstorming to get started on a project.  You can also use the group time for peer sharing and encouragement. I wouldn't use BW if the parents expect one person to teach it in co-op and then expect that they will be hands-off during the week.   

[caffeineandbooks]

Agreeing with @kristin0713.  There are 12 projects each intended to take 4 weeks, but the recommended scheduling in the book has you doing little bits on multiple days a week, not just once, and it would work much better if you had parent buy-in to help work happen outside class time.  FWIW we used this level with a creative but not super academic 6th grader a couple of years ago.  She loved it, and worked hard at it (with adult support).