Which level WWE for older students?

[Aspasia]

I've sort of dropped the ball with my two younger kids, ages 9 and 11. I trusted that they would follow a more organic path of writing development like my older kids (with just copy work, dictation, and lots of free writing, until it was time to learn more formal formats). But it hasn't really worked out that way. Now, they are in need of some remediation, especially the 9yo, who is a VERY reluctant/resistant writer and really just struggles with having anything to say at all, written or spoken. She seems to shut down whenever she is asked a question, even casually, can't really describe or retell anything. The 11yo has different struggles. Very loquacious, and when she writes, she can go on for days, but her spelling and punctuation are atrocious.  

Do you think WWE would be helpful? And if so, which level? I am familiar with the program, as I used it a bit with my oldest before I went super casual, (because she was naturally developing the skills on her own). Just not sure if I should start from the beginning or jump in at level 3 or 4. Or something else?

[HomeAgain]

I would use Writing Tales for the 9yo, beginning with level 1, moving to level 2, and then IEW.  Writing Tales is very gentle and begins with retelling stories, but gives plenty of assistance in the task, including sentence strips, numbering work, and filling in gaps.  It's only two levels, but I would not move on to their suggestion (Classical Writing) and would do something clearer and more structured instead, overlapping some of the previous work.

I'd start the 11yo on IEW level A, and add in a spelling program.  IEW begins with retelling skills and quickly moves on to developing vocabulary and structure.  Get the student resource notebook with it to reinforce the skills.  It'll let her write as much as she wants but with guidelines helping her to rein it in a bit.

[Clarita]

I'm frustrated because I can't find where I originally found this. But somewhere I had read that to begin narration with a child to simply have a conversation with them about something they did or something they are interested in. (I did with my son when he was a preschooler but hopefully it can work for your 9 year old.) I didn't start narration with books or things I read to him. I started by asking him about his interest and having a conversation about it with him. I even found these conversations were more productive when I didn't know anything about the topic and he was the expert. 

This established the habit and established that narration isn't a test with right or wrong answers but it's just communicating what you know.

[SilverMoon]

There's a placement test for WWE that I'd definitely use first, but with an older kid you might find the hardcover instructor text might be more useful? It has all the teaching steps explained well and you'd need to pick your own excerpts to use. It's a little more work for you as the teacher, but it would let you hit their problem areas and move through it faster. 

For that 11yo though, I'd lean toward Writing With Skill level 1, Megawords spelling, and maybe Junior Analytical Grammar or Growing With Grammar. 

[A.M.]

If you want to use WWE then I'd say have a look at level 3. What I really appreciated about WWE is that it taught me how to teach narration skills to my children. At one point we hardly used the book anymore but started using different materials, including whatever they were reading or the McGuffey readers, to cover these foundational writing skills.

Another curriculum that I would highly recommend for reluctant writers is IEW SSS. Level a for the younger and level b for the older child; they both start at the beginning. Or you can start both in level a.

Good luck finding a good curriculum for your dc!

[Aspasia]

18 hours ago, Clarita said:

I'm frustrated because I can't find where I originally found this. But somewhere I had read that to begin narration with a child to simply have a conversation with them about something they did or something they are interested in. (I did with my son when he was a preschooler but hopefully it can work for your 9 year old.) I didn't start narration with books or things I read to him. I started by asking him about his interest and having a conversation about it with him. I even found these conversations were more productive when I didn't know anything about the topic and he was the expert. 

This established the habit and established that narration isn't a test with right or wrong answers but it's just communicating what you know.

We've always done a lot of this, but this particular child has always frozen up. She struggles to articulate her thoughts about literally everything, even the things I know she loves or knows a ton about. That's actually what has made me think about going back to basic narration--like, maybe if it's just about retelling someone else's ideas instead of thinking up her own ideas and then articulating them, it would free her up? I don't know.

[Aspasia]

15 hours ago, A.M. said:

If you want to use WWE then I'd say have a look at level 3. What I really appreciated about WWE is that it taught me how to teach narration skills to my children. At one point we hardly used the book anymore but started using different materials, including whatever they were reading or the McGuffey readers, to cover these foundational writing skills.

 

This is actually why I ended up leaving WWE 1 years ago--we learned how to do it and then moved on to our own texts that were relevant to what we were learning or reading at the time.