Entries Tagged 'Stumbling Blocks to Writing' ↓

Last week we talked about skills and tools a student can use to make his writing more interesting. As we continue this series on 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing, today’s focus turns to a very common writing issue.

Stumbling Block #3

Problem: Lack of motivation.

Solution: Provide a wide variety of writing experiences as well as flexibility of topic choices.

Offer a Varied Writing Diet

Uninteresting or irrelevant topics often produce unmotivated students. One solution? Give your child greater options. Don’t limit him to one kind of writing, like essays or factual reports. Instead, vary his writing diet so he feels more motivated to write!

• Offer experiences with descriptive, informative, and narrative writing. Let him describe people, places, foods, and objects.
• To dabble in expository writing, encourage him to explain a process, write short reports or biographies, or write news articles.
• Teach him to write narratives from varying points of view or in a different voice or tense.

Allow Freedom to Choose Topics

As I mentioned in last week’s blog, try give your less-than-motivated student a bit more flexibility of topic choices. Nothing stifles creativity like saying, “You MUST write about this.”

I’m not saying your student should run the show. After all, you’re still the teacher! But if you’re teaching a particular kind of writing, such as describing a place, you can give freedom of choice—anything from a baseball stadium to a tea room, from a mountain wilderness to a busy street corner—while remaining within the lesson’s framework. It’s the best of both worlds when you establish some parameters but offer freedom too. When your child feels more “ownership” of the subject matter, you’ll find he’s much more likely to invest himself in the writing.

Tie Writing to Other Subjects

Also, incorporate writing across the curriculum whenever possible. Instead of teaching writing as a separate subject, writing across the curriculum lets you dovetail writing instruction with your study of history, literature, art, music . . . the opportunities are endless.

Write with Delight

And consider delight-directed learning, which allows your student to explore a favorite topic—hobby, sport, historical period, whatever his passion—and write about it in many ways:

• Using vivid description
• Explaining a process (“how-to” composition)
• Writing stories and narratives
• Writing essays and reports
• Developing news articles

The beauty of delight-directed learning? Each writing project focuses on a different aspect of your child’s topic of interest, whether it’s Legos, gardening, horses, or antique guns. You may grow tired of reading essays, stories, and reports about Tiger Woods, choosing a golf club, the history of golf, and “My First Hole in One,” but if it means your student is writing . . . well, rejoice!

To see if limited writing vocabulary is an issue for your student, check out Stumbling Block #4.

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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If your writing curriculum limits your student’s writing experiences or stifles topic choices, you might want to take a look at WriteShop I for your 6th – 10th grader. Each lesson provides the framework for a particular kind of writing but gives the student options to pick his own topic.

Golf ball photo courtesy of Stock.Xchng.

Welcome back to our series on 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing! Last week we looked at ways to increase your student’s confidence. What’s today’s hurdle?

Stumbling Block #2

Problem: Lack of skills and tools to make writing fresh and interesting.

Solution: Introduce pre-writing exercises, brainstorming worksheets, and checklists.

Whether you’re sewing, gardening, working with wood, or fixing an engine, you can’t do the job properly without certain skills and tools. The same can be said for writing—and I’m not just talking about paper, pens, and a laptop. Let’s look at some practical principles you can apply to begin equipping your children for success!

Pre-writing Activities

One of the easiest ways to build writing skills is to have some fun! Pre-writing exercises and writing games act as enjoyable warm-ups to get creative juices flowing, build vocabulary, and strengthen sentence development. Games you make up, like sentence-building or concrete writing games, make perfect pre-writing exercises. And don’t discount the value of purchased word games. Scattergories and Apples to Apples come to mind as two great writing warm-up games our family loves to play. Along with old friends like Scrabble and Boggle, they make ideal family Christmas gifts. Your kids will have no idea they’re learning!

Brainstorming Worksheets

Before your student writes the first word of her composition, she’ll improve her chances for success by brainstorming. Like pre-writing, brainstorming is a skill that stimulates thinking in general. However, it also acts as a springboard for writing about a particular subject. When a student brainstorms:

• It gets her ideas flowing so she has something to say.
• It helps her overcome writer’s block.
• It prepares her for writing as she develops a plan and gains direction.
• It helps her organize her thoughts.

To further promote thinking skills, you’ll want to teach a variety of brainstorming techniques. Whatever the topic, suggest a brainstorming method—mind map, list, or outline, for instance—that’s best for the kind of composition your student is writing. For example:

• She might brainstorm for a how-to composition by listing the steps of the process.
• If she’s writing a descriptive paragraph, she should carefully study the subject for interesting details and record her observations.
• For a narrative, she’ll want to sequence the events.
• A Venn diagram is especially useful for compare/contrast essay.

There are many ways to brainstorm, but worksheets and graphic organizers are tools that often smooth the way for reluctant writers. If you are using a program like WriteShop I or II, you’ll find brainstorming worksheets already prepared for each writing assignment (see an example here). Alternatively, a quick Google search will yield a variety of brainstorming tools available on the web.

But brainstorming isn’t just for your junior high or high schooler! You can begin teaching this skill in kindergarten, either on your own or with a helpful curriculum like WriteShop Primary. Starting your children when they’re young can help prevent the debilitating case of writer’s block that often plagues older students.

Checklists

A good checklist serves as a guide to help your student identify her own errors in content, style, and mechanics so she can improve and enliven her writing. For instance, if the checklist reminds her to use synonyms instead of repeating main words, she’ll be forced to find more interesting words. This simple tool can help her hone a valuable skill she’ll use all her life. (In a few weeks I’ll be talking about checklists in greater detail when we take a look at Stumbling Block #6: Laziness.) 

Other Skills and Tools

In addition to checklists and brainstorming sheets, there are other tools that help breathe new life into writing. For example, skill-building exercises can give a student instruction and practice in new writing skills like choosing titles, writing topic sentences, citing sources, or using sentence variations.

I’m sure grammar is part of your language arts curriculum, but how it can revive writing may be a complete mystery to you. I’d like to suggest that when you require your student to use newly learned grammar concepts in her compositions, the grammar actually makes more sense. So rather than teach grammar in a vacuum, teach it as it applies to writing. That’s where the rubber meets the road!

Writing isn’t an exact science, but you can certainly apply proven principles to promote stronger writers in your home. It’s my prayer that you’ll begin to notice a difference in both attitude and output as you put some of these tips into practice.

Next week we’ll look at Stumbling Block #3: Lack of motivation. You won’t want to miss that one!

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

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Do you wish your writing curriculum offered more pre-writing activities and brainstorming ideas? Then take a look at WriteShop I for your 6th – 10th grader. You’ll love the writing games and brainstorming worksheets that equip and inspire successful writers!  

Photo courtesy of stock.xchng.

As promised, today begins our series on 10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing. Each Monday for the next 10 weeks, I’ll offer solutions to common problems that can hinder your student’s writing. Ready? Let’s jump in!

Stumbing Block #1

Problem: Students lack confidence due to poor guidelines and unclear directions or expectations.

Solution: Provide boundaries and direction.

In his book Dare to Discipline, Dr. James Dobson reports the findings of an interesting study done on school children during the early days of the progressive-education movement. Apparently, an enthusiastic theorist decided to take down the chain-link fence that surrounded the school grounds. He thought the children, who clearly enjoyed exploring the enclosed yard, would feel even more freedom of movement without that visible barrier surrounding them.

But here’s the curious thing: When the fence was removed, the boys and girls huddled together near the center of the play yard. Not only did they not wander away, they didn’t even venture to the edge of the grounds.

This little experiment served to reinforce a simple truth: There’s security for children in defined boundaries.

Establish Boundaries

What does this have to do with writing? Well, giving your student a blank page and saying, “Write about whatever you want!” is no different from plunking these kids down in the middle of an unfenced playground.

Instead, position him for success by setting boundaries for the composition. One idea is to limit its length. This helps your struggling 12-year-old son relax a bit. (”Hey, Buddy, you only have to write five to seven sentences.”) He will be less likely to freeze up if he knows the lesson parameters.

But it also helps your wordy, rabbit-trailing 15-year-old daughter write more concisely. By limiting her to one paragraph of five to seven sentences, you’re training her to choose her words more wisely, thus avoiding tangents.

So as you can see, the same idea will work to the advantage of both kinds of writers: you’re offering the writing-phobic child safe boundaries while establishing clear limits for your rambler.

Provide Topic Options

Giving your child a specific writing topic further adds to his security. Remember not to assume that if a child has freedom to write about anything he wants, his little pen will skip across the paper like an eager lamb! As I said earlier, this tactic usually backfires. At best, that kind of freedom frustrates some struggling writers, while sending others into a nosedive of absolute terror!

I promise you—it’s much better to offer concrete topics they can choose from. Instead of saying “write about a food,” suggest they use their five senses to describe a taco, cinnamon roll, pizza, or ice cream sundae. You’re still giving choices but within the confines of a safe perimeter.

Give Clear Directions

And finally, provide step-by-step instructions to build confidence. It’s not enough to tell kids to write; they need to learn how to write. Giving open-ended or fuzzily worded assignments will only contribute their frustration. Instead, whether you create your own writing assignments or use a prepared curriculum like WriteShop, make sure your child knows exactly what’s expected of him.

Example A: Poor instructions:

Describe an object. (Or, pick an object and write about it.)

Example B: Clear instructions:

1. Choose an object that you can hold in your hand. Do not pick a food, an animal, or a person.
2. Carefully observe your object. Brainstorm about it, listing everything you can about its features. Consider appearance, color, size, shape, texture, smell, and sound.
3. Look closely for details, including imperfections and flaws.
4. Write a 5- to 7-sentence paragraph describing your object. (Do not explain what the object is used for, and do not tell a story about it.)

Derek was an 8th grader whose first composition for our writing class consisted of two pitiful sentences. But within weeks, with clear limits and guidelines such as these, his confidence blossomed and he became one of the strongest writers in the class. For your child as well, clarifying your instructions may be all that’s needed!

Bottom line? With a few easy-to-implement solutions, you will help your student feel more sure of himself. The result? He’ll perform better when he knows just what you—or the writing assignment—expects of him.

Next week we’ll look at Stumbling Block #2: Lack of skills and tools to make writing fresh and interesting.

. . . . .

Are you frustrated with your writing curriculum because it doesn’t provide enough boundaries for the composition or offer detailed student instructions? Then consider award-winning WriteShop I for your 6th – 10th grader. You’ll love the step-by-step instructions, topic suggestions, and structure that inspire successful writers!

Sigh. Once again, it’s “writing time” at your house.

During the past hour, your reluctant writer’s paper has become riddled with scribbles and smears. And e-v-e-r-y time he erases with frustrated vigor, a tiny hole appears in the middle of that gray smudge. As the hole grows larger, his mind freezes up and closes in. Then the laments begin:

• What do I write about?
• Where do I start?
• How long does it have to be?
• I’ll never think of something.
• “I HATE WRITING!”

There’s so much frustration behind those blinked-back tears. And you know what? It’s not just kids who experience it—YOU struggle too.

Why Is It So Hard to Teach Writing?

Teaching writing is one of the biggest hurdles homeschooling families face. First, parents can feel insecure, inadequate, and under-equipped. For many of you, teaching writing ranks right up there with a trip to the dentist. Although we know the importance of passing on this skill to our students, so many excuses stand in our way!

• How can I teach if I never really learned to write?
• I don’t write—I’m just a math-science person.
• What if I don’t know how to grade a paper?
• Writing comes easily to me—but I don’t have clue how to teach my kids.

Second, children are often paralyzed by writer’s block, fear, and perfectionism. Most students want to write a paper once and declare it done. They hope we’ll rave over it and accept it as a finished product. The smallest hint of suggestion from Mom sets off howls of protest: Why can’t I leave it this way? You never like anything I write!

Blank paper, reluctant child, and insecure parent—combine these three ingredients together and I pretty much guarantee that your hopes for teaching writing will fail.

Let’s face it. It’s easy to keep pushing writing to the back burner with intentions of getting to it “someday.” And for many, “someday” has come and gone, and now you have:

• a high schooler who can’t write;
• a panicked mom burdened by guilt;
• and the infernal blank page that taunts you both.

10 Stumbling Blocks to Writing 

We need to 1) recognize some of the most common stumbling blocks that stand in the way of your child’s success, and 2) determine how your writing program can help. Take heart! These stumbling blocks are neither so heavy that they can’t be moved, nor so tall that they can’t be scaled.

Here are the ten stumbling blocks we’ll be looking at:

1. Lack of confidence
2. Lack of skills and tools
3. Lack of motivation
4. Limited writing vocabulary
5. Perfectionism and self-criticism
6. Laziness
7. Procrastination
8. Worry about criticism from mom or dad
9. Wondering what’s the point
10. Learning difficulties that interfere with the writing process

Over the next few months, I’ll talk about each of these in greater detail and give you some ideas of how to help your student overcome them. Most of my suggestions will be aimed at older students (5th or 6th grade through high school). Still, parents of younger children will find tips and suggestions that you can apply now. By doing so, you can begin to ward off some of these problems early on, setting your children up for greater writing success in the future.

Come back next week as we take a look at the first of these ten stumbling blocks and talk about ways you can help your student overcome each one in order to become a stronger writer.

Please share your thoughts: What’s your child’s biggest stumbling block?

(Leaving a comment at any “Stumbling Blocks” article enters you into our January drawing for a $25 WriteShop gift certificate. Increase your chances of winning by commenting here and again at each of the 10 upcoming articles, beginning with Stumbling Block #1 – Lack of Confidence.)

2009 © Kim Kautzer. All rights reserved.

To most parents, the process of editing and evaluating your student’s compositions does seem like an overwhelming, subjective effort. It’s usually pretty easy to spot spelling and grammar mistakes and other problems with mechanics. But grading for content and style is another thing altogether!

Have you ever said anything like this?

• I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong.
• I’d say this essay feels like a B+.
• I love the story, but I don’t exactly know why. It just…sounds good.
• I hate grading. I’m always afraid I’ll either be too easy or too hard on my child.
• I never know what I’m supposed to be looking for.

Christy’s Story 

I have a junior high boy who hated writing because he (and I) felt it was so subjective. WriteShop…breaks it into objective little pieces with skills to practice, examples for visual learning, and student checklists so a reluctant writer has a clear path to follow. It takes the guesswork out!

For the parent, there [are] Teacher Writing Checklists to make specific, encouraging comments to help the student revise his work. The best part is the objective scoring of each component.

My son went from being a C writer to an A writer in just one year! I thought he would never be a straight A student all because of the problems in writing. Well, he is…this year thanks to WriteShop.

Finding Answers

WriteShop can help 

Happily, as Christy and others have discovered, the process is easier and more objective than you think! Knowing what to look for and having clear expectations can take the anxiety out of this task. Since beginning writers often make the same kinds of mistakes, the Teacher’s Manual for WriteShop I and II addresses these common areas. In the tabbed sections of the Teacher’s Manual you will find: 

• A step-by-step guide through the writing and editing process.
• Instructions for using the Student and Teacher Writing Skills Checklists.
• Pages of positive comments to encourage your young writer
• A section that helps you identify and correct problems specific to each WriteShop lesson.
• A section highlighting the most common problems of mechanics.
• Edited samples of student paragraphs to serve as models (this section also contains lessons designed to help you practice and develop confidence in editing).

Learning to edit a composition is a process for both you and your student. WriteShop’s comprehensive Student and Teacher Writing Skills Checklists take the intimidation and guesswork out of editing. Because your teens know what is expected, they also respond more positively to suggestions for improvement.

Good news

The more you edit and revise, the easier it will become for you. Familiarity produces recognition. You’ll quickly become adept at spotting repeated words, “to be” words, and misplaced modifiers. Soon they’ll just jump out at you. But in the beginning, you’ll need to search for these mistakes.

It’s actually more objective than you think—especially when you have WriteShop’s detailed checklists to help you look for specific things, including:

• Topic and closing sentences
• Over-used or repeated words
• Vague or weak words
• Passive writing
• Use of sentence variety
• Correct use of the lesson’s content and style requirements, such as including all the elements of a narrative or using emotion words
• Avoidance of run-on or incomplete sentences

And here’s a bit of encouragement for you: Even if you only address half of these, your student’s writing is bound to improve! So don’t worry about doing it “perfectly.” Just begin offering concrete suggestions and you will see improvement right away.

Your student’s role

But it’s not all up to you! Your student plays a big role. Asking the following questions of your student’s composition will address his or her two biggest stumbling blocks to success:

• Did my student follow the assignment’s specific directions? She will avoid countless problems later on by doing exactly what the lesson requires. 
• Did she correctly use her Writing Skills Checklist, including using colored pencils on the “sloppy copy” (rough draft) to underline and circle as the checklist directs? Students who diligently use their checklists to find errors and make changes, and who earnestly look for ways to improve their compositions, will be more successful writers than those who sit back and let you do all the editing for them.

WriteShop I and WriteShop II have a proven track record! Using the program will help prepare your teens for advanced high school and college writing. But don’t take my word for it! Christy and Dottie have said it better than I ever could.

Dottie’s Story

When I placed two of my daughters in WriteShop I, I had no idea how greatly it would impact them. My youngest daughter took WriteShop in 7th grade. Now in 9th grade, with little other formal writing instruction, she is still applying the techniques she learned two years ago.

Her older sister did WriteShop I in jr. high also. She is now in college and was asked by her composition teacher to work in the English lab helping other students with their writing. I attribute this honor largely to the skills she learned in WriteShop I many years ago.

. . . . .

Do you struggle with teaching, editing, and grading your teen’s writing? Are you looking for ways to make the process more objective? Perhaps WriteShop is the answer. Visit www.writeshop.com and poke around. About WriteShop and Parent Testimonials may be good places to begin.

It should have been so easy.

After all, you weren’t asking for much—just a story or something. To simplify things, you didn’t even care how long it should be. Or what topic he picked. Given a lot of freedom, you reasoned, he wouldn’t feel so squished or frustrated…and the words would just flow.

So what went wrong?

Your plan backfired miserably, and now your son hunches tearfully over a mountain of wadded pages, each one a smudged and wrinkled reminder of what he already believes about himself: I can’t write!

If it’s any comfort, you’re not alone. This scene plays out at kitchen tables and makeshift schoolrooms around the country, where dejected students scrunch up papers, break pencils, bang keyboards, and cry buckets—and disheartened moms throw up their hands in frustration.

Maybe it helps to know that homeschoolers everywhere share the same lament: Why is writing so hard to teach?

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