Reaching the Reluctant Writer

I think this was my favorite class by Andrew Pudewa at the GHEA Conference.  I left this lecture feeling completely confident that I could go home and duplicate it with my children.  Really.  It was that good.  I've already talked about several things he mentioned at the beginning of this class, so I'll try not to duplicate what you've already read.  This is more of a 'how to use a source text to teach writing' overview.  He walked us through exactly what he means.  We'll start with an Aesop Fable (which he highly recommends to teach this technique...you can find hundreds of them free online).  

The Fox and the Goat

By an unlucky chance, a Fox fell into a deep well from which he could not escape.  A Goat passed by, and asked the Fox what he was doing down there.  "Oh, have you not heard?" said the Fox, "there is going to be a great drought, so I came down here in order to be sure to have water by me.  Why don' t you come down too?"  The Goat thought this a good idea, and jumped down into the well.  But the Fox immediately sprang on to her back, and by putting his foot on her long horns, managed to hop up to the edge of the well.  "Good-bye, friend, " said the Fox, "remember, be careful of the advice of one who is in trouble."

So, we started by choosing 3 key words from each sentence.    Mr. Pudewa used help from the audience and here's what we came up with.

1.  fell, well, escape (with a 'no' symbol around it to mean 'did not' escape)

2. G (symbolizing the Goat so we'd remember who said it) - passed, asked, "what?"

3. F (symbolizing the Fox is speaking) - "heard?", drought, water

4. G - thought, idea, jumped

5. F - back, horns, edge

6. F - "Good-bye", careful, advice, trouble (we used 4 words for the last sentence)

Then we tested our outline to see if it worked.  We went through and made sentences using our key words.  And that was it!  So simple, isn't it? When you do this with your children, remember that the goal is not to remember the whole, but only part of the source text.  Also remember, that boys 'see' in verbs and girls 'see' nouns.  So don't be surprised if your son chooses all verbs for his 3 key words.  

Basic Concepts

1.  Using a 'source text' allows the student to 'get content' for writing, while reviewing content from subjects such as history, science, Bible, literature, geography, etc.  Writing should be a part of the study of these subjects rather than a 'subject' in itself.

2.  Just as Benjamin Franklin took "short hints of the sentiment of each sentence," to teach himself to write, our children can use 'key word outlines' to help them get started with writing from simple source texts.

3.  Source texts can be fiction or non-fiction.  Material should be at or below the reading level of the child.  Selections of 4 - 7 sentences are ideal.

4.  Imitation, as a critical part of learning anything, is not only OK, but is actually the best way to begin learning to write.

Oh, and this was huge for me...when your child is writing and they ask you how to spell a word, do not tell them to go look it up.  JUST TELL THEM HOW TO SPELL IT!  Mr. Pudewa said if we always respond this way, eventually the child will resort to only using words he knows how to spell.  He gave a great illustration of a 10 year old boy looking up the word 'pencil.'  He gets out the dictionary and goes through the alphabet in his head "abcdefghijklmnop...P" and he finds the P's in the dictionary.  Then it's 'abcde...E' and he finds PE.  And so on.  By the time he's figured out the correct spelling (20 minutes later), chances are high that he's lost his train of thought and can't even remember how he was going to use the word in his story.  Is there a time to teach dictionary skills?  Of course!  But the writing process is not one of those times.

For many children it may be best to do several 'key word outlines' from short, easy to read paragraphs and practice choosing words and telling back content orally, until the process becomes fairly easy.  Telling it back is vital to being able to write well.  

So, first have the child verbally tell back the content, then proceed to write down on paper the sentences he said.  As the child writes and you're reviewing it, remember:

Don't expect great handwriting; do wait until the clean copy to say anything

Don't expect perfect spelling; do be his 'human dictionary'

Don't worry about neatness; do encourage 'no erasing' 

Don't over correct or lecture; do praise the child's efforts

Don't frown, grimace or look serious; do smile as much as possible

After he is finished, the parent edits to correct spelling, syntax and punctuation.  Then the student must neatly copy (or type) a final version.  There is no such thing as a 'first and only' draft.

These steps should be repeated numerous times until the process has become relatively easy (or at least less painful).  Don't hesitate to help, give suggestions, and even dictate sentences if necessary.  When you feel your child has confidence and understands the process, you can begin to 'dress-up' their composition.

Introduce the idea of 'dressing up' the compositions to make them sound a little more professional.  Teach them to add an 'ly' word and give them a nice list of adverbs to choose from.  Do many assignments requiring just one 'ly' word.  When that becomes easy, add a 'who/which' clause, and when that is easy, add a 'because' clause.

1.  who/which - The clever fox convinced the goat, who jumped into the well.

2.  ly word - The fox effortlessly jumped up on the goat's back

3.  because - Because of the Fox's sincerity, the goat believed him.

4.  strong verb - The fox spun a tale of impending drought.

No erasing allowed!  Erasing is a huge waste of time.  Just cross it out and move on.  Pens are better than pencils.  Especially for boys.  Pencils are constantly changing.  As they become dull, the child must rearrange it in his hand.  Then it becomes dull again and requires sharpening.  This is quite distracting (especially to boys).  Mr. Pudewa suggests writing all rough drafts in pen.  Here he mentioned 'tired hands.'  Do any of you have children who complain about this?  He said the reason is because of visual immaturity.  Their eye is tracking what they're writing and they want clear contrast.  Pencils write considerably lighter than pens do, so some children will trace and re-trace their letters to make them darker, leading to tired hands.  (Jon recalled doing this as a child.)  So, use pens for the rough draft and pencil for the final copy.  This way it's easy to fix a mistake and your child won't have to start over.

And the last little tid-bit from Mr. Pudewa - one of the best things to have on hand is an electronic thesaurus/dictionary.  He said the more words it has the better.  This will encourage your child to use new words in their writing.

This ends my notes from Andrew Pudewa's classes.  Wasn't he great?!  

Next I will be blogging about my struggling learner and how his brain works.  If you think you may have a struggling learner, you won't want to miss it!