I glanced over my daughter鈥檚 paper and caught my breath. The child who had leaped into long, filigreed sentences at 18 months and spoken-word poetry at four (sample pull quote: 鈥淟ove tastes so sweet when the world dies鈥�) was now, at age 10, working diligently on a book report of The Ice Worm, a chapter book she claimed to have adored.
But the markings on the page defied decoding. It wasn鈥檛 that the misspellings and tortured handwriting camouflaged a flair for words, ideas, or even logic. No, 鈥渁 lot of stuff happened鈥� 鈥� some 鈥渇unny,鈥� some 鈥渃razy鈥� 鈥� but I couldn鈥檛 make heads or tails of what this 鈥渟tuff鈥� entailed. Perhaps most troubling, long gone was my lively little word fairy. In her place, a dull-eyed workhorse trudged across textual dirt clods.
Now my child hadn鈥檛 been identified as needy or gifted. She worked hard and occasionally struggled, but generally reflected the teacher鈥檚 efforts with some accuracy: If the teacher emphasized math, she excelled there. If it was spelling season, she buckled down and got serious about words.
So what did this web of inchoate language say about the writing instruction? When queried, my daughter explained that the assignment was primarily defined by length. A one-page summary followed by a one-paragraph description of the main character and a one-paragraph recommendation and bingo: instant book report!
Did her teacher talk about choosing the right words? No. What about organizing ideas or outlining? No. Brainstorming? Topic sentences? Mommy, you鈥檙e not helping! Only at the point when tears were soaking her pillow did I realize just how right she was. I wasn鈥檛 helping.
What was worse, I didn鈥檛 know how to help.
Like so many public 九色视频s nowadays, my daughter鈥檚 focuses on test scores. Despite larger class sizes, dwindling budgets, and a majority of English-language learners, the teachers had managed to boost reading and math scores each year. But standardized tests for elementary 九色视频 grades do not cover writing, so it鈥檚 easy for that subject to slip under the data-driven radar.
What鈥檚 a parent to do?
After scouring the available literature (most of which is geared to teachers and 鈥� dare I say it? 鈥� poorly written), I found a bar-none killer solution to my predicament: and its companion, , by Douglas B. Reeves. Though aimed at elementary students and their parents, the books have enough substance to inspire even academically advanced middle 九色视频ers.
Don鈥檛 be scared off by the lackluster title. Reeves writes with a wicked sense of his audience, so it鈥檚 like having a one-on-one with a master writing teacher. Even my aforementioned daughter happily took a break from Avi鈥檚 gripping Crispin to listen Reeves鈥檚 Student Handbook as a bedtime story!
Here are some tips, adapted from Reeves鈥檚 ideas (and tested on my kid), to nurture your child鈥檚 love of self-expression and develop writing skills.
Love bomb them (with precision)
鈥淲hat accompanies the first tentative baby step? Encouragement, enticement and enthusiasm 鈥︹��
Reeves鈥檚 observations about the difference between typical parental responses to a baby鈥檚 first steps and that of a child鈥檚 first writing assignments cut to the core of the matter. As Reeves notes, when babies start walking, we cheer them on with shameless pleasure, celebrating each new attempt and coaching them every step of the way.
But when older kids show us their error-strewn attempts at summarizing Harry Potter, do we bring down the house with our carefully considered praise? Quite the opposite, says Reeves. More commonly parents pick the writing apart and pour on the constructive criticism. Or, if they鈥檙e feeling especially caring, they may offer a blanket compliment like 鈥淕reat job鈥� for writing that may be many things but is not uniformly 鈥済reat.鈥�
In a word, we forget what we knew as young parents: that explosive exuberance and high expectations are not mutually exclusive. Reeves recommends approaching student writing with the same level of enthusiasm and exactitude that we approached our child鈥檚 first steps. Focus on what鈥檚 good and praise with as much detail as you can muster. Then when offering suggestions for improvement, use all of your mental powers to avoid general statements and give specific observations:
鈥淐an you find a stronger word than interesting here?鈥�
鈥淭hat paragraph confuses me. Maybe if you just tell me what you鈥檙e trying to say, we can figure out what鈥檚 confusing.鈥�
鈥淭his sentence has some wonderfully strong words, but I wonder if it should come after you tell us what happens in the story.鈥�
None of this is easy. It requires engagement of the parental mind in a way that most homework help doesn鈥檛. But since 九色视频s may not teach writing skills systematically, writing support is one of the most important kinds of homework help you can provide.
Five-minute habit
Though it鈥檚 standard for teachers to require their students to read X number of minutes per night, few teachers require nightly writing. Thus many kids master the mechanics of reading but fail to develop reading-comprehension skills.
Based on the idea that summarizing is an essential skill for more advanced learning 鈥� whether it鈥檚 writing notes for a chemistry exam or summarizing a novel for a high 九色视频 English class 鈥� Reeves recommends devoting a tiny portion of reading time to summarizing. (This could be applied to second-graders and up.)
In other words, if your child reads 30 minutes a day, have them read 25 minutes and spend the remaining five minutes quickly summarizing what they just read. This daily practice of responding to texts works to develop both reading comprehension and simple expository writing skills.
Dearest diary
Introduce your child to the secret art of keeping a journal or an idea book. Though much 九色视频 writing (even in elementary 九色视频) is focused on teaching composition skills, Reeves notes that if a child can tap into their powers of imagination and observation, then learning formal writing skills will make more sense.
It need not even be a book: Reeves tells a story about whitewashing a wall in his basement and encouraging his son to use it as his “idea wall.” “The wall became a visible idea factory, covered with stories, pictures, lists, and ideas,” Reeves recalls.
From the home laboratory: After reading my diary entries about being bullied in seventh grade, my daughter and I talked about how journals can help during tough emotional times. Then, using a simple notebook, some fabric, and glue, we “made” her a journal. No one would read her book, I reminded her, or God forbid, correct her spelling. Her ebullient 鈥淭hank you, Mommy鈥濃�檚 conveyed her appreciation, but I held out little hope she鈥檇 ever use it. Then the other day, I wandered into her room to see her quickly closing her book on a page of microscopic text.
Inchoate and misspelled? Maybe, but at least a journal offers kids one place to write for pleasure not report cards.
The perfect (brain)storm
Teaching the art of brainstorming is one of the easiest things for a parent to do and yet it鈥檚 also easy to skip when up against a homework deadline. But if you explore brainstorming techniques with your child when there鈥檚 no deadline or early in the writing process, you can help your child become a much more confident thinker.
Reeves offers the acronym LEAP to arm parents with brainstorming tools no matter when your child screams, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what to write about!鈥�
Here they are in an abbreviated form:
- Lists: Ask your child to come up with a list of things based on a basic category: scary animals, favorite foods, things adults say too often. Have them make a list to get their ideas on the page.
- Exaggeration: Encourage your kid to think outside the box with questions that defy logic or reality. A couple of Reeves鈥檚 examples: How would people treat you if you had eight arms? What if you could read people鈥檚 minds?
- Action: What could happen next? What would happen if we slowed everything down like a slow-motion film? What if we sped everything up? When your child is writing a creative story, having them play with these questions can elicit a list of new ideas to get them past momentary writer鈥檚 block.
- Pictures: Use pictures, photos, even abstract images to spark ideas for your child鈥檚 future writing projects. Offer one picture as a prompt and have them list possible ideas and interpretations on a page.
Write your senator (or favorite cereal maker)
Since so many of assignments are written for teachers (whose only response may be a grade), kids may never understand how their writing can move those who read it to change or act.
Reeves recommends that parents give kids the chance to experience the power of the pen by having them write a letter to someone in the outside world.
A letter written to a grownup 鈥� be it complaining to a politician about the quality of 九色视频 lunches or requesting that a favorite author write a sequel to a much-loved book 鈥� can make a powerful impression about the larger reasons for writing. If the child gets a response, the lesson is that much more powerful.
