<p>S2, a rising high school junior, struggles with writing (and reading). He occasionally uses incorrect word choices and makes grammar errors, in addition to having difficulty with paragraph stucture and analytic content. In other words, he still needs help with basic technique and skills.</p>
<p>I want to spend an hour a day (5 hours/week) this summer tutoring him, probably alternating an hour of reading one day with an hour of writing the next. I don’t expect to have difficulty with the reading. Although he has yet to find a book that he would voluntarily choose to read over any alternate activity, he has found books he grudgingly admits to being “OK.” I am still trying to figure out his tastes, but think we will get there some day. Books are just too wonderful and numerous for that special connection to not be discovered eventually. </p>
<p>I have less confidence, however, in crafting enjoyable and productive writing exercises. I rather not just have him write paragraphs and subject them to my editing suggestions. He hates writing and understandably reacts poorly to negative feedback–or actually any feedback. S2 never wants ANY help (or interference such as talking to his teacher). As a result, he has just slipped further and further behind. </p>
<p>My hope is to find suggestions for writing exercises, computer program, or textbook that would help him improve his technique in a somewhat self-directed way. I would like my role to be one of active cheerleader and coach rather than critic. He gets enough of that at school. </p>
<p>Any ideas out there would be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Let your son pick an essay topic. You write a really terrible essay on it - lots of grammatical and structure mistakes. Then, you let him critique and edit your essay. Ask him for improvements, and sit down to improve “your” essay together. Then when he gets comfortable with that you both write essays, and you edit each other’s essays. Always make lots of mistakes that he can be successful in improving.</p>
<p>There’s nothing quite so much fun as criticizing someone else!</p>
<p>Fifty Alternatives to the Book Report
Diana Mitchell
The English Journal, Vol. 87, No. 1, Media Literacy (Jan., 1998), pp. 92-95
doi:10.2307/822030</p>
<p>I saw this anthologized in a textbook. Great ideas in there, including writing college applications for literary characters :).</p>
<p>Another technique that might be interesting is combining critical media literacy using content area knowledge. This is hard to explain, so it’s probably better just to give examples. If your son likes science, he might be interested in analyzing some of his favorite video games or movies to see if the special effects are in keeping with the laws of physics. If he likes politics, he could analyze some news articles for bias. If math’s his thing, he could read some major periodicals and see how accurately they report mathematical and statistical information.</p>
<p>Something else that might interest him would be writing helpful (or humorous) guides or webguides for other kids on things he’s good at. </p>
<p>As far as motivation, that’s tough, especially when it’s a parent trying to do it. One suggestion would be to help him identify an outlet that isn’t too unrealistic for him and where he might like to be published (even if it’s just a letter to the editor or his own blog). Then work with him toward that end.</p>
<p>Thank you both. Geomom, I like your idea because he doesn’t have to face a blank page and compose. Conyat, I’m not sure if there is a school subject he likes anymore, but he loves football and looks at work-out routines in weight lifting magazines. There might be something in there to analyze and write about. And, of course we could get into ethical issues like doping and steroids. That appears to be a hot topic these days. </p>
<p>Part of his problem with writing for school may be that he just never connected with the topics. I remember one assignment where he wrote about breaking his femur in football when he was eleven and the teacher just ripped the paper to shreds on technical issues. I think that was the last time he risked anything emotionally in his writing.</p>
<p>Would you be able to afford an outside writing tutor for once or twice a week? Since he doesn’t do well with criticism, I’m afriad that this could really wear on your relationship with your son. I can’t have my parents teach me anything because personal issues get involved, I’ll take criticism harshly (which I don’t normally do), my parents will give incorrect information, etc. The same thing often happens when a parent teaches his/her own kid the piano. I know a lot of music teachers who send their kids to someone else for all of those reasons. Further, a good writing tutor will have had a lot of students like your son and will be experienced in knowing what to tackle and how to go about it. Then you can really be his cheerleader by helping him and overseeing his assignments, reading with him during the week, and overall just supporting him without becoming involved in all of the details and criticism that is necessary in such a task.</p>
<p>Becoming a good writer is one of the most important things he can do to ensure future success in school, college, and the workplace. I really believe that this is a worthwhile pursuit, so if you can I would recommend getting him someone who can get his writing in shape quickly and hopefully as painlessly as possible. A good teacher can do amazing things. If you do try to find a tutor, he may benefit from seeing a young man, if possible. It could really help him feeling comfortable, gain confidence, and work hard.</p>
<p>Books can seem overwhelming to poor writers/readers. Consider magazines, collections of short stories, essays, humor. Bill Bryson is fun to read and writes well too.</p>
<p>Also, read less and think more about what you read. Of course, thinking about what it says (and doesn’t say) is great for the mind, but also look at structure, word choice, and overall look at reading from the writer’s perspective. Remember about different types of reading. If you’re teaching the personal essay, read personal essays. If you’re teaching academic writing, read academic papers. If you’re teaching stories, read stories. Different writing genres require separate consideration and study in order to understand how to write in each distinct way.</p>
<p>We could easily afford a tutor and have tried to get him to agree to go to one many times. The problem is that his experiences with most teachers (and all English teachers) have been extremely negative. Since he associates a tutor with a teacher, he assumes he wouldn’t learn anything. Last night, he was telling my H that going to a tutor would be like going to “school.” He uses the word school in the tone someone would say “maximum security prison.” (We even suggested that he switch to a private school in 9th grade, but he likes his friends and playing football at his large suburban high school and didn’t want a change. His school is supposed to be great, of course.)</p>
<p>We have only now gotten to the point where he finally admits that he has a weakness (and it’s not ALL the teacher’s fault). We may be able to move him toward a tutor at some point, but all I have agreement on right now is for him to give me a one week trial as his tutor and see how it goes.</p>
<p>Earlier in the year, after we both agreed that this year’s English teacher was in fact a problem, I got him to agree that if his English grade didn’t improve next year, he would see a tutor. He was bargaining me down, however, to the Spring semester of his Junior year, saying he couldn’t expect to do well during football season. I know that is just his fear talking and his way of setting himself up for an excuse.</p>
<p>Perhaps, we haven’t been insistent enough. On the other hand, this child is as stubborn as a mule and harshly independent. Pulling and/or pushing just don’t work. We have to get his buy-in for anything to be effective.</p>
<p>He won’t give me a Friday or Saturday, but has agreed to work with me Sunday through Thursday and actually wants to start tomorrow. He has a research report due on a Tolstoy short story and is afraid of a failing grade, I think. Anyway, I have a glimmer of motivation and don’t want to waste it. I guess on this we will start with reading the story together and make sure he actually understands it. Part of the problem is that he is being given assignments that are so far beyond his capabilities that he has no chance of success. And, this is NOT an honors class.</p>
<p>I agree that an outside person, i.e. tutor, could be more effective than a parent, but if he has agreed to your help, that is huge.</p>
<p>I would do all work until the end of school through the content area. Once school is out, I would use his summer required reading for books, and write a couple of critical essays, teaching him to integrate text and quotes. I would also have him keep a daily journal, just for fluency, without worrying so much initially about editing, and more on generation of ideas.</p>
<p>If he needs help in writing topic sentences or thesis statements, etc., there is material out there to help you out.</p>
<p>Good ideas, all.
I had the same problem with S1, he HATED anything to do with writing. His MS English teacher and he knocked heads more than once. We searched extensively for a tutor that was a good fit.
He started out with journaling, short paragraphs about anything that popped into his head. He wrote movie and music reviews and sports analysis at first. Then he moved on to summarizing existing work. He’s an articulate speaker, so occasionally when he was stuck, the tutor had him record his essays and then transcribe them onto paper. Then they tweaked the grammar, sentence structure and flow of ideas.
He’s a strange combination of tendencies both ADD and OCD. He’s inherently an organized person, but he bored quickly and couldn’t stay focused long enough to complete the tasks. The outline strategies helped him tremendously by breaking it down into manageable segments.
The key to his success, I believe,was the relationship between S and the tutor and the one-on-one interaction. He ended up doing wonderfully in HS with all his writing intensive classes.<br>
Don’t know if he’s interested in anything online, but I’ve heard great things about writersvillage.com</p>
<p>The writersvillage.com website looks like something I might enjoy for myself. Thank you for that idea. </p>
<p>For S, once we get through the Tolstoy, I like the idea of having him write journal entries about sports. He does watch and talk sports all the time and is willing to read sports magazines, so clearly that is an interest. Then we can work on grammar and sentence structure within the context of a subject he cares about. Once he gets better at the basics, we can move to enhancing his vocabulary and ability to read more complex literature. </p>
<p>I think the school system just moves too quickly for some of these kids. If the curriculum says they will read the Iliad and the Odyssey in 10th grade, that’s what every child reads when many just aren’t ready for Homer. Once they get left behind, they lose interest, give up and decide they hate school.</p>
<p>It’s great that he has decided to work with you, then. I’m a fan of writing in a journal, particularly if you can get him to do it outside of your 1 hour! With more writing in the way he’s used to writing, he may not improve, but he will grow more comfortable with it, which is important in his case. Work with him on reading out loud, particluarly f he tends to speak well (with good structure, grammar, and vocabulary). Have him read out loud from basic texts. Then when he reads out loud from his own writing, he’ll be able to sense the difference. Once he recognizes this difference, you two can work together on finding what the differences between his writing and the writing in the book are. </p>
<p>I’m a big Iliad/Odyssey fan, but it’s a great way to turn a lot of kids away from books. Some good readers will love it, and that’s great, but many others will feel overwhelmed. I’ll be taking an entire course on the Odyssey at the University of Chicago next year (my second year). There is so much in those books that the classes couldn’t dream of covering, so instead they just read the books and spend class talking about trying to understand the verse. Students are turned off of Homer before ever recognizing how great the poems actually are.</p>
<p>Six Traits has been around since the early 90s (maybe late 80s)–if used by a good teacher, it is very effective as the basis of a comprehensive writing program, and I think with a little reading, you could pick up some helpul strategies. The basic approach is to build writer awareness of what good writing “looks like”–the six traits-ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions–by leading student writers through the process of evaluating sample pieces using the rubrics for each trait. The comparison of stronger and weaker writing is an important process–once students start seeing and internalizing what good writing is like, they can easily identify what is lacking in the weaker samples and make suggestions for improvement. In fact, having students then take a weak sample and do their own revisions is a good transition to working with a piece of their own writing.</p>
<p>Some of the best authors of Six Trait guides are Vicki Spandel and Ruth Culham. You can probably find Creating Writers by Spandel at your local library. I would recommend checking them out to see if you like the approach before investing in books of your own. Another very good author is Barry Lane–his books on revision lessons are especially good. There is one called After The End and another is The Reviser’s Toolbox. These are intended for classroom teachers, but I think the mini-lessons would be useful in a tutoring setting as well.</p>
<p>Good luck! </p>
<p>PS–you mentioned word choice as a particular area of concern–check out Words, Words, Words by Janet Allen–very good for building vocabulary.</p>
<p>Thank you ReneeV. I will look for Spandel’s book, as well as the one by Janet Allen. I picked up an SAT II Writing 2004-2005 edition and Language Arts Writing 4th Edition for the GED from my library. Both seem to have some good exercises in them, including samples of good and bad writing. </p>
<p>Today, we reviewed together Tolstoy’s short story, The Death of Ivan Ilych. This is a homework assignment. I read the story myself (twice actually to understand it) and highlighted vocabulary I thought he might not know (tons). I had him read the sentences aloud and try to guess the words from the context. After he had guessed (often incorrectly), we talked about what the word means and used it in a few other sentences. We used the dictionary a little, but I didn’t want to make the process too slow so mostly just explained the words to him.</p>
<p>I felt like the most important part of that lesson was that he should try to figure out words he doesn’t know rather than just skipping them, which is his usual practice. He did gain confidence and improved in his ability to guess once he realized I wouldn’t tell him the answer until he tried first. I could see his brain starting to actually think. His ability to read out loud and pronounce words he doesn’t know correctly was excellent. </p>
<p>We also spent some time talking about what the story meant, from my perspective. He had read some Cliff Notes or something so thought he already knew the meaning so that turned into a good back and forth. My opinion versus Cliff Notes! The session turned out well, I thought.</p>
<p>Well, here are a few of my thoughts…we have been doing a Mother/Son book group now since the boys were in 7th grade…all finishing soph year in HS this June…there are several books that all really enjoyed… and I agree that a variety is often the best way to identify what works with different kids. We have just finished The Caine Mutiny…and all the boys really liked it… and the original movie, with Humphrey Bogart is wonderful. We watched it today before we discussed the book. We did that also with Friday Nite Lights…which was a fun read for all of us…and another compelling movie to watch. Perhaps if he liked movies, you could read a book, watch the movie and he could write a paper comparing them, which he preferred and why? There were several important points in the Caine book that were not part of the movie at all that we felt were important motivators for some actions. Eiger Dreams by Jon Krakauer is a collection of articles from several different magazines. If he liked this, you could move onto his novel, Into Thin Air. </p>
<p>My oldest was a bit challenged with writing early on in HS… one of the things we did one summer was have him write an article in response to an article in the newspaper. He could pick the article…it helped in building an interest in the news…and led to us all jockeying for the paper in the mornings… </p>
<p>A great web site that might grab his interest is PopURLS… which has links to a variety of news stories or just silly things, cartoons etc that are all extremely contemporary…and aimed at the younger sensibilities… my son showed it to me and I go look at the latest almost every day… it is fun and it is fun to share the ones that make you laugh or teach you something. Recently they had maps of all the major world cities subway systems drawn to the same scale…wild images…some looked like scribbles… my favorite was Beijing’s because it almost looks like a Chinese character… anyway, my point is that it may provide you with some unusual things to discover and share … instead of the same old, same old. </p>
<p>Or read Killer Angels and go to Gettysburg for a weekend? One of the very best books we have read…everyone liked it…</p>
<p>You can also pick up an electronic dictionary that is about the size of a calculator that can be used almost like a bookmark to look up unfamiliar words… or just a small notebook to write the unfamiliar words and their meanings in…take a bet on how many words he will have by the end of the summer? Maybe even pay him for each word he records and defines? A quarter a word? a dollar a word? all $$$$ to go into his college spending account?</p>
<p>You mention cliff notes… again, going back to mother/son book group, i have often googled some of the books we read to see if there are other unusual things out there to add to the discussions. One of our first books was Huckleberry Finn and there were some great resources that had unusual insights… I found a great map to go along with Lord of the Flies… and even reviews on Amazon help us know ahead of time if something we are considering will fly with the kids. Their “readers who like this also like” feature is nice to find other things he might like once you find one good one. </p>
<p>Good luck…be patient… I know that trying to get a kid practice playing piano was always hard, but really hard if they got out of practice. If they would just stay with it every day, it was easier. My hope will be that your son will find an ease in the reading/writing if he can just find his rhythm…</p>
<p>I am a college English professor with a Ph.D. in English. I was approached by parents of my kids’ friends to help their sons with writing. Since none of the boys was really remedial I thought working in groups was the best strategy. Since they were friends, they felt comfortable critiquing each others’ writing. We worked with reading essays and watching feature films that I matched with themes of essays. I looked for subjects that are interesting to young men. I think the film, GATTACA, was quite successful. The groups contained three to four boys and became a social outlet. I would not recommend more than two writing assignments a week. Everyone improved significantly!</p>
<p>TheAnalyst: I am a speech-language pathologist (aka speech therapist). My first question is, has you S ever been fully evaluated by the speech-language pathologist at his school. You mention that he makes errors in vocabulary selection and grammar as well as paragraph structure. And, he is not a reader. I would want to rule out any problem with age/grade appropriate semantic/syntactic knowledge and language organization. The law allows any parent who expresses a concern to request an evaluation. If all checks out, then you might look into a writing program at a local college. Out here, the Cal State Schools and some UC’s hold summer writing programs for K-12 kids. Community Colleges also have programs. If the evaluation uncovers a gap he may qualify for resources through school. At the high school level, there are some marvelous writing programs available thru the speech-language pathologist. Go ask for suggestions even if he does not qualify for intervention. Good luck.</p>
<p>^^good idea from blucroo re: check out with speech/language pathology evaluation.</p>
<p>While you’re waiting for that, since it can take time, some more ideas on the tutoring you’re doing:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Read good writing, and use it to teach writing. The President of Bard College, excellent at teaching writing, was interviewed by National Public Radio about their new method. He said their creative writing faculty threw out the model of kids bringing in essays for peer or faculty critique. They feel that the best way to learn to write well is to read good writing, and take it apart to see why it is good. They feel it’s better use of classroom time for college students. It uses the idea of modeling. So, if you and your son look over a short, well-writtten essay, sports article, or section from a novel, and the two of you rip it apart to see what’s good about it, he can practice writing sentences using the new insight. (just 1-3 “teaching points” per article, not “everything”). For example, you can teach him not to use “passive voice” this way: find a paragraph (newspapers are good for this) with active voice, agree together that the sentence is dynamic and how you can picture the story, then YOU show him what would happen if it were the passive voice [so you’re the one writing poorly, not him], then give him a chance to write some sentences using active voice. He can practice right there in front of you, just 3 sentences with active voice. That’s a more cheerful dynamic than him showing you something he wrote with passive voice, and you correcting it. It just keeps his spirits up, and makes the teaching point he needs. </p></li>
<li><p>Biographies of sports heroes are motivating, although often the writing in biographies is dull.</p></li>
<li><p>Sports articles in newspapers often have excellent writing. How many verbs can you think of to say “win” or “lose” – they come up with thousands! They tell a story with high interest.</p></li>
<li><p>I’d be looking for a novel by a good author with a track record, where the plot includes a sports theme.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>That said, none of this ^^matters if there’s a language processing issue, so hopefully you can have that checked out.</p>
<p>Blucroo, I’m curious. What in particular do you mean by semantic/syntactic knowledge or language organization? I spent significant time at or driving to different speech therapists when I was aged 3-10, so it interests me. (I speak essentially perfectly now, thanks to the last speech pathologist I saw.)</p>
(I speak essentially perfectly now, thanks to the last speech pathologist I saw.)</p>