I received a note from a reader, describing how she teaches her grandson to write. The boy, who turned seven this summer, is an active skateboarder, bike rider and swimmer, but he finds school work hard. I contacted the grandmother, and here is our conversation:
Does your grandson like to write?
No. He hates to begin. But once he starts, he relaxes and actually enjoys it. He feels pride in his work.
How do you get him started?
Late afternoon is best when I am getting dinner ready. He sits at the kitchen table. It takes lots of conversation while he tries to negotiate a way out of writing. It is difficult to endure but I persist. If I let him wait until after dinner, he is too tired. So I refuse to change the time. I bribe him with food treats, which I would give him anyway. Or I promise a chance to play on my iPad for 15 minutes after he is done.
And then?
I give him a choice of three topics to write about. More discussion. Eventually he decides on one topic. I write that word in the middle of a PLAN paper and now we decide on three ideas about the topic. I write three more idea words. He connects those words to the topic word in the center of the page. The key is the PLAN. Now the struggle s over. He has a plan to follow, so there is no more pulling info out of him. It is a task to be completed. He can work independently for a moment using the notes in the PLAN.
I try to walk away and let him do his own writing. I will spell a word or write a big word on his PLAN paper if he asks. It is quite amazing how his attitude changes once he has a sentence written. He is happy that his sentence is written. He loves being praised for how nice he makes letter A. He rereads his first sentence to me. I ask if it is missing anything at the beginning or the end. Then he gets his first reward, one m&m for each word. Now we proceed to the next sentence.
He writes three sentences for each writing task. He enjoys reading his entire essay. Then we are done.
His mother has said that it is difficult for him to remember his ideas when he is writing. I hope this technique will help in the future. I’ve learned most of it from reading your blog.
Is that it for the day?
No, next is flash cards, computer reading apps, or a real book. With flash cards, I have him hold each card and make a little colored mark in the corner if he knows the word. This keeps him from fidgeting and gives him an activity. The cards get marked up, but so what!
English Writing Teacher 