home writing program in place, for now

The precision teaching folks have shown me the way....

• sentence combining
• text reconstruction
• "text reduction" (my term)

the books I'm using:

• Sentence-Combining Workbook by Pam Altman, Mari Caro, Lisa Metge-Egan, Leslie Roberts (looks terrific)
  
• Analyze, Organize, Write by Arthur Whimbey & Elizabeth Lynn Jenkins (is terrific)
  
• Six-Way Paragraphs Middle Level by Walter Pauk
  
• Six-Way Pargraphs in the Content Areas: Advanced Level
  

I may shuffle things around once I'm finished reading William Kerrigan's Writing to the Point. The book's sole review on Amazon explains why:

Kerrigan and Metcalf provide a comprehensive and clear method for writing expository papers. Although geared for a college freshman writing class, using this text at the junior high and high school level could preclude its use in college. I have used this text with my gifted intermediate elementary school students with great success. The students love the straight forward approach to writing, and do not feel that their creativity has been hampered in the least. If you are having difficulty teaching written expression, check out this novel approach!

Buried treasure. The book is out of print; I would never have found it if not for my precision teaching quest, though the precision teaching folks don't seem to have heard of the book, either. I think I found it on a homeschooling listmania Amazon posted to the Why Johnny Can't Write page.

Speaking of which, Why Johnny Can't Write is (almost) an ur-text for writing the same way Knowing and Teaching Elementary Mathematics is for Math.

Amazing.






help for the struggling writer
sentence combining exercise
we're starting a copybook
man-eaters of Kumaon - text reconstruction
expert advice on teaching writing from Joanne Jacobs
eureka
more from Joanne Jacobs
doctor pion on writing a precis and critical reading
first crack at editing exercise
home writing program in place, for now
why kids should do text reconstruction
results of sentence combining exercise

whimbey.com
Arthur Whimbey obit
BGF Performance Systems (carries Whimbey's books)
Tips for Teaching Grammar from the Writing Next Report (pdf file)
Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve the Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools (pdf file)

Writing to the Point Fourth Edition Table of Contents
Amazon review Kerrigan & home program
Writing to the Point, first installment
William J. Kerrigan and the sentence
writing and swimming: pp 1 & 2 Kerrigan
writing and swimming: pp 1 & 2 Kerrigan
To the Instructor