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C. wrote two practice test essays yesterday using the X-1-2-3 set-up for both. The first was pretty bad, but he improved dramatically on the second.
Bonus points: X-1-2-3 results in mini-essays that can be easily typed up and edited by the parent/teacher, like so:
C's version is on the left; our lightly edited version is on the right. Ed says it helps tremendously to see your work edited and I think he's right.
I wonder whether a teacher would find it faster and easier to edit student's mini-essays rather than comment on them? (Teachers could copy-edit/revise just one paragraph or one aspect of the essay, etc.....)
C's X-1-2-3 sentences
X People who rescue animals from bad conditions are heroes.
1. They give animals a second chance at a good life.
2. They punish people who are cruel to animals.
3. They provide people with a new pet to love.
X Video games do not cause children to act out violently.
1. Video games do not cause school shootings.
2. Video games let children act out their emotions on screen and not in real life.
3. Video games limit the violence you can do to yourself by allowing you to simulate risky activities instead of acting them out.
17 comments:
X-1-2-3 is such a powerful tool. It's amazing to see how it evolves into a coherent piece of writing. I imagine that C is feeling much more confident because he has a roadmap to follow. Now he can expend the greatest amount of effort on developing ideas because the process of writing is a mystery revealed.
I do believe that seeing your work edited is highly constructive. I've been disappointed when writing my children have done is not edited. Understanding that writing is an ongoing process is such an important lesson to learn. Even our best work today may be improved upon in some way tomorrow.
It's always eye-opening to have someone edit your work. It reminds us that we're usually writing for an audience, and not just for our own amusement. It's important to know how that audience perceives our writing and for a fresh set of eyes to look upon our work.
I imagine that C is feeling much more confident because he has a roadmap to follow.
Here's another cool thing: he made such large gains between his first & his second attempts that he could see the improvement himself.
After he wrote the second one he said, "I should have used X-1-2-3 on my English essay."
Our new district-wide WAC initiative had been doing a number on his confidence and interest as you might imagine.
I see happening here exactly what I feared. Kids are learning to dislike and avoid writing.
If WAC sweeps the country as I fear it may, we'll have our public schools producing kids who hate writing as much as they hate math.
I have anecdotal evidence for that, and then some. The scenario you describe was happening to A. She was developing acute writing phobia by fourth grade. This extremely verbal, well read, talkative child would have almost nothing to say when presented with a writing assignment or prompt. She would virtually shut down. Her confidence was almost completely eroded. Having a clear roadmap has been life altering. She's actually relishing her writing assignments and no longer goes around saying "I'm a terrible writer." This is where we were not too long ago. What's most amazing is how quickly things have turned around.
What kind of writing was she having to do at school?
(And can I put this comment up front?)
We are going to see a lot of damage done.
LOTS
I must say, though, that I'm expecting to see exactly the same turn-around here you're seeing there.
Writing is SOOO much easier than math....writing really is an offshoot of reading.
If you read well you can write well.
I've had two different teachers tell me that now (redkudu & nyc educator).
At the moment I'm thinking parents have a good chance of remediating writing instruction at home so long as they use a confidence-building "recipe" like Hake, Kerrigan, or Whimbey/Linden's Text Reconstruction.
Whimbey-Linden, unfortunately, won't help so much with the open-ended, choose-your-own-topic, write-a-thesis-statement assignments kids are being given at school.
Kerrigan will actually get you through those assignments!
Last year in fourth grade there were mostly shoebox type "writing" projects dispersed through the year. There was one big writing project about a U.S. state that was to be done completely at school which ended up a total disaster. The rest were really psuedo-writing with it becoming more of a presentation that didn't really require structured writing (she dressed up and acted out the characters of Sacagawea and Elizabeth Blackwell.)
It got more serious around testing time in the spring when everything was in preparation for the CMTs. It got to the point that this child, who reads and comprehends at about a twelth grade level, was having breakdowns over short answer response questions at the fourth grade level. This shouldn't have happened, but it did.
There were no traditional book reports and I rarely saw drafts going through any type of editing process. There just didn't appear to be a method for teaching writing going on at all. She was overwhelmed and really began to hate anything having to do with writing.
I agree that remediation with the right methods can make a world of difference in a short amount of time, particularly if the child is a good reader. Having a process puts it all together and it just sort of "clicks".
Yes, you can put the comment up front. I wouldn't mind at all if you copy-edited me though :)
Oh yes, there was plenty of writing in the "Math Journal", don't you know. Writing assignments for Physical Education too.
No wonder she started hating writing!
It got to the point that this child, who reads and comprehends at about a twelth grade level, was having breakdowns over short answer response questions at the fourth grade level. This shouldn't have happened, but it did.
This is appalling.
Last year in fourth grade there were mostly shoebox type "writing" projects dispersed through the year.
It's amazing that we can live in completely different parts of the country and have the exact same experiences.
My son had a whopping case of writer's block after similar experiences. Weren't these curriculums supposed to do the opposite?
Oh, and I found that no one does book reports. No one-page reports. No paragraphs. Just total panic when the state tests come around and they have to force-feed them 5-paragraph essays. It's a big interrruption for them, this "teaching to the test" thing. He doesn't have any shoeboxes to color for a couple of weeks.
That's whay the ACT was such a good thing for him. It was so logical. There is no coloring section on the ACT.
We're having a semi-positive experience cramming for the ISEE, I must say.
C. takes it seriously; it tells him what's coming down the road.
Kerrigan is becoming a family affair. My second grader just asked if we could do the X-1-2-3 thing again. He said when he used that on his last writing assignment (Time for Kids) the teacher said it was "super". "Can I do that again?" Why absolutely!
I've got a draft of a post on tonight's X-1-2-3 adventure.
My thesis statement:
X-1-2-3 is to writing what invert-and-multiply is to dividing a fraction by a fraction.
X-1-2-3 is a procedure. I'm not sure I know what an algorithm is, but if I did I'd say it's an algorithm.
It's also a diagnostic.
I don't think I've thanked you enough for re-introducing Kerrigan to the world. So, thank you so very, very much.
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