kitchen table math, the sequel: Looky what I got on pre-order!

Sunday, March 2, 2008

Looky what I got on pre-order!

In addition to the upcoming FLL4, I've put in a pre-order for Susan Wise Bauer's new writing curriculum series, The Complete Writer. It's designed to work with the First Language Lessons series. Woo hoo!
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22 comments:

Anonymous said...

Darn. Why wasn't this out when my kids were younger.

We need the middle school version around here.

Susan

March 2, 2008 at 5:48 AM
Anonymous said...

When I first began teaching literature and writing at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, over ten years ago, my freshmen weren’t exactly
polished writers. Out of every class of thirty freshmen students, four or five would turn in grammatically correct, coherent, clean papers. Of those, perhaps two would show a real grasp of persuasive writing.

Ten years later, even that percentage has dropped. I read through scores of incoherent, fragmented, unpunctuated papers, written by students who graduated
from well-funded high schools with small classrooms and qualified teachers.

What are those students being taught before they get to me?
It’s not that they don’t write. In fact, in an effort to solve the problem of poor writing skills, schools are giving longer and more complex assignments to younger and younger children. The theory is that the more writing children do, the better
they’ll get at it; as one proponent of it recently told me, “Give the children high interest assignments and have them write, write, write and revise, revise, revise.”
First and second graders are told to write journal entries; third and fourth graders are assigned book reports and essays. Fifth and sixth graders are given research papers.

Meanwhile, writing skills continue to decline. And for the last ten years, at education conferences all across the country, I have heard the same refrain from the parents of these children: My child hates to write.

This is from a sample page. She just nails it, IMHO.

Susan

March 2, 2008 at 5:56 AM
SteveH said...

"write, write, write"

This is the philosophy of my son's school. Read, read, read; write, write, write. But no reading comprehension testing and little direction and teacher editing of writing.

My feeling is that this allows them to have kids of all abilities in the same classroom. They hope that learning will take place if they just do it enough.

March 2, 2008 at 6:15 AM
concernedCTparent said...

Beautiful! I was wondering what I was going to use with my son and younger daughter. I already have First Language Lessons 1-2 and 3. This completes the program perfectly. I'll be pre-ordering as well. Thanks for the update!

Susan Wise Bauer is fantastic and I'm confident that this program won't dissapoint. Susan, you said it well, "She just nails it."

March 2, 2008 at 9:29 AM
VickyS said...

"write, write, write"

might I add: "about your self, self, self"

Yup, she just nails it!

Show of hands: for those of you with kids in these programs--whose kids hate to write?

My younger son was an avid writer before "Writer's workshop" invaded his school. The daily journaling brought him to tears. He takes no pleasure in writing anymore. As one who writes for a living, it breaks my heart.

March 2, 2008 at 2:11 PM
Redkudu said...

I just got this in an email Friday from my department head:

"At a meeting of district English chairs about ten days ago, [Head honcho] handed out copies of Using the Workshop Approach in the High School English Classroom by Cynthia D. Urbanski and remarked that a workshop approach will be mandated for all secondary English classrooms in 08-09."

March 2, 2008 at 2:41 PM
Anonymous said...

My hand's raised. My son has meltdowns at 13 over writing anything. He's regressed a bit since I worked with him last summer, so it looks like Mom's Writing Class will start up again this summer.

The funny thing is that when my first son came along we saw all of these problems like incorrect spelling, illegibility, lack of punctuation, etc. However, I told myself that he had a severe writing LD (along with other problems such as severe ADHD and developmental delays), so it wasn't the teaching or curriculum.

But then the second son comes along with no cognitive deficits and I see the exact same problems. Even with a huge IQ spread, my youngest was writing like his LD brother. Words could be spelled three different ways on a paper and nobody would tell him. Even to this day, his spelling seems to be only corrected by me. He would write the shortest easiest sentences that he could get away with. His teachers would often mention that maybe writing wasn't his "thing."

So, I quit accepting his baby sentences, lousy handwriting, and bad spelling. He complained loudly, but I started getting comments from teachers about how he had a "knack" for writing. Why yes, he does now.

It has made a big difference to simply parallel teach him about things the school won't. I put pressure on him to make clear, well-written sentences and absolutely no pressure to be "creative." That's the opposite of the what the school does.

Even though he's a bit of a mathhead, he is pulled for gifted LA, which includes writing all kinds of papers that demonstrate some sort of structure he is supposed to have picked up somewhere through osmosis. The emphasis is on being creative at all times.

Now, I don't have a problem with creativity, but like Susan W. Bauer says, the pressure to express themselves with marginal tools is just torture for many kids.

Susan

March 2, 2008 at 3:15 PM
Catherine Johnson said...

They hope that learning will take place if they just do it enough.

This has been said to me explicitly many, many times - though not about writing (yet).

Every time I've brought up KIPP I have been told, "KIPP has longer days and Saturdays."

Every. Single. Time.

I've gotten this from administrators.

When I point out that KIPP kids enter the school 2 years behind that has no effect.

If our kids went to school on Saturdays we'd have 80% of the 8th graders passing Math A, too.

That's the thinking.

March 3, 2008 at 5:50 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

"At a meeting of district English chairs about ten days ago, [Head honcho] handed out copies of Using the Workshop Approach in the High School English Classroom by Cynthia D. Urbanski and remarked that a workshop approach will be mandated for all secondary English classrooms in 08-09."

I don't know how you do it.

March 3, 2008 at 5:50 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

Here's the difference a teacher makes.

C. has always liked writing & is good at it. That's his talent - the verbal realm, generally.

This year we have "Writing Across the Curriculum." A new implementation!

By mid-year he no longer like writing; writing had turned into math. (Thanks, guys!)

Now that's turning around because he has an extremely hard-working social studies teacher who manages the research paper they all have to write with precision and constant attention to each step of the process.

He actually has the kids writing one paragraph a day - and before they write anything he has them spend every single day reading the resources they need and taking notes on those resources.

Then he reads their notes and comments.

This guy has worked with these kids step by step by step.

C. said last night, "Have you noticed I'm not stressed?"

That's the difference a teacher makes.

This guy was doing these things before we had WAC -- and before we had Teaching Learning Facilitators.

March 3, 2008 at 5:54 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

But then the second son comes along with no cognitive deficits and I see the exact same problems. Even with a huge IQ spread, my youngest was writing like his LD brother.

wow

that is something

March 3, 2008 at 5:55 AM
concernedCTparent said...

That's the difference a teacher makes.

It also seems to me that it's the difference that a small percentage of teachers are making due to lack of experience, lack of appropriate training, or because they cannot or will not rebel against a writer's workshop approach. IMHO, it's not that teachers cannot be as effective as C.'s social studies teacher, it's that there are many forces conspiring against. Too often the dark side wins.

March 3, 2008 at 6:01 AM
concernedCTparent said...

Unfortunately, it appears that C's teacher is the exception and not the rule.

March 3, 2008 at 6:04 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

He's amazing. Absolutely amazing.

I haven't looked at C's paragraphs so far, but Ed says his writing has taken a huge leap. It's much, much better.

This is entirely due to the teacher AND TO HIS METHODS.

It's also due to the assignment which isn't a WAC assignment; it doesn't attempt to integrate ELA and history.

This paper is about history, period.

The nature of the assignment is critically important.

March 3, 2008 at 6:26 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

"he no longer like writing" =

"he no longer liked writing"

March 3, 2008 at 6:27 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

This teacher is EXTREMELY hard working.

March 3, 2008 at 6:28 AM
concernedCTparent said...

Arguably, there are many "writer's workshop" proponents who are extremely hardworking as well. The big difference is that C's social studies teacher is working extremely hard with a method that is results oriented and effective. Clearly other hardworking teachers may be spinning their wheels with methods that are all flash and no substance.

March 3, 2008 at 6:34 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

You know - I wonder how true that is in practice?

(You're definitely right on the logic. I would think an ineffective approach to teaching is going to take more time and effort, not less.)

I've seen more than a few passages where educators promote the writing workshop approach as a way to save time and effort because peers can provide feedback.

I'm pretty sure I've seen published articles on this (I'll try to track some of them down).

March 3, 2008 at 6:50 AM
Anonymous said...

It seems like the difference is also the breaking it down into components and then checking that each step is done. This seems so obvious--teaching 101.

The choices teachers make about what, how, and when to break topics down is often why one teacher is effective and another isn't. But, as CCTParent said, the ineffective teacher could be as well-meaning as the effective one.

SusanS

March 3, 2008 at 7:11 AM
concernedCTparent said...

Yes, I don't doubt that they are well meaning.

I do see your point though, Catherine. The one doing the spinning of wheels in the writer's workshop scenario, is the child. This is hard and frustrating work for the child and likely less so for the teacher. The responsibility for the assignment is transferred to the student. If it works, writer's workshop is brilliant. If it doesn't, the student is somehow lacking.

In the case of C's social studies teacher, the responsibility to set the students up for success belongs to the instructor, not the child. That is hard work but it sure results in a big payoff.

March 3, 2008 at 7:19 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

It seems like the difference is also the breaking it down into components and then checking that each step is done. This seems so obvious--teaching 101.

He does that!

Did you or did you not do this step?

He collects notes & checks them.

We're blown away by the whole thing.

After all the folderol at the school - after the hostile meetings with the math and science folks - here we have a teacher taking direct responsibility for seeing to it that his students learn to write.

March 3, 2008 at 7:30 AM
Catherine Johnson said...

btw, the workshop model was created for adults.

Ed knows the whole history; he was marginally involved in it. It started in California. I think it was the Berkeley Writers' Project.

The point was to teach teachers how to write (better).

Then this method for teaching adults was simply transferred to K-12.

Ed said that from the get-go he never saw why a method for teaching adults was right for kids.

He had questions about it as a method for teaching adults, too.

March 3, 2008 at 7:32 AM

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