kitchen table math, the sequel: how to salvage your child's really, really, really bad writing assignment

Thursday, September 20, 2007

how to salvage your child's really, really, really bad writing assignment

What is a really, really, really bad writing assignment, you ask?

This one (grade 8):

We will begin the year with the Quote Project in which each student creates a mobile that illustrates a meaningful quote, writes a short personal narrative, and then shares his/her findings in an oral presentation.

Writing to the Point is the answer.

I'm pretty sure a parent can use Kerrigan's book to turn any writing assignment into an OK assignment or even good one. More on my first afterschool outing with WJK anon.



how to use Writing to the Point without reading the book

First of all, I think you should read the book, if you possibly can. I am studying every word.

But if you can't study every word, you can probably make do with this much.

1.

I've taken to calling Kerrigan's approach the X-1-2-3 method.

Just so you know.


2.

the six steps

Kerrigan's method has six steps, which he requires his students to commit to memory, word for word. (I have memorized the first two; am halfway there on number 3).

The Six Steps

STEP 1. Write a short, simple declarative sentence that makes one statement. (Chapter 1, page 6)

STEP 2. Write three sentences about the sentence in Step 1—clearly and directly about the whole of that sentence, not just something in it. (Chapter 2, page 18.)

STEP 3. Write four or five sentences about each of the three sentences in Step 2—clearly and directly about the whole of the Step 2 sentence, not just something in it. (Chapter 3, page 31.)

Step 4. Make the material in the four or five sentences of Step 3 as specific and concrete as possible. Go into detail. Use examples. Don’t ask, “What will I say next?” Instead, say some more about what you have just said. Your goal is to say a lot about a little, not a little about a lot. (Chapter 4, pages 43-44.)

STEP 5. In the first sentence of each new paragraph, starting with Paragraph 2, insert a clear reference to the idea of the preceding paragraph. (Chapter 8, page 105).

STEP 6. Make sure every sentence in your theme is connected with, and makes a clear reference to, the preceding sentence (Chapter 11, page 123.)


3.

Remember:

• A sentence is a paragraph is a chapter is a book.

• A thesis is a sentence. A paper, essay, or book must have a thesis to be good.

• A sentence has a subject and a predicate. A thesis is always a sentence, which means a thesis has a subject and a predicate.

• A topic is a subject without a predicate.

• Almost always, topics come first. Creating, inventing, shaping, and discovering your thesis comes second. There's no law on this; it's just the way things usually go.

• Write a lot about a little, not a little about a lot. This is what people mean when they tell you to “pare your topic down,” “tighten your subject or writing,” etc.


4.

X-1-2-3

The first step requires you to write a short, simple declarative sentence that makes one statement. This is sentence X.

The second step requires you to write three sentences about the sentence in Step 1—clearly and directly about the whole of that sentence, not just something in it. These are sentences 1-2-3.

for example:

X Studying requires teaching yourself.
1. Studying requires setting a schedule for yourself.
2. Studying requires explaining the lesson to yourself.
3. Studying requires self-testing.


extremely important, and tricky, too:

X-1-2-3 sentences possess parallel thought and grammatical structure
:

X Studying ] [ requires teaching yourself.
1. It ] [ requires setting a schedule for yourself.
2. It ] [ requires explaining the lesson to yourself.
3. It ] [ requires self-testing.

X Power corrupts.
1. It corrupts the powerful.
2. It corrupts the powerless.
3. It corrupts every relationship between the two.

(source: Kerrigan, Writing to the Point)

10 comments:

Me said...

The mobile part is joke, right?

Me said...

Oh, wait, Google to the rescue; I found a cool quote by Alexander Calder:
When an artist explains what he is doing he usually has to do one of two things: either scrap what he has explained, or make his subsequent work fit in with the explanation.

Doug Sundseth said...

"The mobile part is joke, right?"

Clearly; it's right up there with "What's your favorite number?" in a math class.

I doubt the teacher thinks so, though (more's the pity).

And what's up with "shares his/her findings"? I don't even see a requirement to "look" as the assignment is written.

Frankly, this should be called "Writing to the Pointless".

SteveH said...

This reminds me of a hierarchical, top-down, approach in systems analysis. The start is the one sentence problem statement. (no "ands" allowed) If you can't state the problem with one simple sentence, then something is wrong, or the project is too large.

Maybe we can talk about the analysis, design, code (write) and test (edit) phases. If it's a team writing project, we can talk about unit testing (editing), code walk-throughs (peer review), and integration testing (combining and editing the separately-written parts).

I think hear the creative writing alarms going off.

Anonymous said...

Many writing programs follow the same pattern: Six Traits, Step Up to Writing, Write Traits, etc.

Anonymous said...

yick. i won't elaborate, i suppose.

except this far:

"� A sentence is a paragraph is a chapter is a book."

this escapes being a damnable lie
only by failing to be in english at all.

PaulaV said...

Anonymous--

Please elaborate! I want to know what you think about Six Traits.

Go ahead...elaborate!

Anonymous said...

Six traits is a nice schematic for helping kids analyze existing pieces of writing, but it's weak at helping them start the writing themselves.

That's the beauty of the X-1-2-3 strategy -- it's an actual plan for putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) and getting something cogent, organized and meaningful down right away. When using 6-traits at her middle school, my daughter was absolutely immobilized with fear trying to think of how to write in a way that addressed all six components covered. (If you've ever had a golf instructor try to fix your swing with "six easy tips," you know how hard it is to do all at once. Something's gotta give, and it's usually the thing that's hardest -- and most important.)

At the end of the day, the most critical aspect of writing is a strong thesis and high-quality, well-organized support. Kerrigan's process gets directly the point....

PaulaV said...

Anonymous,

Thank you for your take on Six traits. My sons' elementary school is using this program and I haven't been too thrilled with it.

Anonymous said...

Six traits is a nice schematic for helping kids analyze existing pieces of writing, but it's weak at helping them start the writing themselves

I can see that problem arising just from the amount I've read.

Even though it's more direct than some of the more recent reform writing curriculums, there is this danger, IMHO, of bringing in too much pedagogy. So, for instance, there are 6 steps to be followed, but there are 7 steps or clarifications just to get the first step right. I could easily see a kid getting overwhelmed and freezing up.