On a practical level, how to you put this into practice? School kills the life of writing. They hate it; they resent it. Here’s what’s cool about what we do at Bravewriter. All writing is creative. You can’t write an essay without creative thought. We don’t start with outlines, we start with getting a big mess on the paper and then we make an outline. WE work with the raw materials of writing. We recommend the 8 week free write. Parents write too. Everyone has a sheet of paper. Set the timer for 5 or 6 minutes (less for younger kids) and everyone just writes for the duration. Before you start, have everyone make a list about things you love and know the most about. When it’s time, they can p
Free write Just letting kids write with no rules is a great way to help them learn to express their thoughts on paper. Julie Bogart recommends this 8-day technique. Day 1: Set a timer for 5 minutes. Everyone (parents or teachers too) writes until the timer goes off. There are no rules other than writing. When finished, children can read what they wrote if they want to. If not, the paper goes into a manila envelope. Day 2- 7: Repeat, adding time if desired. The only one allowed to read the child’s writing is the child. Day 8: Get out all the papers. If the child chooses, she can edit one of the papers, or expand what she wrote. She can choose to read any of them to you. If she doesn’t like an
Listen to the podcast here. Julie Bogart is the creator and owner and Bravewriter and loves writing, kids and parents. Bravewriter allows parents to be writing coaches to their kids. Mom of 5, homeschooled her kids who are now grown, worked in the publishing field at the same time. Discovered what it took to get the best writing out of people who weren’t writers. She evaluated a program that was meant to teach writing, and realized that most school systems are not oriented toward the reader, they are trying to train children in a method than tapping into their original writing voices. This is the exact opposite of what is done in professional writing. “In professional writing, we want reader
(Ideas from an interview with Brooke Romney) 1. Be an example of a reader. When children see their parents reading for pleasure, it sends an important message to them, that this is how we want to spend our time. Reading can also lead to great discussions with our kids. It is helpful to let them get a glimpse of what we are reading through our conversation. This shows that learning is a lifelong process, not just something we have to do while we are in school. 2. Make reading enjoyable. Brooke says, “We try not to make it a forced thing. When it gets frustrating, we put it away.” When children approach reading with interest and joy, the whole experience will be different. If children are bei
Brooke always wrote and made up stories, plays, etc. As she grew up, she was interested in reading and writing and majored in English. Words can change people’s perspective and the way they think. She realized how powerful words and thoughts can be when she wrote an essay and changed her professors perspective. Words and thoughts can persuade people to believe something different. Books and experiences of other people really increases our capacity to love and our empathy. Words and writing are so powerful. Brooke says: I have been so impressed with the way a good writer can create vivid lessons in fiction books. People gravitate toward nonfiction for learning lessons, but I think there’s the
When teaching writing skills to students, it can be hard to get more out of them than short, choppy sentences. Sentence expansion will help to create interesting stories, help children to develop ideas, and realize what sentences need to include. As parents and educators, we can help writers to expand their work in a few different ways. Ask Questions Ask questions. Some basic questions really bring the sentence from simple and boring to exciting. Questions cause student writers to think of things they hadn't considered before. The questions can help them in the story development process. When students consider all aspects of what is happening in and around the main sentence, not only does th
Listen to the podcast here. Dr. Spivey is a native Californian, born in 1939, and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area. Professionally Dr. Spivey has been a dynamic, international presenter dedicated to helping teachers at all grade levels improve the quality of student writing and motivation. He has taught in public schools for over 50 years at elementary, middle, and high school levels as well as in continuation high school and has been a language arts consultant for the Murrieta Valley Unified School District. Also he has given courses at several universities for teachers of writing, grades K-12. He has been an English Teacher Specialist for the state of California, a f
