What about writing?

I know I discuss reading and teaching reading a lot, but I don't really focus much on writing. So today, I'll go over some tips on getting a struggling writer to express him or herself on paper.

Started off the wrong way with reports

Nick teases me a lot because I apparently say, "When I was your age ..." or the equivalent of that phrase often. It often ends up being technology related. That's because when I was his age and older, we didn't have the resources kids have these days to get information to write really great reports.

The reason I mention this is that I tell Nick to do a report and he goes to the Internet, copies and pastes information he finds on websites, add pictures he finds on Google Images and he's done. He doesn't learn anything. When I read these reports, I see grammar errors galore and questionable information. I also don't know where he gets his information because he never cites his work (despite the many times I have stressed the importance of giving people credit for their work).

So, I realized doing reports wasn't a good way to start teach writing. He's not ready for report-writing yet. When he is older and has learned how to lend his own voice and opinion to his writing, we will try that again. Obviously the Internet is a wonderful resource, but one must understand its limitations before using it.

Starting off with personal essays

So, now what we are doing is working on essays on personal things. These could be a funny event he has seen, his favorite game, his summer vacation, etc. These are things I know he can't just look up on the Internet and ones that I know he will want to discuss.

The first essay we did was on his favorite video game. We started off with doing a story web. This is a visual element that helps him think out the essay before beginning to write it. The center theme is the name of his favorite video game. Then we talked about the things he likes about it and wrote those down in circles surrounding the center theme. He likes the story line, the added details in the graphics, the overall artwork, the action, the puzzles, etc. We then grouped those interests into three main categories.

The basic construction of an essay

We had previously discussed that an essay is formed of an intro, body and conclusion. If you haven't discussed this with your child, you should before he or she begins any writing.

I usually draw a candy wrapper shape (drawn vertically as shown) to show visually how an essay should be written.

• In the introduction, you state the main theme of the essay (the center of the story web). You also state the three main categories everything was grouped into. You will discuss these in more detail in the body of your essay.
• In the body, you talk about those three categories in detail, giving examples (and Nick likes to add photos since he does his essays on the computer).
• In the conclusion you wrap it up with a solid opinion or funny fact or something similar. I always tell Nick to never start a conclusion with, "So in conclusion ...". It's overdone.

As far as the actual words to use, I just have Nick tell me verbally what he wants to say and then tell him to write that. Most kids (and adults too) are afraid that writing on paper needs to sound more formal than the way we talk. I always say that writing the way you would say it verbally sounds more natural and people would be more likely to read just as they are to listen. We will worry about spelling and grammar after we get the words down.

Starting the actual writing

With his story web drawn out and sitting next to him at the computer, he began to write out his essay.

The good thing about doing it on the computer is that it is less frustrating for students who abhor the act of hand writing. Many dyslexics have a very difficult time forming letters and concentrate too much on the creation of the letters and words than the actual story. It is a slow and painstaking process and when you need to go back to correct spelling and grammar or rewrite parts, it can bring them to tears. So I avoid all this by having Nick write on the computer.

An added bonus is that he immediately corrects spelling errors when those little red lines show up. I've noticed his spelling is getting much better due to this.

I sit with Nick as he writes to add support if he asks for it. He will ask me how to spell things or ask what he should write when he's stuck on how to express a certain part. Usually I go back to having him tell me what he wants to say and for the most part it's good enough to write. He never has trouble expressing himself verbally, other than finding the right word, so I think he just needs validation sometimes that his thoughts are good enough for paper.

Writing the body of the essay

The body is the toughest part because I ask for examples and details. So for his statement that the graphics are really cool in the video game, he knew how to show me with a picture (and tell me) what he liked but wasn't sure how to verbalize it on paper (at least he didn't think he was sure).

That is why we pull over pictures into the report so he can "show" what he is trying to say. I tell him that it needs a caption and that is where we get the details I'm looking for. By pulling over images, he is able to give me multitudes of examples and details. He's still writing them down, but the images just give him the encouragement to do so.

Because this is homeschool, I figure whatever tool I can use that will get him to express himself will work for me. I don't worry about traditional essay-writing when it comes to getting my son to write. I know some day he will need to learn to write without the use of picture cues, but for now, we are just getting over the hurdle of writing as a form of expression. With enough practice he will be able to write well enough for college or work without needing pictures to help.

Writing the conclusion

With the body written, we are ready to wrap it all up. Many people find it hard to conclude an essay when they just got through saying everything they wanted to say about their topic. Nick just likes to say, "OK. That's it. Go home folks."

I tell Nick to think of ending an essay as the same as ending a phone conversation. You don't just say what you want to say and hang up. You lead up to the hang up.

Ending an essay is the same. You may want to restate your overall opinion in a different way than you did in the introduction. You may want to offer suggestions to the reader (if they should try the video game, restaurant, vacation spot, etc.). You may want to state what kind of person would like said game, restaurant, vacation spot, etc. You may want to mention one negative thing, but that overall you like it. You may want to leave the reader wanting more by hinting at some secret they could discover. But you do need to find a way to not just hang up.

We talk it through and come up with something to end it. It doesn't need to be brilliant or thought-provoking or philosophical; it just needs to end politely.

Now we edit

Just when you thought all the sharks were out of the water....

Because the act of writing, even on a computer, is difficult for dyslexics, we take a break before editing. He just got through pouring his heart out and that's tough work. It's time for a cookie.

But I never leave it undone and never wait for too long a period. His thoughts and ideas about the subject must still be fresh in his mind when we go back to edit. I will not wait a day. I will wait a couple of hours at most.

Flowing like a stream

What I'm looking for when we go back to edit is spelling, grammar and flow.

When I worked at a newspaper, my favorite copy editor would always say, "Good copy must flow like a stream." It's good advice. When you read back over a story it needs to feel natural like a friendly conversation. If it sounds choppy or seems like it is missing something or jumps from one subject to the next without gently leading up to the change, it will feel more like being in the rapids and not a gentle stream.

So the first task in editing is reading it over again. I find it best to read it out loud so you can hear how the story sounds, much like you would in conversation. That is generally how you will know where to add commas or other pausing devices. That is also how you will know when something needs to be added to make the story flow more easily.

Spelling is usually accomplished with spellcheck, but you do have to watch out for homophones like "its" and "it's" or "there" and "their." You also need to check for words that are spelled correctly but are just wrong (likely a typing error). For instance you might see "greet" instead of "great". My and Nick's biggest error in writing is not typing the letter "s" when we need to make things plural (like mother like son??). These things happen, so a careful reading will help eliminate these errors.

Be there or be square

It is especially important for a parent to be involved in the editing process because sometimes children just don't know the grammar rules or the right homophone to use or the right word to get the connotation desired.

Going over these rules as you are reading through your child's work will help immensely for the next time he or she writes. I usually tell Nick to listen for the pauses in my voice as I read out loud so he knows where to put some kind of punctuation. I overemphasize the pauses to help.

I also stop when we get to homophones and either tell him "good job" when he used the correct one or talk about the correct one to use if he didn't. And when a word doesn't seem to be a good fit, I'll tell him what it really means or how people feel when they see it, and we discuss what a better word would be. Sometimes he just doesn't know and so we look it up in his computer's thesaurus.

I never just correct everything on my own or just tell him where it needs to be corrected. He needs to learn why it needs to be corrected so he can adjust his writing the next time he does an essay.

Practice, practice, practice

Obviously, going over the rules of writing once is not going to make a famous writer out of your children overnight. You will need to do many essays (and eventually reports) so they can build on the knowledge they grasp each time.

Our dyslexic children should not be overloaded with all the rules at once, so some corrections you make in the first essay will be forgotten the next time he or she writes. That's OK and to be expected. But that's why we practice. You may want to focus on homophones for the first few essays, then commas and punctuation in the next few. Repetition is the key to building solid writing skills.

Novelist in the making?

We may create some wordsmiths out of children yet, but take it slowly. They'll get there. Start with personal essays and build from there. Use whatever tools work to help your children express themselves. Pictures work for my son, but your children may like a voice recorder to verbalize their thoughts before writing them down. You may want to use a speech recognition program to help your children with their writing. These programs are not perfect, so your children will still learn to edit.

Whatever works, use it. Just allow them plenty of practice and they'll be fine.

Plans for summer school

Learning never ends. Learning takes place all the time, even during the most mundane of tasks. I like to use this to my advantage during the summer when most kids expect to be able to take a break from school.

Yes, I'm relentless in my education of my son. I can't help it. I've always enjoyed learning new things, and I'd like to think that he will too as long as I make it fun and/or rewarding.

I've convinced my son to do a summer reading program of our own making. The libraries around our area each have their summer reading programs, but the prizes are more fun for younger readers. So I told my son I'd get him prizes he would appreciate and enjoy if he agreed to read during the summer. He accepted that challenge.

We are also still doing computer software training (Flash and Photoshop mainly) because Nick really enjoys creating cool animated graphics. It wasn't hard at all to get him to want to continue that education. I use Lynda.com to teach him these programs because it's all videos. He can watch a little, pause the video and practice what he just learned. Each video is usually less than a few minutes, so it works for those with short attention spans. He also does a little of his own research on programs he wants to learn, by looking for tutorials on Youtube. I'm proud to say he came up with that idea on his own.

I also bought K'Nex Education toys to brush up on some physical science fun. My son loves his building toys, so these K'nex Education toys are terrific. They come with a Teacher's Guide CD to give teaching points on the projects involved. I'll try to keep a low profile on the teaching thing and just let him have fun. I know I'll probably squeeze some tidbits of knowledge into these activities somehow, but for the most part, the act of engineering the structures will be the best learning for him.

We will likely take several field trips and just explore what nature has to offer as well. Sometimes something as relaxing as watching the wildlife is an education too.

What does everyone else have in store for their young learners this summer?