Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 18:48     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:


I’m from MA and I feel like the schools do a better job with explicit writing instruction. They still teach grammar and spelling. I’ve been shocked my AAP students here are not that great at writing and don’t seem to know things I would expect students in MA to know by fourth unless they have a special need and struggled with learning writing from kindergarten on. They also still teach a handwriting curriculum with workbooks.

It seems many states are switching to believing that computers will help kids learn spelling and grammar, which makes no sense to me.

Yes I’ve tried teaching my students things I feel like they should learned years ago but then I was told to focus on the pacing guide and a lesson on capitalization was not on there.


I'm so glad to hear this, as we are moving to MA! I was a little bit surprised to hear that Brookline public schools (or was it Newton? I can't remember) have recently adopted Lucy Calkin's Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. I hope the teachers continue to integrate explicit writing instruction.


I was an aide in Brookline in 2015. kindergartners has Handwriting Without Tears workbooks and explicit handwriting. Most of the kids could basically write a paragraph in kindergarten which I know sounds crazy, but Brookline is NICE! I’ve hears Newton is even better but I’ve never worked there. Most schools up there still have spelling tests and spelling bees. Sorry to hear they made the awful decision to incorporate Lucy!! Hopefully that’s mixed with better, more traditional methods. I think your kids will be better off there.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 18:36     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?


I’m from MA and I feel like the schools do a better job with explicit writing instruction. They still teach grammar and spelling. I’ve been shocked my AAP students here are not that great at writing and don’t seem to know things I would expect students in MA to know by fourth unless they have a special need and struggled with learning writing from kindergarten on. They also still teach a handwriting curriculum with workbooks.

It seems many states are switching to believing that computers will help kids learn spelling and grammar, which makes no sense to me.

Yes I’ve tried teaching my students things I feel like they should learned years ago but then I was told to focus on the pacing guide and a lesson on capitalization was not on there.


I'm so glad to hear this, as we are moving to MA! I was a little bit surprised to hear that Brookline public schools (or was it Newton? I can't remember) have recently adopted Lucy Calkin's Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. I hope the teachers continue to integrate explicit writing instruction.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 13:53     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why can't you teach your kids to write?


Oh my God pandemic has shown me I can’t teach my children anything


Exactly. It's fairly shocking to me how cavalier people are, thinking they can just teach their kids everything. I have a graduate degree and got exactly two B+'s during my entire academic career, and yet I have little confidence that I can teach my daughter the fundamentals of core disciplines (math, writing, science, etc.). I can supplement around the edges, but teaching a child to write isn't supplementing around the edges; it's educating my child.

I am not a teacher, and I think it's an insult to teachers to assume that, as a well-educated adult, I can easily replace what a teacher can provide.


It takes intelligence, research, self-training and lots of patience, OP. You likely have these, but perhaps not the inclination!

I have a humble Master’s and my husband has an MD and a PhD.
Guess who the best writing coach is in our family? I got my special needs son to AP level humanities classes. Proud of myself!


Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 13:47     Subject: I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Our private school emphasizes writing early. My 1st grader has had to write short fiction stories, letters, persuasive pieces, non-fiction pieces. They have developed a process for revising and editing that they do by themselves, with peers, and with the teacher. There will of course still have errors and mistakes in their "published" version, but I love that it teaches the process and helps them recognize the elements that are part of different types of writing.

Writing is not learned just by reading. If that was the case, then every graduate student would be an excellent writer. Most lawyers are terrible writers until someone teaches them how to write. Bad writing is my biggest pet peeve in the workplace. Get a tutor or a book on how to write. It will make a difference!
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 13:34     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:Move to the best possible triad in a school district you can afford. For some reason, most parents resist change and wont make that sacrifice. Your kids welfare should come before your own. The top 10 High Schools in Fairfax County are almost as good as private regardless what the gossiping women say. If anybody is sending their kids to private in Northern Virginia you are throwing your money away. It's not necessary and I believe many parents would agree with me.


Honestly, the schools here just need to focus on teaching writing starting in K and they don’t. A first grader with no special needs should be able to write a paragraph. You can be an avid, great reader but that won’t make you good at writing.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 13:32     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
^should have.

Can’t go back to edit, sorry.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 13:29     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:I'm a mom of a reluctant writer. He has an avid reading with an incredible vocabulary. He has hated writing since kindergarten. He's now in middle school. His private school has shied away from "teaching" writing. Teachers assume writing will happen spontaneously.
Reading and writing are different skill sets. Reading or watching is more passive consuming. Just because I enjoy eating doesn't mean I know how to cook! I've heard so many early childhood teachers say, "Love of reading is the most important thing for literacy and writing. Have a lot of books lying around." They mistakenly think teaching mechanics of writing somehow kills creativity.

Writing requires many executive functioning and cognitive skills that might need explicit teaching or support, depending on the students' learning style.
If teachers don't have the time to give individualized instruction or feedback on sentence or paragraph composition, I agree with the value of writing tutors. I also highly recommend Killgallon's Sentence Composing and Paragraph for Middle School, etc. There are different levels for elementary, middle, and high schools.




I’m from MA and I feel like the schools do a better job with explicit writing instruction. They still teach grammar and spelling. I’ve been shocked my AAP students here are not that great at writing and don’t seem to know things I would expect students in MA to know by fourth unless they have a special need and struggled with learning writing from kindergarten on. They also still teach a handwriting curriculum with workbooks.

It seems many states are switching to believing that computers will help kids learn spelling and grammar, which makes no sense to me.

Yes I’ve tried teaching my students things I feel like they should learned years ago but then I was told to focus on the pacing guide and a lesson on capitalization was not on there.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 12:41     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:I was an excellent writer. That, and a liberal arts degree, got me a series of poorly paid jobs in journalism, publishing, editing, and communications. Writing is a skill that certainly can polish a student, but I would not focus on it at the expense of anything else. It’s a difficult skill to quantify, and not one the working world particularly values.[/I

This could describe me too, but I managed to get a series of well paying and interesting jobs as a writer. There’s a certain snob factor to wanting my children to be great writers— not just good— and to developing a taste for good writing, but I agree that it’s not as valued in the wider world as it should be. In fact it is less and less so.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 12:26     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Move to the best possible triad in a school district you can afford. For some reason, most parents resist change and wont make that sacrifice. Your kids welfare should come before your own. The top 10 High Schools in Fairfax County are almost as good as private regardless what the gossiping women say. If anybody is sending their kids to private in Northern Virginia you are throwing your money away. It's not necessary and I believe many parents would agree with me.
Anonymous
Post 05/13/2020 11:12     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why can't you teach your kids to write?


Oh my God pandemic has shown me I can’t teach my children anything


Exactly. It's fairly shocking to me how cavalier people are, thinking they can just teach their kids everything. I have a graduate degree and got exactly two B+'s during my entire academic career, and yet I have little confidence that I can teach my daughter the fundamentals of core disciplines (math, writing, science, etc.). I can supplement around the edges, but teaching a child to write isn't supplementing around the edges; it's educating my child.

I am not a teacher, and I think it's an insult to teachers to assume that, as a well-educated adult, I can easily replace what a teacher can provide.


Actually you can, it just takes time that you likely don’t have. Some people who struggle with writing either have trouble with the mechanics, or don’t have a grasp of logic and can’t use it to assess/critique text, OR they don’t have a strong knowledge in whatever subject they’re writing about and “don’t know what to write.”
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2020 09:13     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Why can't you teach your kids to write?


Oh my God pandemic has shown me I can’t teach my children anything


Exactly. It's fairly shocking to me how cavalier people are, thinking they can just teach their kids everything. I have a graduate degree and got exactly two B+'s during my entire academic career, and yet I have little confidence that I can teach my daughter the fundamentals of core disciplines (math, writing, science, etc.). I can supplement around the edges, but teaching a child to write isn't supplementing around the edges; it's educating my child.

I am not a teacher, and I think it's an insult to teachers to assume that, as a well-educated adult, I can easily replace what a teacher can provide.
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2020 09:11     Subject: I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:Hi, I have twins entering high school this fall. I really want my kids to develop into good writers, and I always hear that schools like NCS and Sitwell do a really good job at rigorous writing/humanities. Is there any way to replicate that in public school? We are in a not so great hs zone and from what I have heard 10 page research papers, etc aren’t a thing there. Any inexpensive writing classes? Online tutoring? Lots of reading? Thanks


Are you sure you can't afford private school? Why not apply for financial aid and see what you get?
Anonymous
Post 05/12/2020 09:09     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Anonymous wrote:Why can't you teach your kids to write?


Oh my God pandemic has shown me I can’t teach my children anything
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2020 13:43     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Move to the best possible triad in a school district you can afford. For some reason, most parents resist change and wont make that sacrifice. Your kids welfare should come before your own. The top 10 High Schools in Fairfax County are almost as good as private regardless what the gossiping women say. If anybody is sending their kids to private in Northern Virginia you are throwing your money away. It's not necessary and I believe many parents would agree with me.
Anonymous
Post 05/11/2020 09:18     Subject: Re:I want my kids to be good writers but we can’t afford private-suggestions for Hs?
Check out Writopia Lab, great little classes that encourage kids to write.