Does anybody else hate teaching writing? I've been homeschooling

[MJN]

for 13.5 years and I still dislike teaching it. I've never found *the* program that was so exciting that the children WANTED to do writing. If it's out there, PLEASE tell me! Urrgh!!

OK, vent over! :eek: Returning to the schedule for the day!

Molly

[DB in NJ]

Year 11 here, and I still hate teaching it too. If I could just transmit MY thoughts to THEIR brains and then transfer that onto paper, we'd be good to go! LOL

I can't stand how long and tedious and drawn out the process becomes! UGH! And the different types of paragraphs/essays to teach -- process analysis, compare/contrast, persuasive, narrative, blah, blah, blah.

I wish they could just KNOW it -- kinda like how I didn't have to teach them how to walk. They just figured it out on their ownsome! ;)

[Janie]

I dislike teaching writing also and somehow my kids turned out okay in that area.

I was never taught to write (compose) anything and learned the most in a graduate course on writing that I took. It essentially followed D'Angelo's book.

One huge help that I've found now that I'm teaching in a traditional school is to use a rubric, not only for grading papers but for the students to follow. There are plenty of rubrics online, some better than others, just for taking a little time. Eventually you can design your own to cover exactly what you have taught and want the student to do.

The thing I really dislike is grading all those essays. Even with a rubric, it is a cumbersome and long task.

[Karen in CO]

I am either too critical or not critical enough. As my son progressed in his writing I found that I couldn't grade it for him. I would just read his essays and say, "wow. that is great." That is not helpful. I had to outsource his high school writing.

[Meliss]

My head is threatening to explode after trying to work with my ~ 12 yr. old on writing today. I learned to write more by just doing it in college. I don't recall much instruction from my school days. I have struggled so much in trying to teach my oldest that it often goes by the wayside. It is difficult to discipline myself to teach a subject when my knowledge is "just do it" and when I meet resistance.

Following the holidays, I have started trying to implement Classical Composition with my kids. We have been working on the exercise of retelling the fable in reverse. I tried to explain it and have my kids write, but what they wrote fell flat. Today I am walking each one through the thought process step-by-step, but my oldest just gets frustrated when it is not easy and resists, resists, resists.

I'm agree with DB: "If I could just transmit MY thoughts to THEIR brains and then transfer that onto paper, we'd be good to go! LOL"

[Patty Joanna]

I gave up. I farmed it out to a progymnasmata teacher in town. Big great fabulous decision on my part.

Please know this: I *taught* writing at the high school and college level. I am completely competent at this subject. It is not my fault.

Another part of the decision was that my dh and I decided that peer interaction would be a very good benefit to this child who thinks of a pencil as a torture device. Perhaps, we thought, if he saw that other kids write whole pages, quickly, but lo, strange wonder, they do not die, nor do they take 3 hours to write three sentences, it would be enhance his understanding of the world and the writing process in general.

A very good decision on our part.

[WTMindy]

You crack me up, Patty J!!

[Amy in Orlando]

WOW - I'm so glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. I was never really taught to write, though I did have some great instruction from my senior history teacher in high school. My oldest son is a "natural" writer. The other three? :eek: This year I've started using IEW and we've had the most success we've ever had. My 8th graders are FINALLY getting it. It's not perfect, but the videos and the checklists have helped me to not be overly critical and have given the boys some concrete requirements.

[Peek a Boo]

One huge help that I've found now that I'm teaching in a traditional school is to use a rubric, not only for grading papers but for the students to follow. There are plenty of rubrics online, some better than others, just for taking a little time. Eventually you can design your own to cover exactly what you have taught and want the student to do.

The thing I really dislike is grading all those essays. Even with a rubric, it is a cumbersome and long task.



I have loved using WriteShop just for this reason --I really like their checklists for each lesson --for teacher AND student. They tell you how many points to assign for every little thing --totally takes the guesswork out of it and makes it less subjective.

I actually *like* teaching writing, but we needed something that showed him there was more than just "what mom says" in the process, lol.

The TM has a TON of samples that have been edited, so you can see lots of ways to edit, add comments, and offer suggestions. I agree that it does take a lot of time to grade it --they warn that you may very well read the same paper about 20 times before you're done grading/editing. But I really like the focus. It is also very incremental --they spend a couple weeks doing a simple [but GOOD!] 5 sentence paragraph [brainstorming, slopy copy, first draft, final draft] and several days worth of skillbuilding exercises.

I'm still finding new stuff as I read thru the TM --there is a ton of info in there!!

You can see samples of the TM and student wkbk online at WriteShop.com

good luck!

[Patty Joanna]

Janie, when I taught high school, I graded so many bits of writing--for five classes, each with 30 students, each week (bar the first and the last and finals weeks--so say, 30 weeks a year), an outline, a rough draft, a thesis statement, a final draft, all with overnight turn-arounds--it burned me out flat. I figured that I had graded 10,000 pieces of cra...uh, creativity in 5 years. It was unbelievable, the sheer volume. Now, tell me please, how does one provide much QUALITY feedback in that milieu?

Homeschoolers, don't worry so much. If you get a paper done every two weeks with quality feedback, you are WAY ahead of what most kids are getting in high schools. (And I was, by the way, the most consciencious in the department...and also the one with the most increased eyeglass prescription...)

[ThelmaLou]

I was an English major and I find writing one of the most time consuming things to teach. My kids are fairly independent with most of their subjects, but there's just no substitute for the painstaking task of sitting side by side with them and revising (over and over) until a paper is ready for final submission. I also teach writing to a group of five 6th-7th graders at our co-op. Grading papers, even with a rubric, is no small task. Not because of the kids' abilities. I just think that subject requires more instruction and feedback than any other. The nice thing about teaching at the co-op is that my oldest son is in my class. This forces me to stay on track with his writing. If I wasn't teaching, I'd probably be slacking off in that area. Accoutability is inconvenient but oh, so necessary!

[Lady Katherine]

... I am a writer myself, and really thought I would enjoy teaching writing. AND I am a musician and thought I would enjoy teaching music. But these were the two subjects that I neglected the most.

[8FillTheHeart]

I don't mind teaching writing. What I detest more than anything about homeschooling is grading. I can't stand to finish a long day of teaching, knowing all the "life" stuff I have to do, and have a pile of work I have to grade. :o I wish I had an assistant to do all the grading. (I would rather clean bathrooms than grade papers!!)