The Wordsmith series
Wordsmith, by Janie B. Cheaney
Common Sense Press
PO Box 1365
8786 Highway 21
Melrose, FL 32666
(352)475-5757
FAX (352) 475-6105
Wordsmith is a three-book writing series designed for home schoolers. Wordsmith Apprentice is for grades 4-6; Wordsmith, for grades 7-9; and Wordsmith Craftsman, for grades 10 and up.
Content
Wordsmith Apprentice
In this self-directed curriculum for grades 4-6, students are given
newspaper-writing assignments to develop sentence structure, complex sentence
structure, paragraph organization, and finally composition organization.
The author suggests that you continue to use a regular grammar program
while you’re using Wordsmith Apprentice, since grammar is not a part of
the curriculum; you’ll also need a child’s thesaurus (she suggests A
First Thesaurus, by Harriet Wittels and Joan Greisman) and several
newspapers. Each topic is accompanied by a set of exercises, but
the author instructs you to do the exercises more than once (choosing different
topics) if the student doesn’t grasp the skill immediately.
Wordsmith Apprentice begins with a cartoon introducing the student to the editor of the imaginary newspaper, explains the newspaper’s sections, and then begins with the most basic writing skill – making lists of single words (by filling out an application for employment at the newspaper). The program then reviews parts of speech, covers choice of specific nouns and vivid verbs, and gives the student practice in writing different kinds of sentences. It also walks the student through a number of simple writing projects: a short poem, a classified ad, headlines (this is an exercise in summarizing content), etc.
Part II concentrates on modifier use through the writing of more
newspaper reports (society report, advertisements, travel pieces).
Both Parts I and II require only short amounts of writing – filling in
words and writing single sentences. Part III begins with exercises
in finding topic sentences in paragraphs, finding sentences that are out
of place in paragraphs, writing paragraphs that describe activities such
as making a bed (in order to develop the skill of listing things in the
proper order, writing synopses, writing reports (answering the questions
“Who, What, When, Where, Why, and How”), and taking notes. It concludes
with practice in writing essays in the following form:
1. The Hook
2. Statement of the problem.
a. Supporting fact
b. Supporting fact
c. Supporting fact (no more than three)
3. Statement of the solution
4. Concluding thought
Wordsmith: A Creative Writing Course for Young People
Wordsmith: A Creative Writing Course for Young People, the next
volume of the series, is recommended for grades 7-9. I don’t suggest
“forcing” students who aren’t naturally creative to do creative writing,
but Wordsmith isn’t actually a “creative writing” course as such;
it doesn’t require students to produce stories and poems. The focus
of the course is instead on language use; like the first volume, Wordsmith
begins with single word use, progresses to sentence writing, and concludes
with paragraph and full composition organization. Part I begins with
exercises on choosing concrete rather than general verb and nouns, and
then progresses on to exercises in modifier and prepositional phrase use.
None of these introductory exercises require a great deal of writing (single
sentences, in most cases). Part II asks the student to evaluate sentences
for variety, and suggests a number of different ways to write stronger
sentences: for example, eliminating the “There is” beginning, when to use
active and passive verbs, combining sentences with relative clauses and
participial phrases, etc. The exercises are, again, primarily
single sentences; towards the end of Part II, the student also has to rewrite
several paragraphs.
Part III begins with exercises in using descriptive language (reflecting all five senses) and figures of speech. These single-sentence exercises are followed by more complex assignments: writing paragraphs that describe places and people (this teaches organization in the presentation of detail), writing down a sequence of events in order, writing dialogue, using point of view, and then combining all of these into the writing of a story. All of these exercises can be done imaginatively, but the events, dialogue, etc. can also be based on real events.
Wordsmith Craftsman
This final book in the series, designed for grades 10-12, covers paragraph
structure, style, and basic writing forms (letters, summaries, and essays).
The first section is devoted to “practical” writing – taking notes on both
reading and on spoken lectures (this section is EXCELLENT!), making lists,
and writing a variety of letters, including letters to prospective employers.
Part I also contains instructions on how to write summaries and business
reports.
Part II covers language use; it begins by explaining what a topic sentence is and what a paragraph is, and gives the student exercises in identifying topic sentences and in finding sentences that are out of place in several sample paragraphs. The book then explains eight ways of organizing paragraphs (by chronology, locality, induction, deduction, definition/classification, comparison, exploration, or cause and effect) and requires the student to write one paragraph of each type. After a review of language use principles (colorful nouns and verbs, active vs. passive verbs, show-don’t-tell, etc.), Craftsman goes on to a brief section on style, covering matters such as parallel construction, repetition, smooth transitions, and word choice. (Incidentally, Craftsman does something I’ve never seen in a writing curriculum – it diagrams sentences to demonstrate the value of parallel constructions! I’m probably overly impressed with this because I do it myself in my seminars.)
The last section of the book covers basic essay structure and the proper wording of thesis statements. It then assigns exercises in writing four different kinds of essays: descriptive, narrative, expository, and persuasive. For each type of essay, Craftsman offers the student a checklist of questions for self-evaluation. For example, the persuasive essay checklist reads in part, “Are you sure all terms will be understood as you mean them to be understood? Is your position stated promptly and clearly? Do you make any assumptions that your readers may not share?” The book closes with an appendix of logical fallacies.
Evaluation
I like this program very much; it covers all the basics of good writing. It would be particularly good for writing-phobic students, because each section requires so little writing at the start; the student does many, many simple, short exercises before moving on to write sentences and paragraphs. The program also progresses (more or less) through the grammar-logic-rhetoric pattern, although I wish that the middle book of the series (Wordsmith) included a little more practice in nonfiction, expository writing; all of this work is instead confined to Wordsmith Craftsman. The first book’s frame (the student is a newspaper reporter) provides an interesting, engaging “reason” for doing the exercises. I particularly like the way that the Wordsmith series returns several times to the basic principles of good style (word choice, sentence construction, etc.) in order to reinforce and review. The third book’s presentation of different essay types and of paragraph organization is excellent – one of the best summaries of the subject that I’ve seen. Also, Wordsmith teaches many of the forms (summaries, outlines, etc.) that we recommend using in history, literature, and science writing.
Wordsmith’s strength is also its weakness. Although it won’t scare students, it doesn’t provide enough writing, especially of sentences and paragraphs, to prepare students for full-length essays. The student spends so much time doing very brief exercises in the first two books that he might well be overwhelmed by the longer assignments in the third. Overall, the program seems to move too slowly. If I were using Wordsmith (and I plan to take my two oldest boys through the first book this summer; I think they’ll enjoy the newspaper scenario), I would progress through it more quickly and combine it with Writing Strands or IEW to overcome the series’ greatest drawback – there’s simply not enough practice. Combining Wordsmith Craftsman with the upper levels of Writing Strands will provide high school students with particularly strong training in expository and persuasive writing.
Possible combinations:
I would not begin Wordsmith Apprentice before fourth grade; in third grade, choose Writing Strands 2, the writing exercises in Rod & Staff, or IEW as a writing curriculum. Having done that, I would follow one of these patterns:
Combination 1:
Grades 4-5 Wordsmith Apprentice
(This assumes that you repeat a number of the exercises)
Grade 6 Wordsmith
Grades 7-8 Wordsmith Craftsman
(Ditto above)
Grade 9 Writing Strands 6 and 7
Grade 10 Writing Strands: Exposition
(You would then continue on with the resources we recommend for rhetoric.)
Combination 2:
Grade 4 Wordsmith Apprentice
Grade 5 Writing Strands 4-5
(you’ll find that some of the material has already been covered)
Grade 6 Wordsmith
Grade 7 Writing Strands 6 and 7
(Ditto above)
Grades 8-9 Wordsmith Craftsman
Grade 10 Writing Strands: Exposition
(You would then continue on with the resources we recommend for rhetoric.)
Combination 3 [The Total Package]:
Grade 4 IEW
Grade 5 Wordsmith Apprentice
Grade 6 IEW
Grade 7 Wordsmith
Grade 8 IEW
Grade 9 Wordsmith Craftsman
Grades 10-11 Writing Strands 6 and 7, followed by
Writing Strands: Exposition
(You would probably finish this in the middle of the eleventh
grade year)
Grades 11-12 IEW
to the Well-Trained Mind Newsletter
page
from Peace Hill Farm
18101 The Glebe Lane
Charles City, VA 23030