I have this sinking feeling that my middle school son won’t be adequately trained as a writer. In his school one language arts teacher has over 100 students. I don’t remember seeing much writing feedbacks since kindergarten. Most teachers are graduates of directional state schools. Both parents are of little help as English is our second language.
I think a good writer has lots of ideas, able to organize their thoughts properly, and write them out concisely. Maybe only the “write out” part is more trainable thus of interest to me. I’m willing to invest to have a better writer early rather than to pay for an essay polisher in 12th grade which is sort of cheating on the kid.
Insights to share, secrets to reveal, or leads to point to?
I have a dream that when time comes my kid can walk in, pick a random topic, and write out a nice piece.
You’re not alone in worrying about the level of writing taught in public schools in the US. If you notice, most colleges have a required writing course for freshmen. That’s not a coincidence!
That being said, the best thing you can do is to keep writing fun, IMO. Then work on the fundamentals as your child learns to rewrite. Maybe add fun writing courses such as poetry and creative writing during the summer months. It took me years to figure out how important poetry- and fiction-writing techniques were for non-fiction writing. To get what I mean, ask yourself: do you want someone to actually read your non-fiction? Or would you prefer that you slave away on your dry-as-dust essay just to watch people toss it aside? Well fiction techniques and poetry can help you grab and keep your reader. They help you get deep into meaning and help with language use. They help you intrigue and propel your reader along. Sadly in today’s English classes, partly because of the redirection of Common Core, non-fiction takes precedence. Many people think that there’s no real technique underlying fiction or poetry, which just shows the general ignorance. It’s worth saying again: the most talented non-fiction writers use poetry and fiction techniques. Fortunately this is something that kids find fun and which will help them become effective non-fiction writers.
The most important thing to becoming a good writer is to become a good reader. Especially a good reader of good writing. Some people claim that good writing is good writing no matter the genre, and to an extent I think they’re probably right. It helps to read in your chosen field though.
The actual process of writing is also quite important, so make sure your son knows the steps. They are, roughly: 1. Brainstorm; 2. Outline; 3. Write a draft; 4. Edit. Writers block is usually caused by trying to mix steps. Another trap most students fall into is skipping the editing stage, which is why amateur writing is often so convoluted.
I want to clarify one thing I wrote in OP. In case language arts teachers read this, I didn’t mean directional schools are all bad. There must be excellent teachers came out of there. Elite schools don’t make good writers, they are good before they get there, me think.
That’s the essence. I couldn’t find a better word for it, so l said “nice piece”.
Until certain age, which often comes to girls around 12 boys around 14, but at younger or older age depends on each student, the best way to learn writing is keep reading for enjoyment. When the age comes, they will suddenly be able to write, as if a switch is turned on.
Attempt for structural writing instruction before executive function is mature enough only generates pain, resentment and bad writing habit.
That’s how I was advised when my D was younger and couldn’t write, and that’s how I found it to be so true when she turned 12.5 yo.
When D started school (early 2nd grade) “Writing to Read” was the “new” program. The premise was that writing without constraints would lead to better outcomes in both reading and writing.
I was never sold on the program. My D couldn’t spell, wasn’t really learning grammar. No one corrected her. Ever.
She thought whatever she put on the paper was fine. Didn’t matter that it was difficult to understand what she had written so she wasn’t communicating effectively. (and Mom’s opinion did not count whatsoever).
She did write a LOT and very creative.
But,
She did turn into a great writer at the end after getting an “old school” teacher in HS that demanded perfection in grammar and writing. It was a STOP, DO NOT PASS GO moment for D.
D was never afraid to put things down on a page which was part of the initial program. She had learned to love writing . And FINALLY ran into a teacher in HIGH SCHOOL who demanded she learn to make her writings more effective.
An unbelievable learning curve for D. In the space of that year all the grammar, rules and spelling appeared. Write, rewrite, do it again.
“You have something to say so tell the story effectively.”
“All those rules are there for you. Don’t let errors be a distraction to the story you want to tell.”
And D’s writing is incredible.
But–that was serendipity that she ran into that particular teacher (who everyone else disliked because she was “too hard”. And D loved story so it was a goal.
Call it a perfect storm.
So–my final assessment is that while the love of writing probably was truly fostered in a huge way by not constraining writing by “rules”, it is equally important after the “love” has been formed to come back with the “rules” that make writing effective.
I don’t think Writing to Read was all bad. You just have to put in the grammar piece sooner or later. It should have happened long before high school. The best writing teacher my kids had was the 9th grade English teacher who made them revise papers until they were A papers. I think my kid got a D on the first draft of the first one. Both my kids wrote pretty well, mostly due to their love of reading. They know instinctively what good writing sounds like.
In addition to all the advice here, I’d say have your kid read what they have written out loud. It’s usually pretty clear if it makes sense and flows smoothly.
I always thought the hardest part of writing was first paragraphs and conclusions.
"The most important thing to becoming a good writer is to become a good reader. " - it was not the way it happen to my D. She actually stopped reading during HS, except for the school English class. Her Reading scores were predictably the lowest on ALL standardized test, while her writing / English scores were the highest. I believe that she actually started reading better only in medical school out of pure necessity. She has been always a superior writer, awards in HS, everybody constantly praising her writing. Due to time constraints, she trained herself to write her papers in her head and then type them very quickly, an awesome and valuable skill to have in higher education.
To tell you how big discrepancy was between her Reading skills and Writing skills, her ACT Reading score was 28 while English score was 35.
Anyway, I believe there is no general rule here. There is different path for everybody. My D. basically stopped reading at certain age because it became boring for her. However, she always loved to write, she was putting books together when she was 6 or so. From her experience, it looks to me that the one who loves to write and who writes a lot, become a very good writer and the one who enjoys reading, become a very good reader. I do not see much connection here. But again, it was only one person’s path, and the next has it all different.
The single biggest thing one can do to be a good writer is to read. Everything - newspaper, novels, poetry, short stories, magazines. I am the daughter of a writer and married to a writer and a pretty good one myself when I need to be. Almost every successful writer we know states the he or she was a voracious reader from toddlerhood.
Certainly people can learn to write expository essays effectively. And most people have to learn some rules of grammar or punctuation (I read so much that I just learned them intuitively.). But to be a creative writer of fiction or non fiction, to be an excellent writer, you need to read.
If OP is concerned about essay writing, have your student read essays, a variety of them, daily. Op Ed pieces, columns, well written blogs, collections etc. It will help him or her to learn about voice, structure, pacing etc.
Reading is vital to good writing. Your son will need to read a wide variety of literature, not just the books that are popular among many tweens and teens. There is some outstanding fiction on subjects that are interesting to many young people. My son loved the Temeraire series by Naomi Novik (really rich use of language). For clarity of thought, read anything by CS Lewis. The Horatio Hornblower series is also excellent and will challenge him to expand his vocabulary. Even the Harry Potter series will surreptitiously teach him a little Latin, which will help with the vocab on the SAT.
As far as courses go, when he gets to high school, he should take AP US History–this is one of the best critical writing courses around, assuming he has a teacher who knows what to do with the material. I also recommend AP English Language, which is essentially a rhetoric course. AP English Literature will require him to read some of the great works of literature, which every high school student in the US should read anyway.
Often, the best reading is not works of literature, but other student essays, so you can see how ridiculous certain faults in someone’s writing really look. It helps to avoid making such mistakes yourself in the future.
I think the OP has impressive writing skills, even more so if English is not their first language. OP-I would also recommmend an extra curricular creative writing class. I think it’s important for kids to be exposed to something other than public school curriculum. A different teaching method, different rules, new ways to come at writing might help your child to grow as a writer.
For my children, definitely the more they read, the better writers they became…They go to an extremely average (tri state area) public school but have all excelled at reading and writing. When they were little, they loved reading historical fiction then later, fantasy. They did not begin great literature until middle school. The rigorous writing courses didn’t really begin until Pre Ap English in 9th grade. For us, being readers seemed to correlate with being writers, Just my two cents
