A Blog Worth Visiting

All because of a pin, I stumbled onto Wonder Farm, a website written by homeschooling mom Patricia Zaballos who "loves to write and wants others to love it too." I was immediately wowed by both her writing and content.

The pin was about writing workshop. What's there not to like about writing workshop?! It's an excellent way for students to write the content they want in the format they want for an audience of peers who give personal feedback. She had my attention.

I saw a post describing a method of research using post-it notes. Someday, and hopefully someday soon, I will find a student to test it.

Then I saw her eight-part series: "Becoming a Writing Mentor to Your Child." Now here is a campground where you can pitch your tent awhile. She writes lengthy posts explaining her philosophy on nurturing student writers, including practical tips for application.

Come with me. I'll take you on a quick tour.

In the first post, Zaballos contrasts a teacher and a mentor. During my homeschooling years, my teacher hat has constantly beckoned me. I've had to intentionally resist it and wear my mentor one instead. Which hat do you wear?

In part two, she contrasts two approaches to learning writing: scope and sequence, on one hand, and osmosis in a language-rich environment on the other. This one came easily for me from Day 1 of parenting; bathing my girls in words was one of my favorite parts of their younger years. On which side of the spectrum do you find yourself?

In the third post, Zaballos shares three "gems" she learned from Verlyn Klinkenborg, author of Several Short Sentences about Writing. I had never heard of this book before reading her post, but you can bet I've already placed a hold on it at the library. The gems further illustrate what it looks like to be a writing mentor, especially helpful to those of us who didn't grow up with one.

Typically, homeschooling moms think they must appropriate the "eye for an eye" philosophy when dealing with spelling and grammar. We all had to suffer through pages of spelling lists and grammar exercises, so of course our children should, too, right? Not if you want to mentor your kids. Zaballos shares her views and tips on spelling in the fourth post. Then, in the fifth part of the series, she does the same with grammar.

In part six, Zaballos offers a mother of reluctant writers advice for engaging her kids in the writing process. One of her more intriguing ideas is list-making. Seriously. Did you ever consider building paragraphs (and an essay!) from a list?

We learn in part seven how to offer positive feedback to students' writing because, after all, don't we all thrive more when we see what we're doing right rather than focus on what we're doing wrong? She continues in a similar vein as she wraps up the series with an eighth post.

If you've ever read something and thought, "Man, I wish I had written that!" you know how I feel now. This is good stuff. Really good stuff. Let me know what you think.

Tips for Squashing Your Writer

 

A friend sent me this link with excellent advice for teachers of young writers. (Thanks, Cynthia!) Be encouraged as you set your goals for the new year!

Preparing the Ground

 

...I will never be able to teach anything to anyone as well as they will be able to teach it to themselves if given the opportunity. So maybe that's what the definition of teacher should be: someone who makes learning possible, which often means simply preparing the ground for you to teach yourself" (Mali, What Teachers Make, 88).

Teachers have a real temptation to resist. At least I do. With kids, I like to be on stage, in charge, needed. I want to be the one who asks all of the questions, who already knows the answers, and who initiates the assignments. I like to play school. And I kind of, sort of like to be in control. So the temptation is to insert myself into the hub of the learning circle.

Can you relate?

The problem with the teacher being at the center is that the students aren't, and they are the ones who should be.  We need to purposely get out of the way, staying on the periphery to coach and encourage, and allow students to be their own teachers.

What are some ways to do this at home, to "prepare the ground," particularly when students are in elementary school?

Create a rich learning environment.
Books, instruments, paper, art supplies, maps, dry erase boards, manipulatives, games, craft and sewing supplies, balls, creative toys (i.e. Legos, K'nex, Zome Tools), puzzles...make sure they're available and accessible. Your home may never be featured on the cover of a  magazine, but at least your children will have plenty to keep their minds and hands busy.

View the world as your student's classroom.
Your students don't have to read and write to have a valid learning experience. You can encourage learning by visiting museums, historical re-enactments, concerts, performances, demonstrations, parks, and exhibits. Even a trip to the grocery store or bank can be educational. Be a willing taxi driver, and remember to talk (and listen) to your passengers. The trip is valuable learning time as you enjoy conversation together. Who knows what learning trail will be forged as a result of the trip!

Focus on the process.
Every product may not be all you hoped, but valuable learning occurs throughout the process. Value it; don't short-circuit it, especially if you're glued to an agenda. Realize that mistakes are part of the process, and we all know that mistakes can be our best opportunities for learning.

Visit the library regularly.
Let students explore the library, finding what interests them. If they migrate to the same series every time, nudge them toward something new. Or send them on a scavenger hunt of the library, so they can see the broader collection. Or host a book club, inviting each participant to advertise a favorite book in a particular genre.

Strew.
Out of sight can be out of mind, so pull out a book or a game or a creative toy and place it strategically on the coffee table, on the arm of the couch, on the back of the toilet, somewhere it will be noticed, picked up, and enjoyed.  I used to be a shameless strewer, getting even my husband to read something I purposely littered in the living room. (Okay, maybe it's a bit manipulative, but librarians do it, too, you know.)

Get out of the way.
Remember that your kids aren't you. One of the ways I learned this lesson was in sewing. If I need to sew an article of clothing, I buy a pattern and follow it meticulously. When two of my daughters decide to sew, they envision in their heads what they want and work to unveil the vision.  I can marvel quietly at their skill now, but on their first attempts, admonitions longed to bust out of my mouth: "You can't do that; you need a pattern." I had to muzzle my mouth as I reminded myself that just because I need a pattern doesn't mean they need one. They aren't me!

Make suggestions.
I like to cast my line of suggestions or ideas and see which daughter takes my bait. I must admit, though, it worked tons better when my girls were in elementary school. My ideas don't generate the same level of enthusiasm anymore. (But I can still try. : D)

Allow for stewing.
You can contort yourself in multiple ways to explain a concept, but if the student isn't ready, she'll end up in tears, and you'll be hopelessly tangled. More often than not,  if you leave it and revisit it later, mysterious brain linkages will form, causing the longed-for light bulb to shine. Sometimes all students need is time.

Be a learner.
Whether you're on an errand or an adventure, with a book or a craft project, be open to learning and growing alongside your kids. You may already have your diploma and degree(s), but you've only dipped your toe in the ocean of knowledge. Learning something new will give you empathy when you're tempted to push, and a hobby when you crave control.

What other ways do you "prepare the ground" in your home?

Strengthening the Language Arts Program

 

The goal in teaching language arts is to improve a student's ability to listen, speak, read, and write. Tucked in the fine print are skills which include at least the following:

• Grammar
• Vocabulary
• Spelling

How do you ensure you cover these skills with your students?

One way is to buy a workbook, one for each skill, one for each kid, and assign pages. If they faithfully do a page or two a day in each book, they will likely advance to the next level by the end of the school year.

Advantages:

• Mom and students know exactly what is required each day.

Disadvantages:

• Boring!
• It's easy to get bogged down with the habit of filling in paperwork, forgetting that there is an ultimate goal of learning!
• Nothing is really required of the student, other than perseverance.
• Students don't take pride in their work.
• After all those pages are completed, what then? The books likely end up in the trash.

Maybe I'm biased, but those lists are painfully lopsided.

What is another approach to achieve the same goal?

How about learning the skills in context?

When my girls were little and many of their little friends were filling in their workbook pages, my girls were writing. Writing in portfolders. Writing in blank books. Writing stories. Writing journal entries. Writing. Writing. Writing.

They were also reading. Reading fiction. Reading non-fiction. Listening to me read fiction and non-fiction. Reading. Reading. Reading.

How did they learn spelling, vocabulary, and grammar? They learned these skills through reading and writing. As they read--and heard me read--quality literature, they absorbed new vocabulary, proper grammar, and correct spelling. As they wrote, they applied what they absorbed, refining their understanding on assignments in which they were personally invested. They learned early that writing is a process, that their first draft is rarely their last.

Advantages:

• Students get to think.
• Creativity can leak out in all directions.
• They have final products they can celebrate and share with others.
• They are motivated because they have a goal in view.
• Because they are able to express themselves, they realize they are a vital part of the learning process.
• The teacher can inspire a love of learning.
• Students learn how to learn.
• One assignment can serve a range of ages and abilities.
• Supplies are simple and inexpensive: paper, pencils, and time, although a computer does make revisions easier.

Disadvantages:

• Mom may have to think of or find ideas to spark creativity.
• If students are used to filling in pages, they may initially resist having to think and create.
• If Mom doesn't feel comfortable giving feedback, she may need a writing mentor to help her students.

Again, I may be biased, but I like that list better!

The moms of my girls' little friends feared a couple of things about ditching their workbooks: one was possible gaps; the other was standardized tests.

Through a methodical system, your students may be exposed to every jot and tittle of every skill, but when you isolate the skills from real life learning, do children actually know how to apply them? 

From what I have read and seen firsthand, the answer is usually no.  In my first classroom experience, my eighth graders came to me engorged from a steady diet of grammar instruction the prior year. I was happy because I could feed them something different. We could work on writing, incorporating grammar instruction as needed. What I quickly discovered was that, despite learning from an excellent teacher, not only did the kids still not understand or remember the grammar they had learned from her, they also didn't know how to write. Even in a traditional classroom setting, these kids had huge gaps.

And testing? At least in our case, my girls have always tested very high in language arts. Through consistent drafting, revising, and editing, they learned the nuts and bolts of the English language and were able to choose the best answer on the test most of the time.

I know writing is on the top or toward the top of most homeschooling moms' I'm-not-sure-I-can-do-that-well list. If that describes you, you're the one who is inspiring me to build this site post by post. I want to give you concrete writing ideas, tips, and resources to ensure you're covering the whole language arts package.

If you need a few workbooks for security, it's okay, but I encourage you to step out and give real reading and writing a whirl. Because it's fun, you may fear you're missing something, but let me assure you: you're nurturing thinkers, students who can confidently listen, speak, read, and write. With those tools, think of what your kids can accomplish!

Is Boring Good?

Over the weekend, I found 6 + 1 Traits of Writing by Ruth Culham at the thrift shop.  For $2.50, I couldn't let it stay on the shelf.  This paragraph from Culham rang true for me.

When I was in school, the papers that got the highest grades held the reader at a safe arm's length.  They tended to pontificate.  I remember being told never to express  a personal opinion unless asked. And never use 'I,' which was always tough to figure out: Who else did the reader think was writing the piece if not 'I,' after all?  My assigned readings, however, were passionate, opinionated, stylistic, and fascinating. But when it came to my own writing, on went the straitjacket, and I wound up pumping out stuff that was stilted, cold, and distant.  It was boring--but it always got high marks.  Unfortunately, this tradition is still alive in many of the classrooms I visit. And more than likely, something that's boring to read was boring to write.  It will be nearly impossible to get students engaged in writing if all the excitement's been drained out of it (103).

Why is it that students are so often shoehorned into five-paragraph, formal, voiceless writing?

It's easy to teach a formula.  It's easy to grade a formula. It's easy to keep control of the process when you have a classroom of kids.

The question: why?

The answer: easy.

The result: boring!

It happened to me as a student. The result was that I thought I had to use big words and sound like something I wasn't. Stilted, cold, and distant didn't describe me as a person, but they certainly described my writing. Sadly, the habit went deep; I still fight to get out of the ditch I thought was mine.

I want to give my students something far better. I want them to be free to experiment, to create, to be themselves. I don't want to jam them into a specific style, draining the excitement out of writing; I want them to discover that they have something to say, and they can say it well with their own voice. They can be the ones writing passionate, opinionated, stylistic, and fascinating pieces.

What can we do to make writing more exciting for our students?

• Let them choose their own topics.
• Don't lock them into one format (i.e. the five-paragraph essay). Allow them to experiment with different genres.
• Give them a reason for writing that goes beyond the teacher and a grade, offering assignments and projects that captivate their attention.
• Integrate writing into everything they do rather than relegating it to worksheets.
• Remember that writing is a process. Editing is one part of the process; it's not the focus. It's important for published pieces to be correctly spelled, capitalized, and punctuated, but if mechanics are the primary focus during the process, a student can end up with a correct, but lifeless, paper. (That described my writing, too.)
• Look at writing you enjoy. Do any of the pieces follow the five-paragraph format?  Does every paragraph have a topic sentence?  Does every sentence have a subject and a verb? Likely not. Invite your students to look at writing they enjoy, observing it closely and imitating it.

It is true that you invite risk when you walk away from formulaic writing assignments, but you also welcome creativity, thinking, and passion. Instead of reading a predictable piece that you will soon forget, you will likely read one that comes from the heart, leaving a mark on yours.

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What Is Mentoring Anyway?

At times and with some pieces, it is best for students to write, admire their work, maybe share it with a parent or a friend, and move to the next one.  Not every piece needs to be polished. But more often, their initial work needs to be revised and refined to move it from good to excellent. This can be a challenge if students aren't accustomed to reworking their drafts or receiving input. Or it may be that they are ready to revise, but their parents don't know how to help them make their papers better.


Writing improves with revision.  Don't believe me?  Look at what these published authors say about it.

Interviewer: How much rewriting do you do?
Hemingway: It depends. I rewrote the ending of Farewell to Arms, the last page of it, 39 times before I was satisfied.
Interviewer: Was there some technical problem there? What was it that had stumped you?
Hemingway: Getting the words right.    

(Ernest Hemingway, "The Art of Fiction," The Paris Review Interview, 1956)

***** 

The main thing I try to do is write as clearly as I can. I rewrite a good deal to make it clear.     

    (E.B. White, The New York Times, August 3, 1942)

*****

I have rewritten--often several times--every word I have ever published. My pencils outlast their erasers.

(Vladimir Nabokov, Speak, Memory, Random House, 1966)

In my classes, the students who have grown as writers are the ones who have held their first and second, sometimes even their third drafts, loosely, being willing to cross out, move, reword, and rethink their pieces. To grow in this skill, it helps to have a reader who will ask questions, make suggestions, and give feedback.

That's where I can help. I've done this for many students, helping them tweak and transform their papers until they have a product they can proudly share.  If you want to see how the process looks, I've included excerpts of a student's first and second draft here.   

Don't Give Up

from March 2008

Have you ever noticed that twisting sensation when your brain bumps into something new? I have. My body tenses; my eyes squinch; my brain begins its contortions. Sometimes I hear a voice say, "You can't." At other times, I hear one calling, "Keep trying."

Learning can hurt.

I've put in my years in the classroom, so I suppose I could coast now as I require my children to take up the mantle of learning. But why give up now? Don't I have all eternity to discover my infinite God and explore the Home He has prepared for His children?

Ah, yes, I must press on.

I've already mentioned the math class I'm taking. I worked ahead of the others, so the leader suggested working on Sudoku puzzles. "Ugh," was my first thought. Since we have a little book of the puzzles, I decided to give them a shot. The first two fit together magically. I don't know what happened with the third puzzle, but the magic was definitely missing. Do you know what happens when you make it through almost an entire puzzle, only to discover you have two 4's in a row with no remedy other than to erase the 4 you especially like? My brain does those twisty things and my poor eyes, which keep lobbying for bifocals, strain. No one stands over me insisting that I master Sudoku, but I can't quit. I want to figure out the proper homes for those annoying little numbers.

Today I took the girls to drawing class. I can't draw--or so I've insisted for most of my life. The teacher thinks otherwise. To help me jump the "I can't" hurdle, she told me to sit down and join the class today. Suddenly, the familiar symptoms returned. I wanted to quit. Then I looked around the table at the children doing their work with confidence, none of them older than twelve. I knew I had to persevere--at least for the hour. Besides, some of them know me as a teacher. Can a teacher declare, "I can't"?

Somehow along the way, maybe I am developing a bit of sympathy for my own children. I have one who turns angry at the sight of difficulty. Another lets the tears flow. The third would rather play. I correct. I encourage. My desire is that they find ways to deal with the pain of learning when it appears but not with their natural responses. When it's tempting to quit, we can learn a better way--the way of prayer, patience, and perseverance. And humility. Our inability points to the ability of Another Who is faithful to refine and help us.

Toward the end of drawing class today, I silently schemed to set my drawing aside and quit. Who would know or care? Then out of the mouth of the ten-year-old babe next to me came the words: "Don't give up."

Those words ring in my ears and urge me to press on.

Out of the Maze

 

 from June 2008

Almost daily I read what other moms and teachers write on the Living Math Forum, a Yahoo group I enjoy. The following quote snagged my attention.

"Sometimes I laugh to myself because my undergrad friends would say, 'You are SO smart.' Really, I was pretty dumb. I was like a rat in a maze--just do what you're taught, don't even think."

I was--am?--one of those rats in the maze. I learned the material presented to me for the sole purpose of earning an A (and all the benefits which accompanied it). Once I accomplished that, I turned the corner, sniffing around for my next one. Somehow I missed the reality outside the maze. My husband, who is one of the clearest thinkers I know, couldn't be bothered with a silly, old maze. He didn't play by the rules, as his GPAs reflected, but he knew how to think, and he knew how to communicate his thoughts.

In the early days of my teaching career, I began a quest to learn how to teach outside the maze, to keep students from mindlessly meandering through the maze. My insights are shallow, my implementation is imperfect, and my learning is ongoing, but here is what has helped our family thus far.

~We keep W. B. Yeats' wise words before us: "Education is not the filling of a pail but the lighting of a fire."

~We avoid workbooks and other rote memorization methods which can program a child to turn off her mind as she fills in the blanks.

~We fill the house with living books of all kinds to encourage reading. We avoid fluffy books which lack content, have a a controlled vocabulary, or include poor writing.

~We visit the library regularly.

~Writing for real purposes is vitally important. We have a large collection of the girls' own books, portfolders, and projects.

~We try to give the girls many and varied experiences to help them connect their learning to the world.

~We encourage creativity and decision-making.

~We try to teach skills in context rather than isolating them.

~We encourage the girls to set their own goals. We are here to help them learn in whatever ways we can, but their education is ultimately their responsibility.

~As they play, the girls re-enact what they've learned.

~The girls don't work for grades; they work for excellence.

~We talk together a lot.

~Our girls observe our continuing desire to learn.

~We teach them how to learn, so they may continue to do so when they're no longer at home.

Marilyn Burns says in Math: Facing an American Phobia: "And to learn with understanding, students' curiosity about mathematics must be tapped, their thinking must be stimulated, and they have to be actively engaged in learning and doing mathematics. It's not okay to do anything less than that and call it education" (79). Burns is primarily focused on math, but the principle can be extended beyond math. Curiosity, stimulation, and active engagement are the breeding grounds for students to grow as thinkers, not in a contrived maze but in a big world where learning has no end. 

Chester Cricket on School vs. Education

from June 2009

So by Thursday Chester Cricket was the most famous musician in New York City. But now here is a strange thing: he wasn't really happy--not the way he used to be. Life didn't seem to have the fun and freedom it had had before.

For one thing, although he thought that glory was very nice, Chester found that it made you tired. Two concerts a day, every day, was an exhausting program. And he wasn't used to playing on schedule. Back home in the meadow, if the sun felt nice, or the moon was full, or if he wanted to have a musical conversation with his friend the lark, he would chirp because the mood was on him. But here he had to begin performing at eight and four-thirty whether he felt like it or not. Of course he was very glad to be helping the Bellinis, but a lot of the joy was gone from his playing.

In this excerpt from The Cricket in Times Square, I see a metaphor for something I think about often: school vs. education. Chester's concert schedule in the city reminds me of school. It's tiring, scheduled, restrictive, rigid. School demands 180 days, specific subjects, standardized tests, daily logs, medical records, and, and, and.

Education, in contrast, is a meadow of fun and freedom. It doesn't care whether it's fall or summer, Sunday or Tuesday, 10:30 am or 10:30 pm. It can happen whenever and wherever, alone or with company. It needs no curriculum or grades. Motivation comes from within not from without.

School can teach us these lessons.

1. Do the bare minimum.
2. Learning means pleasing the authority figure.
3. Learning, schooling, and studying are no fun.
4. Playing is when you don't have to learn.
5. To be a good student I have to study somebody else's interests.
6. My own interests must be pursued on my own time, and they aren't as valuable as the "accepted" topics of study.
7. If nobody is making me study, I'd rather be entertained than learn.

Education gives us different lessons.

1. There is so much to learn and it is so exciting.
2. Learning is more fun than almost anything.
3. I can learn on my own, in a group, or with help from a teacher or parent.
4. All I need is a book and I can learn.
5. In fact, I can learn even without a book.
6. I love learning!
7. I am passionately interested in.....
8. If I do more than is assigned, I'll learn more and have more fun. The assignments are just minimums.
9. My thoughts and ideas are as valuable as anybody else's. 

School is not inherently confined to buildings with whiteboards and desks (although it does exist aplenty there). Similarly, education doesn't automatically flourish in a home with a mother and her children. Some classrooms encourage education; some homes dispense school; some have a combination of each.

In my ideal world, our home would be a meadow of inquisitiveness, exploration, and excellence. By God's grace, it is much of the time, but always ready to encroach on our fun and freedom is the yoke of school. I know it has us in its grip when I hear (or say) comments such as:

Does this count?
Was that a full day?
How many weeks of school have we finished?
You counted THAT?
You need to do your math first.
Can I go play now?

It's then that I ponder the school/education tension so intently that I find myself identifying with a cricket.

We are taking a brief break from school (oh, there it is again!), but I am so glad education continues. I've captured some of those moments on the camera.

Rebekah making gravel cakes for a doll she's sewing.

Janessa drawing and painting on the computer.

Rebekah dying socks in tea for the doll she is making

Michaiah laying out the pieces for a quilt she designed

The girls dancing the "Cha Cha Slide"

Janessa in bed knitting while listening to The Hiding Place

Michaiah reading

Rebekah playing piano, with her makeshift microphone next to her

I'm fully aware that tension will remain for me. Realistically, the pull toward school will only increase as we march toward the high school years. But as much as possible, I want to encourage the girls toward the meadow, where they can enjoy musical conversations and chirp as they so please.

The numbered lists are taken from A Thomas Jefferson Education: Teaching a Generation of Leaders for the Twenty-First Century by Oliver Van DeMille.

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