When I first started homeschooling, I spent days scouring the Internet for ideas on teaching writing, and whoa, was I hit with barrages of information. It was overwhelming for sure, but I managed to weed out some good ideas. The frustrating part was that most of what I found was just that—concepts, with little to no guidance in how to apply them at home with my children. Consequently, I spent many hours working out how to make those big ideas come to life in our homeschool. Focused reading is one technique I refined to teach my children the three Rs of great writers. My goal then is to share insights into the process of focused reading so that you might find it useful in your homeschool too. Despite its name, focused reading is not a “learn how to read” program. It’s a “learn how to write” tool. The idea behind focused reading is to use mini-lessons to teach kids to read like good writers do, to see techniques writers use and learn to use those techniques in their own writing. There are essentially three steps to focused reading: 1. Choose and gather 2. Read and see 3. Practice Choose and Gather This step is the foundation of focused reading. Choose a skill to teach and gather examples of that skill in use. Over the course of the year I generally teach aspects of word choice, sentence and organization style, and punctuation. However, the skills I choose are more specific. Under the category of word choice, I might focus on strong verbs for one lesson and interesting adjectives in another. I then gather two or three brief examples of that skill in use. Model pieces are three or fewer paragraphs for prose and forty lines or fewer for poetry. Although I include examples from professional authors, it is important to show them pieces from other children because it helps them see that the concept is not over their heads, that it is possible for a young person like themselves to also use the technique. Finding professional writing examples is easy; all I do is peruse my kid’s bookcase. At first it took some time to flip through the books to find examples, but it was well worth it. Now that I’ve been doing this for a while, I’m in the habit of noticing examples even when we are reading for pleasure or content. When I do, I label it with a sticky note for future use and have reduced my preparation time overall. A book by Marcia Freeman called Models for Teaching is a useful resource to get started as it provides short lists of example texts for target skills. However, I had to do quite some exploring to find good children’s writing. In the end, I return over and over to the same sources: children’s magazines like Stone Soup provide high quality examples of stories and poetry. Likewise, the Write Source website offers models of children’s writing (grades 1-12) in different genres, including nonfiction. Don’t forget that siblings and other homeschoolers are also a great source from which to learn. Read and See Once your models have been gathered, it’s time to read and analyze how the target skill is used. I begin this step by letting my children know where the passage came from, who the author is, and what the context is. I also provide definitions of unfamiliar vocabulary. They read the passage silently; then we read it aloud. I encourage them to pinpoint the skill themselves through discussion questions: What did you like about this piece? Why? What did the author do to help you feel (see, hear) that way? Why do you think the author chose to do it that way? Could he or she have done it differently? What didn’t you like? Why? The first goal of discussion is to help them see the specific tools writers use to get their message across. More often than not, children respond with general comments about what they read: “I liked it,” or “It has a lot of action.” Questioning, however, prompts them to identify specifics. If my children still struggle with finding key points, I give them more specific questions, such as “what words does the author use to show action?” The second goal of discussion is to help the children see that the author made specific choices when using the skill. This reinforces the idea that techniques can be used in different ways by different writers, including them. Practice The final step is for the children to use the skill in their own writing. I frequently kick off focused reading by having them write a short journal piece, providing topics that are conducive to later incorporation of the focus skill. Personal narratives, for instance, encourage the use of description (active verbs, colorful adjectives) and time order skills (transition words). After the mini-lesson, we return to the piece so they can work on incorporating the skill into it. Of course, it doesn’t have to be done in this order, and sometimes they write the piece after our discussion. Also, practice doesn’t end once the lesson is over. The kids continue to incorporate the focus skill in other journal entries over the course of one to two weeks. A focused reading lesson takes thirty minutes to one hour. If we don’t get everything done because we have a longer discussion or they want to write more, I just continue the lesson the next day. This process has proven successful for us, as I find my children transferring what they learned in the focused reading workshops to other writing projects as well. Not sure which skills to teach? Tune in next week for more information.
Teacher Resources
Talent Is Overrated: Teaching the Three Rs of Great Writers
When we think of writers who have left their names etched in history, such as Robert Frost or J.K. Rowling, two words that come to mind are talented, unique, and we lift them up on a pedestal of literary greatness. We set them apart as endowed with a gift for fashioning one-of-a-kind creations. But this idea is a myth, one that has ruined students of writing for years, including me. In reality good writers have no greater knack than the average person. What they do have is the wherewithal to work hard. Unfortunately, I didn’t learn this lesson until late in life, and since I was never labeled as talented, I always criticized my work as lacking that mysterious gift of distinction. This hindered my writing or made me avoid it altogether. But when I started homeschooling my children, I didn’t want the talent myth to hurt their relationship with writing as it did me. It is a relationship after all, whether you like it, love it, deal with it, fear it, or avoid it. Of course, I wanted my kids to have a positive interaction with writing, so I knew I needed the right approach. That tactic is to teach them what all good writers do: revise, read, and reap from others. It’s believed that Hemingway revised the final chapter of A Farewell to Arms 39 times. Now I’m not suggesting I had my eight year old revise her snowman story even close to that amount. I’m not Mommy Dearest. The fact remains, however, that proficient writers don’t quit after their first drafts. They revise, revise, and revise again, so I knew I had to teach my children this habit right at the beginning. For their very first writing projects of the year, I focused on revising. The first thing I had them do with their initial drafts, though, was tuck them away in their folders, not to look at them again (at least for a few days). In the meantime, we read a few stories and articles done by professional and child authors, especially children within a few years of their ages. Many homeschool writing curriculums include step-by-step samples of children’s writings along with the revised versions, so I used a few of these along with a sample from one of their favorite authors. We looked at the before and after versions, discussing what we liked and didn’t like about the samples, what we might have done differently and why. I topped this all off with a cute video of two elementary school kids teaching about revising. The video was a hit, and in the end, they were anxious to get back to work on their own pieces, frequently asking to do so. I firmly believe that stepping away from their drafts for a while was an important aspect. It not only gave them a break but it allowed them to return to their work with fresh eyes, so they could better see where improvements could be made. We now always take at least a few days, no more than a week, hiatus between first drafts and revising for each writing project. Showing my kids the powerful effects of revising has had a positive influence on them. I agree with Stephen King, who writes, “If you don’t have the time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.” Good writers read for entertainment, yes, but they also read to reap skills from other writers. After all, authors use most of the same techniques; they just use them in different ways to make their ideas meaningful and to suit their purposes. I try to teach these same skills to my children through what I call focused reading. During this time, which is often our hiatus from a writing project, we read passages that model a particular skill that I’ve pre-chosen. For example, one time they wrote a description of something that was special to them (a toy, friend, family member). I also wrote my own description. Then we read a paragraph from The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros, which provides wonderful physical depictions using similes. We talked briefly about what made them interesting, and using my example first, worked together replacing one of my descriptions with a simile. They then practiced the technique with their own descriptions. Again, we usually read from a variety of sources including works done by other children. It’s only a matter of finding a piece that is representative of the skill I want to teach—a topic more deeply discussed in a future post. I would be careless if I didn’t mention that I keep focused reading separate from reading for pleasure. If every time they read turns into a lesson, they will find it burdensome and may become reluctant to read. Needless to say, I provide plenty of opportunities for free reading as well. I have no doubt they are still learning then, too. In helping my kids practice the three Rs, they will not only become proficient writers, they will also learn that their favorite authors are not much different from them, that there’s no special gift of writing bestowed on a few, no mystery to it. There are only techniques and tools they can use to create whatever inspires them.
Rich or Poor?
Sammy Westfall set her story, “More or Less” (the featured story from our January/February 2014 issue) in the Philippines, where her family lives part of the time. It’s fascinating to get a glimpse of another culture and learn some words in Tagalog, the language of the Philippines, but Sammy’s story is a timeless one that could have been set anywhere in the world. It’s a story about two families of vastly different means. By the end, we have to ask ourselves, which family is rich, and which is poor? Lina’s family has barely enough money to live. And then her dad loses his job! How will they feed six children and two adults with no money coming in? Lina’s parents have a loving relationship. Her dad wants to get another job right away, but her mom says no, she will get a job this time so the dad can get some rest. Lina’s mom finds a job cooking and cleaning for a wealthy family. She asks Lina to come along to help. Lina is awestruck by the beautiful mansion the Barkers live in. She envies their wealth. As the day goes along, though, she sees that, in spite of their wealth, the Barkers are not happy. Mrs. Barker has raised her daughter, Claudia, alone. Claudia spends all her time in her room, talking on her cell phone. When she does talk to her mom, she is disrespectful. At dinner, Mrs. Barker and Claudia watch TV instead of talking to each other. By the end of the day, Lina feels sorry for the Barkers. Back at home, Lina sees everything differently. Her family’s house may be simple, and they may not always have enough to eat, but now she couldn’t care less. Dinner is a happy time, with the whole family joyfully talking and laughing together. Lina knows she has everything she’ll ever need. One of the powers of great literature is that it can show us truths about life and help us to be better people. Someone may tell us, “Don’t envy other people,” or “Money can’t buy happiness.” Sammy doesn’t tell us, she shows us. We get caught up in the story of Lina and her family. Before we know it, we see the world differently too.
