Does your child need lessons? That’s a deeply personal question that every parent has to face at some point. And when it comes to creative writing lessons, there are other questions that come up soon after:
1. When do I start with lessons?
2. What should my child be learning at each level?
3. How can I support at home when I’m not a writer or a teacher?
RESPONSE TO QUESTIONS 1 AND 2
Some people believe the earlier lessons start, the better. If your child is meeting and exceeding standards, then there really is no reason for extra lessons. However, if your child is functioning below the expected level, failing classes, or has a challenge, lessons may be necessary. Creative writing is built on good expression, excellent vocabulary, and writing skills (grammar, punctuation, paragraphing). Prior to standard 3, students would have been focusing mainly on writing skills and vocabulary. Standard 3 is an excellent time to start building expression and use of the vocabulary students have been learning. So, a class that encourages the exploration of ideas and developing ways of expressing thoughts would be ideal. Creative Writing lessons before standard 3 are not necessary. Focus before then should be placed on the writing skills, so if your child is having severe challenges with those areas, then language arts lessons would be helpful. Otherwise, practice at home works best. In my next post, I’ll outline a few things parents can do at home to support creative writing learning.
Before we continue with specific writing tips and practice, I want to address the issue of how children learn and how that affects writing instruction. Others have shared a great deal of information regarding different learning styles, so I won’t repeat those details. What I’d like to share is about something called Aphantasia.
People with aphantasia don’t ‘see in pictures’ like most of us do. You know how we often say “see it in your mind’s eye”? Well, people with aphantasia are blind in their mind’s eye. When they close their eyes to picture things, they see very little or nothing at all. The impact on learning is that those with aphantasia need more than reading to absorb information. Since they cannot create their own images, they must be presented with images and experiences frequently so that they could memorize and recall what they’re learning.
Typically, students with aphantasia do not enjoy reading because they can’t visualize the story. They still understand the story, but it takes a little more effort and it’s not enjoyable unless there are photos within the story. For some people with aphantasia, artistic and creative endeavors are impacted because they do not have the benefit of mental images to rely on. One of the greatest challenges with aphantasia is that people who have it don’t often know they do. Some may realize they are different but few ever make the connection until much later on in life. In a primary school class, identifying students with aphantasia would be quite challenging.
Currently, research is limited and the condition is not officially recognized as a disability. This is a relatively new area of study, and the condition was only named in 2015 even though documentation of the phenomena goes back to the 1800s. What teachers must do is simply include a wide range of visual stimuli in their lessons to assist these students. And the good news is that students without aphantasia will benefit as well.
If you want to read more about aphantasia, here are two articles to get you started:
Getting young writers to plan their report writing is often quite a challenge. In fact, truth be told, the idea of creating a plan before you write is somewhat of a debate in the writing community. Some writers prefer to write first and organize later. However, this is not the best approach for young writers as it is time consuming. In an exam situation, there is limited time which must be used wisely.
The challenge with planning reports, however, is that many young writers plan only the details that go into the first paragraph, the introduction. As such, by the time they reach the second paragraph they’re already stuck. See below for a quick-plan checklist that will help young writers plan more details in their report. The trick with using this checklist is to write phrases next to each hint. Young writers should only write enough information to guide themselves and resist the urge to write out the whole report during the planning phase.
QUICK PLAN CHECKLIST
Who – List the participants in the situation by name
What – State what happened briefly
Where – Identify the location, both immediate and general (classroom and school, for example)
When – Give the date (Day, date, month, year)
Before – Explain what led up to the situation in point form (two or three points is enough)
During – Show main actions during situation in point form (two or three points is enough)
After – Say what happened immediately after in point form, how participants reacted (two or three points is enough
Outcome – State consequences, outcomes, or punishments (one or two is enough)
Get your young writer practicing with this checklist by using a variety of prompts from each type of report. Be sure to time each planning session. Your aim is to have your young writer complete an effective plan within 10 minutes. Don’t worry if in the beginning it takes long, just keep practicing with your young writer and they will become more familiar with the different types of reports, report plans, and organizing their thinking. If the plan takes less than 10 minutes, the rest of the time will be well spent writing.
Writing report conclusions is sometimes a challenge for young writers. Many of them end their reports abruptly while others add details that are not necessary. Knowing how to end a report effectively depends on a few things.
First, young writers must understand the type of report they’re writing. Second, they must know what the purpose of the report is. And finally, they must be able to put themselves in the shoes of the reader to determine what the reader would need to know.
Accident: an unexpected action that results in damage to property or injury.
The purpose of this type of report is usually to document the various aspects of the accident to determine its cause and to identify what can be put in place to prevent it from recurring.
Conclusions of this type of report must include any systems put in place for similar accidents not to recur. Sometimes there may be punishment for carelessness, but these are likely to be less severe than incident punishments.
Incident: a deliberate deviant action that results in damage to property or injury.
The purpose of this type of report is usually to document the various aspects of the incident to determine who is responsible, and the level of their involvement.
Such reports must include punishments and consequences in the conclusion, including any systems put in place for similar incidents not to recur.
Competition: participative situations during which individuals compete for places and prizes.
The purpose of this type of report is often to document the activity from the perspective of the person writing the report, and to outline process (if everything went smoothly) and outcome (winners).
Conclusions for this type of report should include winners of the competition and prize giving activities.
Activity: participative situations during which students engage in learning, such as field trips or projects.
The purpose of this type of report is often to document observations of students to determine if they are receiving the correct information and if the activity is educational.
Conclusions for such reports should include what learning took place. Usually, that is stated as reported speech of the teacher or other students. Outcomes, such as whether the activity will be repeated, are also often included.
Presentation: an event in which there is a speaker-audience type of situation.
Quite often there is some type of performance.
Sometimes young writers will be in the audience observing the event unfold, sometimes young writers will be one of the speakers participating in the presentation.
The purpose of this type of report is often to document the event from the perspective of the young writer, quite often being written to individuals who were not present for the event.
Conclusions for this type of event usually include closing ceremonies and how successful the event was. These ideas can be written as reported speech of presenters or other attendees.
Regarding the impact of the audience, the main thing to consider is what the audience needs to know. In many cases, reports are to individuals who would be determining the outcomes or at least evaluating the outcomes. As such, careful attention should be taken in writing conclusions.
Also, consider the timeframe between the situation and the report. Was there sufficient time for any consequences to be implemented? If not, young writers could indicate that teachers or other participants indicated punishments and consequences or other outcomes would be coming.
In the end, completing a report in a satisfactory way depends on a careful assessment of the prompt, so young writers should be vigilant.
When writing reports, students are told to use chronological order or time order. All that means is that actions should be written in the order they happened. This sounds simple enough, and really shouldn’t be a challenge, especially when actions are carefully selected. However, some students run into problems because they’re not sure how to list the actions in a way that shows the order.
This is when transitions come in very handy. Transitions help the writing flow smoothly from one idea to the next. Sometimes with a single word, sometimes with a few words. There are many transition words and phrases, but the best ones for reports are the simple ones that show time order. Some of these are: before, after, then, to begin, at the onset, next, from this point, during, at that time, at the end, to finish, and while.
The key to using transition words effectively is keeping to the ones that are specific about time order and avoiding those that could introduce opinion. For example, words like ‘suddenly’ and ‘not long after’ are subjective ideas that show how the writer feels about the actions taken place. In the first instance, the writer believes the actions are unexpected. In the second instance, the writer is making a judgment about the length of time, stating that it’s long without giving a time frame.
These subtle opinions can change the tone of the report. A better way to report information regarding time is to give the exact time that has passed. So, a statement like ‘approximately two minutes after’ would work much better than either option above.
