Category: WERD Coach Youth

How to Choose Facts in Reports

Deciding what facts to include in a report is sometimes quite a challenge for young writers. Even when they understand the difference between facts and opinions and know how to avoid opinions, there’s often so much information to choose from that they really have a hard time selecting what to write.

If that describes your young writer, then what they need to understand is the concept of relevance. A great definition for the word ‘relevant’ is = appropriate for the purpose. This means that in order to know whether something is relevant or not, writers must first be clear on the purpose.

So what’s the purpose of the report? In general, a report is designed to provide a specific audience with details to help them get a clear understanding of what happened in a particular situation.

But questions remain: Why do they need to know what happened? What are they going to do with the information? Ultimately, knowing the purpose helps writers decide if the detail is needed to help readers fulfill their purpose. So, does it matter that the person observing the situation is best friends with one of the people involved? Maybe not. Does it matter that one of the children stopped to tie their shoelaces before entering class? Probably not.

A good way to help young writers understand the connection between ideas and purpose is to ask them this question: How does know that detail help the audience? Guide young writers through activities which help them see the connection between details and purpose. You can discuss a report context, decide on audience and purpose, then list a series of statements and have young writers decide if they are relevant or not. To make the activity more fun, write out the sentences on slips of paper and have them stick them in the appropriate column. Then, have them create their own sentences to place in the correct column. Discuss the appropriateness of their selections and show them how to make the best choices. Do this a few times to ensure your young writer(s) have gained the skill of selecting only relevant details.

NOTE: In many cases, young writers will be creating their own details as reports are often about situations they haven’t experienced. That’s ok. Just explain to them the type of details needed so they could make up some great ones.

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How to Use Formal Language in Reports

Using formal language in writing is an essential part of learning to write well because it allows writers to take objective approaches to explaining ideas. This is helpful when trying to eliminate bias and reduce the influence of personal opinion. Unfortunately, most of us don’t regularly engage in formal language when we speak and interact with others. This is why report writing is often challenging for young writers. In addition to avoiding opinions, sticking to formal language means adhering to a few other guidelines. 

FORMAL LANGUAGE GUIDELINES

1. Avoid contractions and abbreviations.

This means that words like can’t and didn’t should not be used, as well as std. for standard. Mr., Mrs., and Dr. when identifying a person are acceptable. For example Dr. Henry Joseph and Mrs. Susan Telesford.

2. Avoid two-word verbs.

There are many verbs in English that are made up of two words. For example: give away, bump into, knock over, pick up, take back. These are considered informal language and should not be used. Instead, replace these verbs with single words that mean the same thing. Here are some examples, but note that the exact substitute will depend on the context.

Two-word VerbSingle-word Verbs
give awaydistribute
bump intocollide
knock overoverturn
pick upretrieve
give backreturn

3. Use more complex sentence structure.

One of the things with formal language is that it moves beyond the simple sentence to include more complex sentence formats. Consider the following three sentences:
– Kai kicked Yves on his leg.
– Then ran back into the classroom.
– Yves ran after Kai.

Consider the following sentence which combines all three:
– After Kai kicked Yves on his leg, Kai ran back into the classroom with Yves right behind him.

4. Use reported speech.

Speaking is often part of the interaction young writers must report on, and they should never leave out what participants in the situation say. However, reporting speech has a particular format.

– DIRECT: “Leave me alone,” Jordan said to Kyle.

– INDIRECT: Jordan told Kyle to leave him alone.

Notice the changes in the verbs and pronouns.

5. Consider using passive voice when trying not to give judgement or opinion.

This one is a little tricky because for reports it is often useful to identify who did an action. Passive voice avoids stating who did the action.

– Carlos pushed Michael, causing him to break his leg when he fell.
– Carlos pushed Michael, and when Michael fell, his leg broke.

The first sentence creates blame on Carlos and suggests that the writer believes it was Carlos’ fault Michael broke his leg. The second sentence only reports the facts as they happen, with no judgment. The passive voice helps make the second sentence opinion free.

Some of these strategies require students to understand additional concepts, so feel free to gather information from textbooks and online resources to help you get the message across.

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Punctuation, Grammar, and Other Mechanical Stuff

Today, we’re going to cover writing mechanics. When writers talk about ‘mechanics’ they’re referring to all the rules and guidelines that form the system for expressing ideas. This includes spelling, punctuation, capitalization, and the format for numbers and names. Some people include grammar as well, but that is better grouped with the ‘structure’ of a language. In this post, when I refer to mechanics, I will not be including grammar.

Ok, let’s start at the beginning. All writing starts with ideas and thoughts about these ideas, but one of the important aspects of communicating through writing is the understanding that you’re writing for others. This concept of ‘audience’ is critical for expressing ideas effectively and is the main reason mechanics are so important.

PUNCTUATION – helps us regulate writing with pauses of various types and emotion so that readers know how the sentence should be read. This assists with clarifying meaning.

CAPITALIZATION – in English, this helps us identify the beginning of sentences, proper nouns, and titles.

SPELLING – keeps the meaning clear by ensuring the right words are used. Sometimes students have such trouble with these that meaning is hindered and it’s difficult to understand what they’re really trying to say.

Each of these categories has its own skills and strategies for getting young writers to comply with the necessary conventions, but one thing helps overall. And that’s understanding why these things are needed. We often take it for granted that young writers know the impact errors in these areas have on their writing. Some of them don’t. So take the time to enlighten them.

Revisit the notion of audience and that writing is for someone else to consume. Explain that the exchange of meaning is interrupted when punctuation, spelling, and capitalization aren’t up to standard. Encourage correct usage by making learning fun and creating checklists for reviewing written work.

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How to Improve Your Child’s Vocabulary

One of the things you’ll hear teachers saying all the time is, “Children need to build their vocabulary.” The big question is, “How?” We know that people who write well and express themselves effectively have a large vocabulary. So, we believe that in order for our young writers to express themselves effectively they would also need a large vocabulary.

Our problem is that many of us see words and vocabulary in isolation and out of context. This is why we get all those lists of words to find meanings, but that’s only a small part of the process that has been blown out of proportion. Others will tell you to get children reading and have them list the words they don’t understand, find the meanings and learn them. Again, this is an important part of the process, but it’s only PART.

As writing instructors and supporters of our young writers, we should never assume that the connection between reading and writing is automatic. And, we should always remember that context is a critical component of words and meaning. Have you ever wondered why dictionaries always give example sentences to show how words are used? And have you ever noticed that the average word has at least two meanings? This is something that we should keep in mind when encouraging children to build their vocabulary.

So stop with the lists and lists of words and instead focus on having students encounter words in context, used in passages, articles, and stories. And follow-up by providing students with opportunities to use their new words and expressions by producing passages, articles, and stories of their own. Ideally, target 10 to 20 new words a week. Let young writers see these words everywhere.

Provide them with as many opportunities as possible to see how the words are used in different contents and in different ways. Have them try to use two or three of the new words in everything they write, or in discussions they have in class (or at home with a parent). You can start by having them use the words orally to get used to them in context, but be certain to create a process where new words must be included in writing.

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Organized Writing

After young writers get their ideas together and know what they are going to write about, the next step is organizing the information. Keeping to a structure/format helps writers manage how their writing unfolds. Like all writing, both narratives and reports follow an introduction-body-conclusion format. In narrative essays, the plot provides a structure for young writers to follow. Each element of the plot, once developed sufficiently, guides the writing from beginning to end.

Reports have their own structure, but it’s not as easy to identify or guide as a narrative. To understand how reports develop, young writers must think about the type of report and what readers need to understand the information.

For example, competition reports must include rules, incident reports must include information about events leading up to the situation, and activity reports usually include guidelines for the activity.

The 5-Paragraph Structure

While there is no set number of paragraphs required, a 5-paragraph structure helps writers develop their ideas logically.

NARRATIVES

Introduction – hook reader, introduce character and goals, describe setting

Body Paragraph 1 – Introduce action and conflict (start things off with the complication, and give the character’s reactions)

Body Paragraph 2 – Increase the conflict and give character’s reactions to that.

Body Paragraph 3 – Increase the conflict again and give character’s reaction to that, but this time problem is solved and goals are achieved.

Conclusion – Explain how characters react to accomplishing their goals, show how things get back to normal, but show how things have changed as characters have learned lessons and now have their desires fulfilled.

REPORTS

Introduction – State who was involved, where the incident took place, what the incident is, and when it happened.

Body Paragraph 1 – Explain the events leading up to the incident, what happened directly before the situation occurred. For competitions, give rules. For activities, give guidelines. For events talk about the program. For accident, give the situation just before the accident.

Body Paragraph 2 – Describe the main situation, stating what happened and who did what

Body Paragraph 3 – Give reactions and immediate responses to the incident or accident. For competitions, activities, and events, say what happened right after the main situation. Reactions to prizes received, accomplishment of task, or closing of the program.

Conclusion – Document the outcome of the incident or accident, any punishment or lasting outcomes. For competitions, activities, and events, say what participants will do next (reported speech only) or any announcements given about next steps.

Once young writers work within this type of structure, they will produce narratives and reports that readers will be able to follow and understand.

However, it’s good to note that the number of paragraphs is just a guide because the narrative paragraph can be flexible.

The Flexible Paragraph

One thing young writers should keep in mind is that not all paragraphs are the same. For one thing, narrative paragraphs are not as rigid as report paragraphs.

Report paragraphs are expected to follow the topic-sentence format. There is a main idea stated in a sentence at the beginning, then details are provided to explain the topic sentence. Finally, a sentence is given to close off the paragraph.

Each paragraph is connected to the other with transition words that help readers follow the sequence of actions of the report. The report paragraph is a formal structure that helps readers see the logical progression of events.

The narrative paragraph, on the other hand, is a unit of expression. And when dialogue is introduced, it becomes flexible and often doesn’t look like the conventional paragraph.

The best way to write dialogue is with each new speaker starting in a new line that is indented. So, in a sense, each new speaker has their own paragraph.

Additionally, narratives work better with transition phrases and not transition words. Phrases complete the flow of ideas and allow for vivid description and creativity.

When young writers are following the 5-paragraph structure for narratives, they should use it as a guide and not feel like they are bound to 5 paragraphs only.

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