Mommy The Writing Teacher

So you're a writing teacher.  Congratulations!  The road is bumpy, to be sure, but oh my!  The rewards are sweet!

You need to know two things right now--where you'll start (preschool age) and where you'll end up (middle/high school level).

When you begin with your preschooler, you'll want to establish a desire for writing, and a need.

- Let your child see you write grocery lists, letters, reminder notes, and a journal (online doesn't count yet).

- Wait for an interest to develop, evidenced by your child frequently wanting to have a pencil, pen or a crayon in hand.  Then, have your preschooler start a journal in which she draws first and then labels, using whatever sounds she hears in the picture words (if it's a sun and she only knows s, have her label the sun with an s .....or the ball with a b......or the train with a t.  As she learns more sounds, encourage her to include a middle and/or an ending sound, if she hears them easily.

- You will have to do the sounding out with your child.  They don't do it alone the first year.  It takes time to master this artificial stretching of sounds. Ask what is heard first...next....last. Don't force what they don't hear.  Accept whatever they give you.  Praise generously, mainly for effort.

Labeling is a wonderful emergent writing/reading activity.  You don't need to have taught handwriting before starting with labeling.  You aren't worrying about penmanship at this point.  Accomplish the s hand over hand, or just let your child attempt it solo (from a model).

- I like Handwriting Without Tears for beginning penmanship.  It doesn't start with pencil/paper, but with formed wooden pieces.  My kids love it!

- Once your child likes to label, ask him if he wants to write his own grocery lists (same concept, sound out words, child records each sound he hears).  Have him make a picture to match each item on the grocery list (or you can do the picture).

- Read aloud often, choosing good literature with rich language, and picking plenty of rhyming books. Rhyming aids in developing phonemic awareness--which is an awareness of the number and position of sounds within words.  Phonics is different than phonemic awareness.  Phonics refers more to the concrete rules, while phonemic awareness refers to your child's ability to break down (segment) what she hears.  The more you read aloud and the more rhyme your child hears, the more trained her ear is, and the more ready she is to read and write.  Ideally, reading aloud should begin before age one.  They don't have to sit still to hear language!

- No matter how old your child is, continue with the read alouds--even into high school.  Try to choose books that seem about two years above your child's reading level.  This way, the vocabulary is new and the sentence structure is more sophisticated.  Reading aloud trains your child's ear for language.  Every great writer is also a great reader.

Know where you're headed  - Six Trait Writing 


Around second grade, you will train your child to use a planning web to come up with a topic and then supporting details.  The first written piece is a sloppy copy, followed by revisions, and then a final draft (this is called the writing process).

Later, around fourth grade, you'll expand the writing process training by introducing the six traits of good writing.

- voice
- ideas and content
- sentence fluency
- word choice
- organization
- conventions

Take the time to check out the Six Traits websites listed below.  They explain the Six Traits Writing method far better than I could.  You'll want to begin formally teaching the traits in about fourth grade, continuing through high school.  Once your child is familiar with the terms, begin pointing out the traits while you're reading good literature together.  You'll find teaching lessons for the traits on all three sites.  All these sites are user-friendly.  Start with the first one, for your primary student.

The Writing Process and  Types of Writing

Interactive Six Trait Writing Process

Kim's Korner

Why the tears?


- It is not uncommon for kids to fuss about writing time in the elementary years.  While this could be a sign that you're pushing too hard, it's more likely the fact that writing is a higher-level thinking activity, making it challenging on a number of levels.  Worksheets, in contrast, are low-level thinking, usually.  When a child is asked to produce something from scratch, whether it be a journal entry, or a bar graph for math, it's far more involved and overwhelming than merely filling in blanks.  Break it down as much as you can, saying what you want accomplished the first day.

- When your child hands over her latest piece to you, put on a cheery face, no matter how many errors you see.  We tend to be very corrective, as teachers.  Squash that, and pick two to three complimentary things to say first, followed by one or two corrections, ending with more specific praise, including praise for effort. Think positive, negative, positive....rather than negative, negative, negative, positive, in terms of how you deal with your child's pieces.

- Start doing some modeled writings when you first start whole-sentence journal writing.  Buy some half-size chart paper ( a large lap tablet with lines at the teacher store) and write your own journal entry with your child sitting next to you.  As you write, point out how you write from top to bottom and left to write, inserting finger spacing between words.  Model the sounding out by stretching out your words a bit, and recording each sound in order.  Talk about how you start with a capital at the beginning of the sentence, and also for names (more later on caps, don't overwhelm with rules at this point).  Talk about the ending period, and the other punctuation marks as they come up.  Your child will learn more each time he sees you write.  Younger siblings will learn something too.  Modeled writing is a multi-age activity, with each child picking up something at his level.

- If your child is reluctant to write her own sentence at first, give her a sentence frame to start with.  I like to _____.  I am good at __________.  We went to ____________.

- Auditory learners will be sound spellers.  They won't impress you with their spelling for a few more years.  It will take them longer to get to conventional spelling, so try not to worry about them or make too much of it.  In contrast, visual learners will have a good mental picture of the correct spellings, and they will be easily frustrated with sound spelling.  They will want you to tell them the correct spelling, because they just know something isn't right.  These are the kids who tend to shed the frustration tears--especially if they are perfectionists.

My second grader is auditory and is just now starting some conventional spelling of the first twenty-five sight words.  My six-year-old son has a gifted visual memory and he spells far better than my other son.  The six year old is also the one who calls to me, wherever I am in the house, "How do you spell house again?"  I just go ahead and tell him.  Do what you think makes sense for each child, in the elementary years.  But preschoolers should definitely start with sound spelling.

- If you purchased a writing curriculum already, use it as a resource only.  Remember that you are teaching a child, not a curriculum.  Curriculum can get in the way of real teaching, which I like to think of as a conversation with the learner.  The learner produces something, and the teacher looks at it to see what is already known, and what needs to be taught.  If we blindly follow a curriculum, we are no longer responding to the needs of our learner.

- Finally, remember that writing is a years-long process.  Your child is an individual and will develop at his own pace.  If the tears come too often, back off and do more modeled writing.

Happy Writing!  And save the journals!  They are true keepsakes.