TECHNOS

August 1, 2010

Kids Learn to Write in Many Ways

The process of writing can be intimidating to students, but if teachers make it interesting and enjoyable, it needn’t be problematic.

“Groovy” Bob Smith, the original host of the Wordsmith videos, found ways to liven up the classroom process of writing so that students enjoyed communicating through the written word. He also conjured up what he calls “Jotters”—a series of “Sit and Jot” exercises designed to teach fourth graders the basic principles of expository writing. Here’s a sample:

You already know the two rules for good writing: JUST ONE THING [JOT] and SAY IT TWICE [SIT].

The rules are very easy to use.

First you find JUST ONE THING to say, and then you SAY IT TWICE.

Here is something that you might want to say:

My dog can do lots of tricks.

If you SAY IT TWICE, it might look like this:

My dog can do lots of tricks

My dog can do lots of tricks.

That is very clear, but it is not very interesting.

Here is how you can make it interesting:

The first time you say it, say it all at once. That is your JOTTER SENTENCE.

The second time you say it, say it in PIECES, one part at a time.

Then it will look like this:

My dog can do lots of tricks. JOTTER SENTENCE

My dog can beg for food.
My dog can roll over. PIECES
My dog can play dead.

Draw one circle around the JOTTER SENTENCE. Draw another circle around the PIECES.

Notice that the JOTTER and the PIECES both say the same thing.

© Bob Kupa’a Smith 2000

Bob devised at least 54 of these simple writing exercises and shared them with teachers who told him, among other things, that “the lessons taught [the kids] how to write, but more than that, they taught them how to think.” And, as any teacher knows, thinking is a critical part of the writing process.

There are other methods and resources to help teach students how to write.

The National Writing Project offers 30 Ideas for Teaching Writing on its Web site. The Project offers a new book, Teaching the New Writing: Technology, Change, and Assessment in the 21st-Century Classroom, in which teachers share successful practices and examples of their students’ writings. ($18.00 at the Project’s online bookstore.)
At Kim’s Korner for Teacher Talk you will find Ideas for Teaching Writing, including the Six-Trait Analytic Writing Model and suggestions and projects for Writing Across the Curriculum.
Check out Scholastic’s Teacher’s Timely Topics: Inspire Young Writers professional/teachwriting/ online—where you’ll find independent writing projects in .pdf form, lesson plans and classroom activities, and professional articles.
Teaching That Makes Sense includes a .pdf version of The Writing Teacher’s Strategy Guide.
The Teach-nology Web site offers teaching writing tips from real teachers in an online forum.
Reading Rockets can be seen on PBS in its award-winning program form, plus followed online in blogs, podcasts, webcasts, and videos.
Read, Write, Think is sponsored by the International Reading Association and the National Council of Teachers of English.

Check out our online catalog listings for these AIT writing series:

Club Write
Club Write Kids
Get Writing!
In Other Words
Watch Your Language
Wordscape
The Write Channel
Writer’s Realm
And, of course: Wordsmith is an AIT Classic that offers thirty 15-minute VHS videos designed to arouse students’ curiosity about words and to sharpen their awareness of language. This series includes standard vocabulary development and incorporates terms from specialized vocabularies, foreign languages, and slang. Each program centers on a theme like “food,” “size,” or “communication.” But from then on, anything goes—word cells cavort about to instruct and entertain, characters get their words in edgewise, word lore of all kinds lights up the nooks and crannies of the English language. A conventional accounting of what goes on in a Wordsmith program can’t really do justice to the lively proceedings as host Bob Smith conjures up a variety of short features (several of which appear in each program) to stimulate, reinforce, and sustain the attention of the viewer. A 24-page teacher guide is available.