Teaching kids to write and write well is a real challenge.  Teachers have seen many writing curriculum come and go.

Along with the “Whole Language” challenge came the “Writing Process.”  

This “writing process” manifested itself in many forms, in elementary school we were inudated with the “book making craze.” The children were encouraged to become “authors” and create books. This was really a fun, creative process and sometimes I still use this to motivate. However, writing a book is far different from writing an essay or a letter or an opinion piece.

Next, journaling took center stage in writing in the classroom. Children were encouraged to journal daily mostly writing their feelings and ideas. I believe we had to set aside a “journal time” daily. Teachers didn’t check the journal, we just let kids write or doodle in many cases!

After this, we had the “small moments” in the “Writers Workshop” which was promoted by the Lucy Calkins cult.  While I hate to advertise for this marketing behemoth, I actually liked this method as it had children focus on incidental happenings and write details regarding these happenings. However, no writing conventions were enforced, discussed and often prohibited.  This ultimately turned me away from this method.

At this time most teachers do not check for grammar, they allow “inventive spelling” in early childhood.  With a wink and a nod from the teacher, children write with spelling errors and grammatical mistakes. The idea is that one could hurt self-esteem and discourage writing so nothing is corrected.

In fact the opposite is true, children who write within conventions, communicate effectively and their self-esteem is lifted. Of course there will be errors but teachers who take the time to correct those errors or follow a curriculum that is direct and systematic, find great rewards for their students who write.

During the Covid lockdowns, parents got to watch with disgust as this “writing process” unfolded before their eyes. My client’s reactions were telling:

“The teacher isn’t checking for spelling or grammar, Mrs. Calabrese!”

“No, they don’t and won’t, they are trained to overlook this, it’s pretty stupid.” I rolled my eyes.

Parents have finally gotten to see, first hand, how utterly illogical writing curriculum has become in schools.

Many parents, after witnessing this mess of curriculum, have decided to happily homeschool without any regrets.

But I digress, we’re not talking specifically about homeschooling and it’s great benefits, we’re talking about teaching writing and this, is simply not easy.

First let’s remember that teaching kids to write takes a lot of time and energy. It takes creativity and motivation and most of all, teaching writing takes patience.  If you tutor or homeschool choose a curriculum that is structured and is easy to follow.  Presently I’m enamored with the Shurley English Homeschool program.  But there are plenty of great programs to choose from, find one that fits your style.

In addition add fun teaching tools to motivate and inform.

With this, I’d like to announce that I am publishing a new book called, “Little Pencil Learns To Write ~ A Funny, Rhyming Story Writing Lesson.”  Created for grades 1-5, this book is designed to add to your compendium of motivational writing teaching tricks. In this story, Little Pencil struggles, like most kids, with his writing confidence and impetus.  He wants to write, he just can’t seem to find anything to write about. This is the story of so many children who are asked to write. This book gives a suggestion of how to approach this problem.  Additionally, the book includes a glossary and suggested follow-up lessons. Look for this book and please review it when it comes out. If you’d like an ARC copy, let me know, I will be sending it out to select people only before the date it is published!