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Regarding writing, how about non-fiction descriptive, narrative, or expository? Does you child love a sport? Have him write about his three favorite athletes. Why does he like them? What makes them so good at what they do? For what teams do they play, etc. Have him write in detail about what he loves. Another simple strategy is five w’s and an h: who, what, where, when, why, and how. This may not be creative writing but kids often do well with it. Good luck!
@Hal Roach,
I found The elements of style book but I am unable to find MLM handbook. Can you pls link it for me?
Don't worry about that. The 3- or 5-paragraph essay is not creative writing. Your son doesn't need the the stylebooks now; he'll be exposed to that in high school and college.
Quote:
Originally Posted by noelm
@Coney,
I will have to see an example of what you are suggesting before I implement it. Do you recommend any resource where I get such examples? As I mentioned in the OP, my writing is not good, to begin with, so while I understand what you are trying to convey, I have no idea how I can implement it with him.
I also don't think you need to focus on planning to get him better at creative writing.
At this stage, he needs short, fun prompts that get him writing a paragraph a day. Dedicate a notebook (or a file on the laptop) to this. It can be a free-writing exercise you use to start your day. www.journalbuddies.com has a lot of good examples of prompts. Search by age/grade.
The point of creative writing is creative thinking. He needs to put his imagination to work. My students' favorite exercises were the ones that really set their imaginations running. Stuff like, "Imagine you find an old treasure chest. What's inside? Where do you think it came from?"
If you starred in a TV show about your life, what genre would it be? comedy, drama, thriller, romance, action-adventure, fantasy, superhero, soap opera, reality, game show, space adventure, Western, tragedy, etc
What is your favorite thing to snack on? Why? What if you could only choose that food and one other to eat for the rest of the year - what would you choose, and why?
The other thing to consider is that not every student WILL be good at creative writing, just as not every student is good at art or math. If you just help him enjoy the short bursts of imagination, it will help him loosen up as you teach him the more technical aspects of essay construction.
I agree that reading is the way to become a better writer.
I'm not a parent or teacher, but I have been scribbling in notebooks since I was 6. I currently make my living as a writer and editor. I've even got an online meeting with my creative writing group in a couple hours.
Look, he needs to be a reader first. You must cultivate that love of it for him by encouraging him to read and modeling the behavior you wish to see - by reading yourself. Once he learns to really appreciate reading, he will learn to appreciate the rhythms of telling a story. My parents were not the smartest or most educated people, but our house was filled with books. I read almost all of them.
Once you do that, you have to help him understand the workings of good grammar. My own speaking grammar is TERRIBLE, but my written grammar is excellent. He needs to be able to construct a decent sentence. I had my Warriner's book of grammar exercises from school, and it REALLY helped.
With your son at around 11 years of age, you are coming to this game a little late. An English tutor might be a good idea, preferably someone who is capable of showing him how to go about analyzing a novel. That is an important skill, contrary to what many STEM folks may say. It helps develop critical thought, if nothing else.
Novels for 11 year olds that could help... The Percy Jackson series and Harry Potter might appeal to a pre-adolescent boy.
"I'll tell you right now, every aspiring writer should read The Elements of Style."...Stephen King. Of course, Stephen King doesn't know as much as a teachers union pig.
Correction:. It is MLA Handbook, not MLM, and that was English 102, scholarly writing, which will be handy once he starts using footnotes.
Perhaps, the parent should read it, first. I would let an above average 12 year old have a look, and if they picked up just a few things to build on, it would be sixty cents well spent. What percentage of the US population can name the Parts of Speech, and the Parts of a Sentence? The better middle school students will know them. The HyperGrammar link I gave teaches the nuts and bolts..all free.
Thank you, everyone, for all the comments. I will go through each and every suggestion one by one and see if it fits the needs or will bookmark it for the future.
Quote:
Originally Posted by JrzDefector
With your son at around 11 years of age, you are coming to this game a little late. An English tutor might be a good idea, preferably someone who is capable of showing him how to go about analyzing a novel. That is an important skill, contrary to what many STEM folks may say. It helps develop critical thought, if nothing else.
Novels for 11 year olds that could help... The Percy Jackson series and Harry Potter might appeal to a pre-adolescent boy.
I have realized that he is late to this party, at the same time, in his defense, he spent the first 7 years of his life battling health issues so what the kids learn at age 3, he started learning at age 6. His education really took off after age 7 and we have been doing catch up ever since. I do admire his resilience to the fact that he knows he is catching up and willing to put extra effort if one can provide him with proper support. My strong suit is STEM so STEM is not an issue in our household but language definitely is. Thank you for putting it bluntly. Even though we know this, it gives a reality check.
We are rather unlucky in finding quality tutors. So I have given up on in-person tutoring but have been looking for on-line options if such are available.
I have both the sets, Percy Jackson and Harry Potter series and he claims to have finished reading both the sets. If you have any other suggestions, I welcome the suggestions.
Quote:
Originally Posted by dcfas
Regarding writing, how about non-fiction descriptive, narrative, or expository?
Can you offer me examples of such reading, like books so that I can try to find such books for him?
What you suggested has been suggested by the teachers too but he lacks the imagination needed to do such kind of writing. At the moment, I am clueless about how I can help him improve that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hal Roach
Perhaps, the parent should read it, first.
Fits that with us for sure. Neither of us is good at writing and I am going to get this book for myself first. If I know how to write, I may be able to help him a little.
Quote:
Originally Posted by BirdieBelle
At this stage, he needs short, fun prompts that get him writing a paragraph a day. Dedicate a notebook (or a file on the laptop) to this. It can be a free-writing exercise you use to start your day. www.journalbuddies.com has a lot of good examples of prompts. Search by age/grade.
Thank you for the link.
My problem with the writing prompts is, I myself don't know what I can write and since he lacks imagination, we both sit looking at each other on what we can write.
It will be awesome if there is any place (blog, for example) or book where there are writing prompts and examples of written work to get an idea of how an author developed that writing prompt. Do you know of such a resource?
Perhaps, the parent should read it, first. I would let an above average 12 year old have a look, and if they picked up just a few things to build on, it would be sixty cents well spent. What percentage of the US population can name the Parts of Speech, and the Parts of a Sentence? The better middle school students will know them. The HyperGrammar link I gave teaches the nuts and bolts..all free.
Good writers enjoy reading. Doing the Elements of Style or the MLA handbook or APA or whatever will come later. It is just a matter of finding something the child will like. There is a ton of young adult literature out there that is really interesting and enjoyable, but it depends on what his interests are. There really is something out there for every kid, but it is hard to make recommendations without knowing what the kid likes. I used to teach language arts/English and I liked the middle school reading list much more than the high school options.
I'm not a parent, but I am a writer. I have a degree in all sorts of writing, including a minor in creative writing.
Brainstorm, brainstorm, brainstorm! Have your son draft out his thoughts, and let them read badly. A rough draft is just that, just thoughts and ideas and the beginning of a tangible story. Rough drafts are generally bad. However, don't say, "this is awful!" Encourage him and help him edit.
How is his reading? I was an avid reader as a child and reading helped me write. Encouragement and reading. I would recommend letting him read some books and create from there.
I'm old and pretty out of touch with current books that preadolescents would enjoy. However, books I enjoyed at that age:
All the Wizard of Oz books
All the Grimms Fairy tales (They're actually a little dark, kind of scary...but I think kids handle it just fine. I did.)
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
Tom Sawyer
A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court
The Prince and the Pauper
The Hardy Boys series
And maybe Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales? Although...I'm female, and maybe Hans Christian Anderson fairy tales might be more appealing to girls. I'm not sure.
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