Articles

How to Stop, and How to Keep Going

By Julie Bogart

Do-it-yourself writing programs ought to be outlawed. Writing is a solitary activity but writing instruction should never be. When left to themselves, even real writers hem and haw and leave reams of unfinished projects in their overstuffed desk drawers.

Better writers find other writers to hang around. They let those writers read their trashy stuff (gasp!), their mediocre stuff and their eventual brilliant writing.

Bad writing makes me queasy. My heart races and I feel claustrophobic. "Help! I've got to get out of this page!" But if I know I get to comment on bad writing while looking for one good thing, I find that the nausea transforms into adrenaline. One raw element that is good can be the beginning of pretty good writing.

When it's my writing, however, that's receiving the criticism, I am much more likely to twist the hem of my shirt and do the LaMaze pant. I don't like criticism, but I've learned to believe that my writing will be improved by editorial comments, so I endure.

What about our kids?

The only reason a child balks at editorial feedback is that he doesn't take pride in his work and feels that he can't do any better. He doesn't know that your heart is racing and that you're watching his short life pass before your eyes. He's only worried about being done.

Kids who like writing don't take critiques too well either. They can make changes if asked to, but their egos are attached to their art. Nothing unusual about that. Even pretty good writers feel their writing is an extension of who they are.

In any case, meaningful feedback and writing to a deadline help kids grow as writers.

Deadlines

You and I both know that left to ourselves, it's almost impossible to make deadlines stick in a homeschool. To help you and your kids finish what they start, I recommend writing classes and support groups. I offer on-line classes, but there are also homeschool co-ops, tutors and junior colleges for older kids.

Support

For any age group, writing support groups are the way to go. There are the 'in-person' kind (better for older kids) and the group of the 'Zorro mask'—unidentifiable writers critiquing each other's work. Let me explain.

1. Start a reading/writing club once a month.
Choose books to discuss. Then at the end of the meeting, allow kids to read anything they have written to the group. You can begin by only allowing positive feedback. Just the exposure to other writing will increase your child's ability to grow in writing.

2. Give your child a chance to critique writing that someone else's child did.
You can do this with another mother—swap writing assignments—black out the names and allow your child to find the problems and areas of growth. Then return those ideas to the other mom. As your kids buy into this kind of feedback, they can begin to read the feedback of another child.

Here is an easy way for kids to give feedback that is meaningful without being mean.

The Feedback Sandwich

Top piece of bread
One compliment that is concrete—"I like your opening hook because...." Or "This combination of descriptive adjectives made me really see the cantaloupe." Or "I didn't know that California used to be owned by Spain."

The meat
Choose one thing to improve. Keep the first improvement related to content. It is better to correct meaning than form. For example, "I'm still unclear about why Commodore Perry is so important to Japanese-American relations. Please clarify." Don't say, "Your spelling is awful" or "This paragraph is too long."

Eventually you can include one content comment, one form correction and one style change…or some other set of guidelines. The main thing is to be specific and to make sure that you make your own comments clear without judgment.

The bottom piece of bread
Finish with a wish for the student—Like "I look forward to reading your paper when you have researched how the fishing boats looked in the 1800s in addition to how they sailed." Or "That opening hook made me laugh. I hope you'll include more humor in your paper."

Don't isolate yourselves and finish your writing projects. Those are the keys!

(Small caveat: not all writing must be finished. I distinguish between freewriting and writing projects. Writing projects are those that are taken through the entire writing process. Not all writing has to be revised and polished.)