"So. Tell me a story."
My daughter was sitting on my bed, frustrated and slowly progressing to beside herself. A draft of a report was due, and while she didn't mind doing the work, she couldn't understand her teacher's criticisms of her work, so she wasn't quite sure how to fix the issue so she could go back to getting her usual A's.
Me, being Mom, and trying to help without over-helping, and explaining at least some part of the writing process to her, so that she could become more comfortable with report writing, as the more she advances in school, the more report writing will become a huge part of her life. Left up to her, she would do math and science all day every day, and skip all of the writing stuff. But English, History, and Social Studies, with their associated long format, detailed answers, will begin to be a factor in a year when she begins middle school, so learning the basic, five paragraph essay format has been her quarterly project since the beginning of the 3rd grade. Having not really learned this format until later in my high school career (shame, I know), and seeing as her current teacher also knew that I was a blogger, I was determined to help her get through The Writing with as much grace and elegance as a 4th grader could muster. She loved the research portions of these reports, and printing pictures off of the internet or building models, but The Writing? The Writing was like pulling bad teeth from an angry alligator. Getting the work done without getting bit was perilous at best, and extremely hazardous to my (mental) health at worst.
I began by going over the outline the teacher had given the students, giving them the requirements for the report, as well as a rough idea of how to build it. I pointed out that she had taken mostly all of the appropriate notes, so that put her ahead of the game. All that really needed to happen was that she put the pertinent information together into clear paragraphs that supported her original point. The words needed to flow in such a way that they were easily understood without seeming stiff, as little kids tend to write write sentences that are stand alone, and don't really lend themselves to leading to the next sentence or idea. As I begin to explain narrative voice, her eyes glaze over, followed by a look of absolute panic.
" I am NEVER going to get finished, and even if I do, it's going to SUCK!"
I know I am going to need a way to keep her attention and still make sure she understands what I am telling her, so I grab a notepad and pen from the side of my bed, as well as an autobiography I had recently checked out from the library, but hadn't started reading yet. I thumb through the book until I find a safe, descriptive paragraph, speaking to, of all things, a musician's songwriting process. She read the paragraph, thought about it for a few seconds, then wailed that she would NEVER be able to write that well.
I was back at square one, and needed to save the situation before it got any worse.
"So. Tell me a story."
"Huh? What kind of story?"
"Tell me what happened after the sitter picked you up from school today. Tell me everything that happened between the time you got picked up, and the time you guys made it back to the daycare."
She gave me a weird look, but began to narrate what she thought were the mundane details of the daily pickup routine, punctuated by one kid messing around with the door handle, being told to stop, then doing it again anyway as soon as the van stopped, then nearly falling out of the van as soon as it got to the daycare.
I verified the details, then I sat and wrote for a few minutes. I then handed her a paragraph filled with an exciting (I think, anyway) tale of pickups, and dramatic exchanges about homework, and a mischievous little kid and a van door. She couldn't believe it was the same story.
This, I told her, was the essence of writing: stringing a series of facts and details together so that they were interesting and made sense to whoever was reading them. Write as if you are speaking to someone, just remembering to use your best grammar, and support everything you say with details. And practice really does make perfect. The more you write, the more comfortable you get with writing, hopefully the more you learn, and the better you get.
She didn't look completely convinced, but she slunk off to the living room to get back on the computer, and re-write her paragraphs. She did end up getting a better grade than the project prior to that one, if I recall correctly, so I think it worked, at least a little. Score one for Mom teaching.
My daughter was sitting on my bed, frustrated and slowly progressing to beside herself. A draft of a report was due, and while she didn't mind doing the work, she couldn't understand her teacher's criticisms of her work, so she wasn't quite sure how to fix the issue so she could go back to getting her usual A's.
Me, being Mom, and trying to help without over-helping, and explaining at least some part of the writing process to her, so that she could become more comfortable with report writing, as the more she advances in school, the more report writing will become a huge part of her life. Left up to her, she would do math and science all day every day, and skip all of the writing stuff. But English, History, and Social Studies, with their associated long format, detailed answers, will begin to be a factor in a year when she begins middle school, so learning the basic, five paragraph essay format has been her quarterly project since the beginning of the 3rd grade. Having not really learned this format until later in my high school career (shame, I know), and seeing as her current teacher also knew that I was a blogger, I was determined to help her get through The Writing with as much grace and elegance as a 4th grader could muster. She loved the research portions of these reports, and printing pictures off of the internet or building models, but The Writing? The Writing was like pulling bad teeth from an angry alligator. Getting the work done without getting bit was perilous at best, and extremely hazardous to my (mental) health at worst.
I began by going over the outline the teacher had given the students, giving them the requirements for the report, as well as a rough idea of how to build it. I pointed out that she had taken mostly all of the appropriate notes, so that put her ahead of the game. All that really needed to happen was that she put the pertinent information together into clear paragraphs that supported her original point. The words needed to flow in such a way that they were easily understood without seeming stiff, as little kids tend to write write sentences that are stand alone, and don't really lend themselves to leading to the next sentence or idea. As I begin to explain narrative voice, her eyes glaze over, followed by a look of absolute panic.
" I am NEVER going to get finished, and even if I do, it's going to SUCK!"
I know I am going to need a way to keep her attention and still make sure she understands what I am telling her, so I grab a notepad and pen from the side of my bed, as well as an autobiography I had recently checked out from the library, but hadn't started reading yet. I thumb through the book until I find a safe, descriptive paragraph, speaking to, of all things, a musician's songwriting process. She read the paragraph, thought about it for a few seconds, then wailed that she would NEVER be able to write that well.
I was back at square one, and needed to save the situation before it got any worse.
"So. Tell me a story."
"Huh? What kind of story?"
"Tell me what happened after the sitter picked you up from school today. Tell me everything that happened between the time you got picked up, and the time you guys made it back to the daycare."
She gave me a weird look, but began to narrate what she thought were the mundane details of the daily pickup routine, punctuated by one kid messing around with the door handle, being told to stop, then doing it again anyway as soon as the van stopped, then nearly falling out of the van as soon as it got to the daycare.
I verified the details, then I sat and wrote for a few minutes. I then handed her a paragraph filled with an exciting (I think, anyway) tale of pickups, and dramatic exchanges about homework, and a mischievous little kid and a van door. She couldn't believe it was the same story.
This, I told her, was the essence of writing: stringing a series of facts and details together so that they were interesting and made sense to whoever was reading them. Write as if you are speaking to someone, just remembering to use your best grammar, and support everything you say with details. And practice really does make perfect. The more you write, the more comfortable you get with writing, hopefully the more you learn, and the better you get.
She didn't look completely convinced, but she slunk off to the living room to get back on the computer, and re-write her paragraphs. She did end up getting a better grade than the project prior to that one, if I recall correctly, so I think it worked, at least a little. Score one for Mom teaching.
Writing, like reading, is becoming a lost art among my daughter's contemporaries. She has a few books that she likes, and I bring home books that I think she will like from my own childhood, but times and tastes change, and there are far more misses than hits. She was fascinated when I finished The Corrections in 10 days, and can't understand for the life of her how I have the patience to turn off the TV and read a 300 page (or longer) book. I tell her that if I am going to write, I need to read, and that reading calms me when the constant blare of the television gets too frenetic. But what with the varied and non-stop lure of electronic entertainment, why should a kid pick up something as low-tech as a book? Maybe because reading for pleasure, not just for assignments, might turn their minds to more intellectual pursuits than gaming, and the thumb typed, shortened messages that pass for writing now. Also with reading comes a heightened ability to express yourself with more and better words, which can sometimes become a desire to write. With more people writing, our world becomes larger as people begin to reveal their unique lives to us, painting a picture of the world colored by so many points of view, we may never be able to read them all, but somehow, it's comforting to know that there are so many stories out there, just waiting to be told.
So. Tell me a story.
So. Tell me a story.
* There are some great books on writing that have helped me a great deal along the way. The most obvious choices,"On Writing Well" by William Zinsser, and "The Elements of Style" by Strunk and White, are classics for a reason, and should be a part of every writer's collection. Less common, but well regarded by me anyway, is Stephen King's "On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft". Part personal memoir, part writing manual and a completely wonderful read from an author whose novels I loved as a teen and young adult. I still have my original copy of this book, un-highlighted (I hate to mark up my books), but truly falling apart from multiple readings. This is as practical a guide book to writing as a craft as you will ever have the pleasure of reading.
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