This year, we have gone from over editing to little writing. So it has been hard to keep Hannah motivated to write. It is interesting to see that in my teaching, I seem to find strategies to help my students become motivated to write (or at least I believe so). However, when it come s to my daughter, I struggle to get her interested in writing.
In part, I attribute this problem to her struggles with concentration. It is hard to write when you can't concentrate. She is doing better though. This summer, no Argentina trip. So she will be going to summer camp and hopefully to the Writing Project at CSULA. This should help her with her reading, which is good, understanding (which is what she struggles with), and writing.
I am proud of her accomplishments. A girl who can deal with obstacles and so many life losses is to be commended!
I once taught a basic writing class with a group of veterans who had many challenges "opening up" in both discussions and in their writing assignments. After lots of brainstorming, I came up with a creative activity where I gave them a short personal question typed at the top of an otherwise blank page. Where did you grow up and what was that place like? I wanted them to say something/anything about their childhood environment--whether it be physical or cultural. I brought in a bunch of magazines and had them answer that question not via words, but via images that they chose, cut out, and pasted on a sheet of paper. They could also add "target words" or pieces of text they found in the magazines if they wanted to, but it was not mandatory. Afterwards, we went around the room and everyone had to show and explain their collage. It was really amazing. The images helped these men (they were all men) open up and talk about where they had grown up. Somehow removing the actual act of writing, allowed them to loosen up a bit. The images helped generate specific details and it was also a visual guide for them as they spoke--like an outline. After, creating and presenting these collages, the students were asked to write a short paragraph about where they grew up. They had to use the collage as a guide, but they were encouraged to add more details that came to mind. It's one of the exercises that I was really proud of at the end of the term because it was very fruitful in many ways and it seemed to remove "the fear/dread of writing" that so many of my students seemed to have. I thought of this pre-writing exercise in relation to Hanna because I recall visiting your office and seeing her draw a dragon. Maybe something like a visual collage would interest her?
ReplyDeleteTalking to writing, I feel frustrated about it. I am a second-language learner of English. All English grammar I learnt and taught in China seems useless when I am in the US on both speaking and writing. I succonsciously think I am good at grammar, however, I always make syntatical and grammatical mistakes which make others feel difficult to understand. After talking to many friends, they suggested me to read more English novels or books which will improve my wiritng. Thus I think, maybe, improving reading first and she will get clues and ideas from books, then she will be motivated on writing. I admire your daughter having you, a great mother, to help her. I will continuely learn your ways to improve your daughter's writing from your blog. Hope I can do better on my writing, too.
ReplyDeleteAs a child growing up with ADHD, it was a struggle for me to get interested in reading or writing. I actually did not read my first true 'chapter book' cover to cover until I was in the 4th grade. I would not have the patience to read anything comprised of more than 100 pages. I also remember that in elementary school there were few actual writing projects or activities throughout a good chunk of my time there. I think I missed out on a lot, because I never developed any personal desire to write anything. As a result, my writing abilities were severely lacking throughout middle school, high school, and even into my first year of college. I've been able to improve them a bit over the past few years, but I still consider my writing skills to be below-average. I think that if there had been more emphasis on writing in my education, I probably would have been more interested in it, and would have felt a more urgent need to improve myself as a writer in order to express myself more effectively.
ReplyDeleteThis is very informative HusbandHands. You clearly understand the problem!
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