Any luck with
6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide (Grades 3 and Up) by Ruth Culham?
I found it very useful to read while trying to guide my DS. Up till that moment I thought that writing consisted of handwriting, spelling, punctuation, and making an outline. To me this gets to 'what is writing about, exactly, besides editing.'
Now I can specifically praise, in DS's work, or in a book or TV show. Great ideas, love your word choice, I really enjoyed your sentence fluency, great voice, killer organization! And DS knows what I'm talking about. Having a vocabulary to discuss what makes interesting writing interesting really helps. I think it helps DS to self-talk his way through projects as well. I don't know that he says to himself, "Hum, wonder if I can improve my word choice in this paper" but I imagine that he does.
Also good when you have to deliver the bad news: "I love your use of voice, but the custom is to use a different kind of voice in a Lab report, more robot-y right?"
I sure wish this had been around when I was in elementary school. I still remember the disappointment of pumping out my heart and soul and getting copy edits back.
Hey,Maybe we should do on online writing class right here...like my flylady thread?
Love and more Love,
Grinity
