After a month of using MyAccess software, I can now report that my reluctant writer (age 9) LOVES writing *gasp*
Changing from handwriting to typing has made the world of difference. But the biggest change has been the move toward very explicit instructions. While these 'instructions' will be most worrisome to literature experts, I have found that I need to take out a lot of the guess work for my reluctant writer. So while the teacher was lovingly using very open-ended topics, the endless possibilities had my reluctant writer going around and around in circles. So... the instructions for each writing topic now go something like this...
1. read the topic and underline the key words.
2. Map out a story arc and identify the topic sentences or key ideas for each paragraph.
3. Each piece of writing needs at least 5 paragraphs. Each paragraph has 5 sentences. (This at least generates something on paper, whereas previously my reluctant writer felt that she had exhausted the topic in 3 sentences!!!)
4. Each paragraph needs 5 rich, interesting, descriptive adjectives.
5. Each paragraph needs at least 5 full stops and 5 capital letters.
6. Each paragraph needs 1 compound sentence.
The result gives you around a page of text that we can then edit and work on. It's a HUGE improvement from what she was generating previously. And now that her confidence is improving, I feel that I'm almost ready to add to the formula to make it more sophisticated.
Perhaps a useful approach for other reluctant writers??
jojo
