[email protected]

Kirby left me a note, on paper, last night. I wish I could just scan it in.
<g>

It's printed, obviously by someone without much experience printing.

It says


Hiya Mom!

Eric decided to stay again [the 'g' almost illegible, no tail on it; the a
funky like a "d" almost) so dont be shockeD when you see him! (a smiley face
drawn)

Kirby

Then followed a note from Eric, who's older and goes to school.

Thank You For um, not getting mad!
--Eric (and a smiley face drawn)

Eric's letters were way better, but his g's were as bad as Kirby's, and he
capitalized just about everything.

Worth analyzing? Sometimes a snapshot of a real-life use is helpful.

Kirby spelled everything correctly (once I figured out "again"). Kirby is
making his a like a type-set a, with a line up top, because he learned to
read and write and spell from typeset and computer stuff, and that kind of a
is common.

Sandra

[email protected]

In a message dated 8/20/01 10:06:37 PM Eastern Daylight Time,
[email protected] writes:


> She is 8 and occasionally writes backwards, but she
> recognizes it now, before she couldn't see it.
>

My daughter is 6 1/2 and writes her letters from the bottom up. Should I be
concerned? We really didn't spend lots of time on writing practice last
year--I let her do lots of art, which she loves, instead, to help develop her
fine motor skills. Writing even a sentence properly is a major challenge,
between backward letters, spacing, spelling, and letters beginning at the
bottom. Certainly a case of asynchrenistic development when compared to her
reading skills!
Renee

This email is a natural product
made from recycled electrons. The
slight variations in spelling and 
grammar enhance its individual
character and beauty and in no way
are to be considered flaws or
defects. Any errors in tact or
fact are transmission errors.
~Karris


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zenmomma *

>>Hi, Mary!!>>

Hi, Sandra!! Casey was out with a friend all day yesterday which gave me
time to come out of lurkdom to post. :o)

Life is good.
~Mary






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zenmomma *

>>I had to copy this part of your post and forward it on to my dh. My
>>daughter is also 8 and does the same thing. It has been an issue with
>>comments from my mil -and even dh. whenever she shows them something she
>>has done they say "this is nice - but how come your J's are backward?" It
>>drives me crazy. I find that sort of statement must be discouraging to
>>her.>>

Geez. :-/ Have you ever asked her if it bothers her? Maybe you could help
her with a snappy comeback. Or maybe she's so self-assured that she knows
enough to ignore such somments. ;-) It might be helpful for you to know
which camp she's in though.

>>She reads very, very well - and people- including dh seem to think that
>>then she should write as well and realize that some of her letters are
>>backward. Well, she does - but at this point doesn't
seem too concerned about it.>>

Reading and writing are two completely different skills. They may complement
each other, but they don't necessarily come at the same time. Casey started
writing when she was 3, but she was not an early reader. I think Sandra
pointed out something similar with Holly writing before reading fluently. My
son is the opposite. He has been reading fluently well before the writing
kicks in.

There are times when Casey cares about the "look" of her written product,
and times when she just cares about the content. Sounds like your daughter
is thinking along the same lines. Right now content is what she's after.
When it matters, she'll spruce up the "look" of her writing and pay more
attention to those pesky details like letter direction. <g>

>>In any case, it was nice to read about someone else who does the same
>>thing!>>

LOTS of kids do the same thing. It's just that most of them are in school
getting shamed or labelled or turned off to independent writing completely.

Life is good.
~Mary



Life is good.
~Mary








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Heather Hall

I took freshman english in college 2 times. The first time was with a
very precise assignment oriented professor. I failed miserably. The
second time I took it with a really laid back lady who encouraged us to
just start writing, skip words, rewrite words over when we got stuck on
a thought, don't bother scratching out mistakes - she called it free
writing. We would then take that first draft and put it into more
organized form. I find now that I do best when I start this way too.
On Friday, August 1, 2003, at 03:07 PM,
[email protected] wrote:

> Kids who are comfortable expressing themselves in
> written language (no matter how poor the quality of actual
> writing) will be able to be taught writing forms at the time they
> need them (high school or college). When they see that they are
> ready to learn, teaching them is easy
--
Heather, mom to
Harriet 12.15.99
Crispin 01.25.02
heatherette@...


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Julie Bogart

--- In [email protected], Heather Hall
<Heatherette@c...> wrote:
she called it free
> writing.

LOL

Freewriting is the centerpiece of what I teach. :)

Peter Elbow popularized the term in his famous work Writing
with Power and most colleges now teach it (The Allyn and Bacon
Guide to Writing comes to mind). It's kind of obvious to anyone
who writes naturally that you can't edit your thoughts when you sit
down to write. Anything you get on paper can later be crafted and
tweaked. But the funny thing is, non-writers don't know this. So
they have to be let in on the big secret: Psst. Get it all out, even
the stuff that seems unrelated. Then later go back and cut and
paste until you like it.

Julie B

Jason & Stephanie

I'm so glad I DID take them out now,
instead of finishing out the year. I'm saving this article, so I
can reread it later if I have any fears or doubts as time goes on.

****I am so glad that you didn't wait any longer, good for you mom!

Stephanie in PA
Kieran (9) Brennan(6) Cassandra(5) Jared(2)

True learning- learning that is permanent and useful, that leads to intelligent action
and further learning- can arise only out of the experience, interests and concerns of the learner.
~John Holt

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