Florida kids are writing better
Tampabay.com

Tampa Bay Schools:
Latest poll

Poll: Funding lawsuit
Do you support the parent lawsuit alleging that Florida has not properly funded public education?
Yes
No

Tampa Bay Schools:
Comment Policy

    Please be sure your comments are appropriate before submitting them. Inappropriate comments include content that:
  • Is libelous
  • Is abusive, harassing, or threatening
  • Is obscene, vulgar, or profane
  • Is racially, ethnically or religiously offensive
  • Is illegal or encourages criminal acts
  • Is known to be inaccurate or contains a false attribution
  • Infringes copyrights, trademarks, publicity or any other rights of others
  • Impersonates anyone (actual or fictitious)
  • Solicits funds, goods or services, or advertises
  • The St. Petersburg Times does not edit posts but reserves the right to delete comments that violate our policy.

    Report abuse: abuse@tampabay.com

« Home-schoolers, "un-schoolers" join forces | Main | Cut school admins, help classrooms? »

April 03, 2008

Comments

Feed You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.

Paul Barger

There seems to be a lot of emotion surrounding “How do we teach children to write effectively?” On my blog I have a series called “The Art and Science of Teaching Writing.”
Writing is an art, yet if students can’t produce when its test time, how can we say we are doing a great job?

I’ve taught GATE kids, and I’ve taught kids in the inner, inner city. “Pattern Based Writing: Quick & Easy Essay Writing” is the result of more than a decade of researching how to get elementary students to write effectively.

Effectively to me means, “Correctly, creatively, naturally, quickly, and with control and enjoyment.” The longer students practice writing the wrong way, the harder it is to bring about these results in a natural way.

That’s why “the Lang. Arts teachers spend almost the entire year coaching the kids on how to write a five paragraph paper according to the rules of FCAT.” It’s basically saying, “It’s too late to get the kids to write correctly in a natural way.” It means the kids have practiced writing incorrectly for TOO LONG.

www.patternbasedwriting.com is a complete writing program for elementary students which works so well that middle school teacher will be able to teach writing the way they are supposed to.

As a elementary school teacher, to me what is MOST IMPORTANT is the writing I see in their daily work. I want thoughtful writing that students take pride in. I also want their writing to be correctly structured.

Raye

To answer that question--They can't REALLY write. The Lang. Arts teachers spend almost the entire year coaching the kids on how to write a five paragraph paper according to the rules of FCAT. PERIOD. They teach nothing else until after the writing test in February. That's why they can't read, and this type of writing has absolutely NO use outside of the test.

Is it still the case that grammar, spelling, and punctuation don't count?
Are we really talking about organizing a paragraph or more, devoid of necessity to use appropriate grammar or correctly spelled words and punctuation marks?????????

How is it that they can write, but they can't read?

The scores don't add up.

Verify your Comment

Previewing your Comment

This is only a preview. Your comment has not yet been posted.

Working...
Your comment could not be posted. Error type:
Your comment has been posted. Post another comment

The letters and numbers you entered did not match the image. Please try again.

As a final step before posting your comment, enter the letters and numbers you see in the image below. This prevents automated programs from posting comments.

Having trouble reading this image? View an alternate.

Working...

Post a comment

About This Blog

Get inside the world of Florida education with St. Petersburg Times staff writer Jeffrey S. Solochek and the rest of the Times education reporting team. We'll bring you up-to-date information about the latest education trends, fads and news and dig deep into Tampa Bay area school issues.

E-mail me: solochek@sptimes.com
Join Jeffrey on Facebook

Meet the contributors

Subscribe to this Blog

Add to My Yahoo! Subscribe in NewsGator Online Google Reader or Homepage

Advertisement


The Gradebook Bloggers

Shannon Colavecchio covers education issues in the Florida Legislature. E-mail her: scolavecchio@sptimes.com.

Tony Marrero covers Hernando County schools. E-mail him: tmarrero@sptimes.com.

Tom Marshall covers Hillsborough County schools. E-mail him: tmarshall@sptimes.com.

Ron Matus covers Pinellas County schools and state education. E-mail him: matus@sptimes.com.

Jeffrey S. Solochek covers Pasco schools. E-mail him: solochek@sptimes.com.

Thomas C. Tobin covers Pinellas schools. E-mail him: tobin@sptimes.com.

Rick Danielson covers the University of South Florida. E-mail him: rdanielson@sptimes.com.

Other education blogs