Transform Middle School Writing: Strategies for Parents | Episode 48

In this transformative episode of the Falling for Learning Podcast, T.D. Flenaugh introduces "The R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method" to combat the writing crisis in middle schools. If you're a parent or educator committed to keeping children on track for learning and success, this episode is a must-watch! T.D. Flenaugh, an experienced educator, delves into techniques from his book and workbook to reignite a love for writing in middle schoolers. 

Discover the power of the R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method—an acronym that stands for Recognizing Talents and Root Causes, Effective Feedback, the Writing Process, Real-World Purposes, Intentional Practice, Traits, and Encouraging Creativity. Learn why a 4:1 ratio of positive feedback to areas for improvement can transform a child's attitude towards writing. 

T.D. shares real-world insights and actionable strategies to make writing fun and engaging, ensuring that students not only improve but also develop a passion for writing. This episode is filled with personal anecdotes, deeply reflective insights, and practical tips that can empower both parents and educators to effectively support their children.

Tune in to Falling for Learning for more inspiring content that focuses on personal growth, education, and empowerment! New episodes drop every Saturday at 5 PM. Don't miss out—subscribe today!

#WritingProcess #WritingMotivation #EngagingWriting #WritingMethods #CreativeWriting

CHAPTERS:
0:00 - Intro
1:03 - The Writing Crisis in Middle School
4:35 - Effective Feedback for Students
12:53 - Encouraging Creativity in Kids
16:47 - Order the Rewrite Method and Workbook
17:59 - Writing as a High-Level Skill
19:44 - Real-World Writing Tasks
22:07 - Writing Proficiency and Success
23:30 - Chat GPT in Education
25:17 - Get the R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method and Workbook
26:55 - Kids Interacting with Written Word
28:00 - Closing Thoughts
28:08 - Thanks for Joining Us
28:11 - Where to Find Us

Transcript

TD Flenaugh: 0:00

You are going to have 30 or more mistakes, if they wrote a whole page of paper is going to be 30 or more mistakes it is it's normal and it's developmentally appropriate for them to have it. It is not appropriate for you to talk about point out, mark up all 30 of those mistakes, there's a way that you could continue to get kids to hate writing. Thank you for joining us for another episode of the Falling for Learning Podcast, please hit the subscribe button. We're here for you. And you want to stick with this channel. If you have teens and tweens or you're a caregiver, right? Maybe a parent might be a caregiver, and you want to know what to do to keep them on track for learning and stay on track for success. Hit the subscribe button. Hello, thank you so much for joining us. Today we are going to talk about the writing crisis that's happening right now. All across the country, students are failing in writing. And today we're going to really delve into some ways to keep kids interested in writing, motivated to write and improving in their writing. So if this is an issue that you want to know about, and you need to know about, hit that like button, subscribe if you're not already a part of our community. Come on. Now, join us. This is such a quick, it's such such an important issue, we have to really nip these issues in the bud. So I am going to be taking information from my book set my book set the R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method. This is the parent and educator guide for getting middle schoolers to fall in love with writing. And the R.E.W.R.I.T.E. Method Workbook, which is the Parent and Educator Action Plan for getting middle schoolers to fall in love with writing. So these books were written with the statistic in mind that over 75% of our kids are failing when they are assessed in writing. And as someone who works in the schools, I've worked in middle school, high school, and Elementary, I worked on all three and actually went in order elementary, the middle school than high school. And I really want to be clear that kids are hating writing. And there are some things that we're doing that we could change. And there are little tweaks that we can do to make things more interesting and engaging for our kids. And this is why I wrote this book. Now R.E.W.R.I.T.E. is an acronym that stands for our for recognizing talents and root causes. E for effective feedback. W for the writing process, R for real world purposes. I for intentional practice, T for traits, and E for encouraging creativity. Now, I'm going to delve in to two areas of the book. And we're going to look at the ease the E for effective feedback and the E for in create encouraging creativity. So some things I'm going to say I know are not standard in some classrooms. But I know that they work because I have practiced this as a parent and as an educator, and I have students. Please, kids don't even like me, but they like the writing activities that they do in their class. Imagine that. So, you know, I mean, I love all my students, but for whatever reason students some of them some May take you know, take an issue with you for whatever or they may misunderstand why you do certain things. It's okay. I love all my students. But I know that even students who don't like to write really benefit from these elements that I put in place. So E is E for effective feedback. So effective feedback. I really advocate for the 4 to 1 ratio when it comes to feedback 4 positive 4 positive aspects of their writing that you comment on before you do one area of improvement. Now how does that work if the student's writing sucks, because that's what we're talking about, we have 75% of our children failing, then we're talking about some pretty bad writing. And this means that you have to sometimes get creative about what you're saying positive about. Now, it is some surface level things, right? We can talk about things like the handwriting could be nice. So that's a compliment. It could be something as simple as saying that they wrote something funny in the writing. So if it makes you have some kind of emotion, funny, something sad, right? If they're writing in a way that it makes you feel sad, that is a compliment, you are evoking emotion. And so that is a kind of compliment that you can give. You could also refer to the amount that they wrote, wow, you wrote five pages, you wrote two pages, you wrote a whole page, you wrote a whole paragraph. So whatever it is, you could compliment them. Now, if they wrote just two sentences, and they're in sixth grade, I wouldn't compliment them on that. Compliment them on things that are real, because that's one thing kids can see straight through the foolishness, okay? Don't play games with them. Be real. I'm saying if it made you laugh, comment on that, if you thought it was said in a unique way, or it made you think about it in a different way, I would comment on that. That is a compliment. You like the details, you liked a certain word that they use. You like the dialogue or phrase, tell them. So that is how you get four compliments. And then you get to the part where you have one area that they need to improve? And how do you know what to talk to them about? Because let me tell you, you are going to have 30 or more mistakes, if they wrote a whole page of paper is going to be 30 or more mistakes, it is it's normal, and it's developmentally appropriate for them to have it. It is not appropriate for you to talk about point out mark up all 30 of those mistakes, that is a way that you could continue to get kids to hate writing. Now, to get them to like writing to love writing, you need to have one area that they can make big changes in, that means you're going to see that same error all through the paper. And you're going to talk to them about a repeated mistake. So if they spelled a word wrong one time, that's not the issue, that's not what you're going to focus in on. If they forgot a period one time, that's not the issue. So it's a repeated error that they've made throughout their papers. And when you see that repeated error, you can make a huge difference throughout the paper. And they could start pointing it out. When they have 30 mistakes or 50 mistakes, or whatever, they are not able to process that intellectually, you are not going to tell them these 30 mistakes and teach them how to fix those 30 mistakes in a way that sticks, you're not going to be able to do it. So that's why you focus in on one error that they keep making. Because if they keep making it, you could show them one time, you could show him a second time. And then can they point it out the next time? Can they point it out the next time. And then that is a change that several changes within that paper. And you haven't nitpicked them to death, about all the mistakes that they have made. So this is what you got to do. So here is some here are some little tips, right? So it might be that they did forget capitalization, the same type of capitalization error throughout, like they didn't capitalize the names of people. So you could go through and say, Okay, you didn't capitalize the name of people and that again, right? That is what you're looking for that thing that they could, in that time process it. And then again, when we've given them for compliments, they're able to receive, right, if they've made 30 mistakes, and we talked about mistake number one, number two, number three on going down the list. They have not accepted that and they've got the message that they suck at writing and what is the point of even trying? So you want to make sure you're not giving them that message. You want to make sure that you are giving them something that they can process and they can change because they made that same error over and over again. and throughout their paper, then they could, after you've pointed out a couple of times that go back and find all the times where you didn't capitalize the name of people. And they can figure that out themselves and make huge changes, because that happened over and over again. Another error that they may find, you may find that they have made is maybe they start with the same sentence starter again and again, I went to the store, I had a good time I was with my friend, I felt sad, right. So throughout their paper, they have the same sentence starters. And you they again, you'll pointed out to them one or two times, and then they can see oh, yeah, I started with the idea. And I said, so they can work one, rearranging the way they wrote it, so it doesn't start with the eyes. So you'll show them. And again, that'll be a huge change. And that will be an error, that they can be able to process and learn and even have practice fixing it with their own paper, recognizing it on their own paper and applying it, we have turned kids off from writing by nitpicking them with all the mistakes they have made. And we do not a lot of us have forgotten to say anything positive about their writing. So they are very clearly getting a message they suck at writing, and they shouldn't even try. So our next thing is coming up. If you're getting value, please pause, hit that subscribe button. If you're already subscribed, hit that like button, because we're gonna go to the next thing. All over the United States 75% of children don't know how to write well. Add that to the fact that so many people out there are trying to silence the voices of those who have been oppressed, and trying to prevent them from telling their story, who's going to tell your story. If your child doesn't know how to write, well, I have two books to address this issue. The rewrite method and the rewrite method workbook returned to make sure that parents know what to do that educators know what to do to get their children to write better, and just not write better, but love to write, make sure that your next generation and could tell their story. And they won't be silenced. Go to falling for learning.com today to purchase your set. When we are looking at the rewrite method, I am talking to you today about E for effective feedback, of course, that four to one ratio for positives to one negative. And again, we don't even call it negative we call it an area of improvement. Okay. And we're going to move down to the last E which is the E for encouraging creativity. Now one of the ways that we as teachers, and maybe even homeschool parents have turned our kids off from writing is giving them you know, sucking out that creativity and not giving them a choice. Now really important, it is not a standard for writing, for kids to write about a particular subject. When we thought think about English, it is not that you know, and this is why I'm saying this because this is the issue. A lot of us as educators will give everyone in the class the same writing assignment. And I don't know why we do that, because they hate you know, I'm a teacher, we talk about it. You hate reading those 150 Same essays on that same topic. It's like reading the same thing over and over again. And not something that you love, but something you don't like, right? And of course, our students don't have that great writing. And let me tell you why. They're not even interested in the topic. You are giving them a topic that they have already decided that they don't like, and they didn't get a choice to do it. Now think about yourselves. Have you been excited and interested in a topic and just keep talking about it, keep reading about it. Keep looking up information about it, watching things on it. Wonderful. But when you have told everyone in the class, everyone, you guys are all going to write about cockroaches, your research papers on cockroaches right? Not only are you not going to get an enjoyment out of reading all of those essays on cockroaches, there are a few that will like it but there are several who won't like it. And what we find is several kids now they hate writing so much and it's such a problem that they aren't even writing they want don't even attempt the assignment. Or they'll put a couple of sentences on one of the days, but they don't really do much other than that. They pretend like they're going to do something or pretend like they're researching. But the thing is that they have no horse in the race, when we give our children choice, when we give them the opportunity to be creative, to think of their own topic, then they have some interest. They are into the topic, they can't stop talking about the topic. They want to know more about the topic, even though you're told them Okay, that's enough. And they're like, but I found out something else. That's when we ignite the love for learning the love for writing, because we're giving them a choice. Now, if I told you, you have to do it, on whatever topic and you don't like that topic, you have been restricted, and you're not you're gonna resent writing, right? We're writing is a vehicle for creativity. And it's a vehicle for healing and all of those things. But what we're doing is stripping writing from creativity. And we're stripping it from the ability to make a choice. And I guess teachers that like it's easier for them to teach, and where it might be easier for me to teach everyone to write the same essay, you are sucking the ability and to write better, right, because if I'm not practicing writing better, I'm not getting better at writing. Right? Is the haves and have nots, right? If I have a love for writing, I'm going to continue writing and get better. If I do not have a love for writing, I'm not going to continue to write and I'm going to get worse at it. Because as I get older, more is required. Simple. Okay. So delve in to you want to order the rewrite method. And the rewrite method workbook, right. This gives you specific activities, and resources and handouts that you could use with your child. And also, let me be very clear, my podcast, make sure that we help parents and caregivers get on track for learning. help parents and caregivers get their children on track for learning and stay on track for success. I focus in on middle schoolers, because I see a lot of stuff for the young babies, which is good. And a lot of us we know, let's be honest, your kid has fallen off the love for learning. They used to we say things about what they used to do. Some of us have given up we say you know why? He's just not a school kid. He's just not into school. And let me tell you, you're limiting their choices, right? My book is about legacy building, right, about how we could get that next generation to do living a life that they want living a life that they've dreamed up. And the way to do it is to make sure that they know how to write well and know how to read well. Okay, writing is the highest level skill. It includes reading, comprehension, you know, auditory processing, the spelling, the punctuation, capitalization rules, grammar rules, vocabulary usage, includes so much, but the main thing that writing does is make sure that your thoughts are put into form, right to a solid form written and written in words. Okay. And so it really, really requires a thought process. And again, if we're telling them what to write, and then even some of us are telling them how to write, right, like, this is the extra the exact way that you write. And this is again, part of the creativity, right? We only write a five paragraph essay in a particular way. You are robbing kids of the process of writing. And we're not preparing them for college and career because a five paragraph essay exist in schools. I challenge you to find it in the wild. And by the wild, I mean by published literature, in journals, magazines, newspapers, blog post. podcast episodes, right? Find it, you don't. So assign students tasks that are found in the real world. Now I'm bringing up another one. In the rewrite meant that there's are for real world purposes, but I'm not going to get too deep into it, but again, allowing them to be creative. In volved Then using different types of form match to write. Now I know that as an English teacher, you have a responsibility to teach the standards, your standard may be for them to write a research paper, it might be for them to write an argumentative piece. But it does not require you to give them the actual topic. And that you have to write about dinosaurs, not for English. Now for history, it gets a little different, but there are ways to make that more creative, rather than everyone doing the same essay, the same editorial, and I use words like editorial again, because I'm looking into the world into the wild world of literature and media for actual things that are published, right. So I'm not going to just say argumentative, I'm going to say an editorial. an op ed, I'm going to say a novel or something like that something that is actually exist in the wild. And that is where our mentor texts come from, where you your model text, and not just a text or model that I made up or kid from the previous year, but one that is published, that is professional level. And, again, if this brought value to you, please hit that subscribe button, hit that like button, if you've already subscribed, just pause there, again, get the books. The writing, and writing proficiency is about securing that back. For the next generation. Right? We are working ourselves out of a job we are Kingdom building, we're legacy building, making sure our kids have the skills to later on pay them bills, okay. I'm always being goofy and just laughing at myself. I'm just being silly. Just because I was using the funny voice anyway. That's the thing. We want to make sure our kids can write well, and part of integral, inter integral, what am I getting my words mixed up into growth. And to getting them to, to actually learn how to write well, is to make sure that they love to write. It's the way we a lot of kids know how to play video games. Why? Because they love to play the video games. You can't keep them away from the video game. So that's how you got to get them to loving the writing so that you can't stop them from writing. They will be writing all kinds of things because they love to write. They like that creative process, that thinking process, making their thoughts public. Right, because that writing later on, they need to write an essay to get into school they need to write an essay for to get a proposal for a bid for business. They need to write scholarship essays, they need to write grant proposals. I mean, the list goes on. You need to write something to get your money back. You need to write something to advocate for yourself in a court case. Like it goes on and on and on. You need to write and if you don't know how to write, well, you know, you're setting your kids up for failure and disadvantage. Now guess there's chat GPT everybody wants to say Oh, well chat GPT Yes, chat. GBT is out there the truth. But a lot of us are adults that know how to write well, or know how to write enough, right? The kids that we have, they are going to be prepared to write things that need to be beyond chat, GBT. They need to even recognize how to write better than chat GPT or to tweak with chat GPT puts out. Right, we got to prepare them. And again, to get you know, high paying jobs to get certifications. What you need is to take writing assessment, even to be a cosmetologist, you need to write it take like a written test. And so again, they're not going to they have ways to make sure that you're not cheating on that test that you're not using electronics, you now have your Apple Watch. You don't have your phone, you don't have anything. You may have a computer, but that computer is not used in a way for you to be be able to use chat GBT or AI technology to write it. So you do need to have the skills. Many jobs will have you sit down and write and produce something that is written. And if you don't know how to do that, well, you're not going to get that job. So that is a course. important for you to understand. Of course they have access. We can't stop them from using their cell phones. They love to use their cell phones, right? Right because I'm saying falling in love with learning falling in love with writing again. They cannot rely on it by itself. So you got to make writing part of your life. And according to the rewrite method, and the rewrite method workbook help you to do just that. This is the parent educator guide. This is the parent and educator action plan for getting middle schoolers to fall in love with writing. Here's one last thing I gotta say. Your kids may be in school, and you may think they're doing okay. But you really better leaning in, and actually pay attention. Another thing about the rewrite method is that it gives you the standards. And it compares those standards to fifth grade standards, so that you are moving your kid from elementary level writing to high school, to a secondary level writing, right, eventually to high school, but for middle school specifically, right? It was you need to take a look at those standards and study those learning standards and see if that matches what your kid is able to do and what they're being required to do at school. Because grades are sometimes arbitrary, not all the time, but sometimes, and your kid could be getting a good grade because the teacher likes them because they're sweet, because they're kind they're quiet. And that does not no does not mean that they are writing well or know how to write well. It doesn't mean that they like writing because they are quiet about it. And they produce whatever they kind of tell them to do. So you need to make sure you lean in and make sure your kids have the skill. So the way you do that is make sure that you are integrating some of these activities and the rewrite method and the rewrite method workbook. So that you are seeing your kid interact with the written word on a regular basis, so that you can confidently say they are good at writing or they aren't improving, or he's not really that good at spelling, but he has great ideas, right? You know what's good, and you know what needs work on and you are helping to track that progress. You cannot leave it up to the education system. You can. But historically, many groups of students have been underserved. And basically have been failed, they slipped through the cracks, right? Do not let your kid slip, slip through the cracks. Take responsibility. Take this into your mind and heart that you need to make sure that your kid knows how to write well. When they they're going to be telling your story. They're going to be creating and building a future that is admirable. And that stuff that dreams are made of. I know that you can do it. Thanks for joining us. Have a great week. Thanks again for supporting the Falling for Learning Podcast. New episodes go live every Saturday at 5pm. You can watch us on youtube.com/@fallingforlearning or listen on all major podcast platforms such as Apple, Google, Audible, Spotify, and much more. For more resources visit fallinginlovewithlearning.com We really appreciate you have a wonderful week.