An early morning plunge, quickly underneath the surface as breath is stolen away in the cold embrace of the deep. Then up again, a breath, a wipe of the eyes, and the bobbing toward the end of the rope. Gentle lapping sounds as the boat tilts to and fro. The silence of the dawn steals away the outer senses, and anticipation for the ride builds up inside. A shivered shake. From the chill of the air? Of the water? Of excitement? No matter. Soon, very soon, it will be better. It will all smooth over, and we will fly.
Have you ever been water skiing?
I have to admit, the last time I went water skiing maybe 5 years ago, it wasn't very impressive. Something about a wakeboard and one very uncomfortable face plant with an eyeball full of water. Let's just say, I'm past my prime.
But even in my prime, I had trouble. I remember trying to get up on a single ski while in high school. A buddy had invited me out to the lake with his family, but I couldn't quite accomplish it. I was much more comfortable on two skis.
That was a long time ago, but I remember one rare moment when we were the first boat on the lake in the morning, and the lake was like glass. It's just too cold to dip your toe in first. You'd never go for it. You just have to brave it and jump in.
When I teach writing to my middle school students, I try to get them to jump in. Check out my recent post Big Moment Writing to see how I do that on the first day of school. Many times the students fight the freedom to just write, and they have so many questions: "How long does it have to be?" "How many sentences in a paragraph?" "What should I write about?" Or they just sit there and resist: "I can't think of anything." "I don't know how to start." "I'm not good at writing."
Have fun, try new things, take risks, just write. I'll help you from there.
Once students brave the cold water and jump into their writing, they feel more comfortable producing work. At that point, I have a chance to analyze where they're at in their writing journeys. One of the things we work on in our class during the year is one of the 6+1 Traits of Good Writing: Sentence Fluency.
It's often a challenge to get students to simply write complete sentences, but once we figure that out, then it's time to write more smoothly. Like glass.
Grammatically speaking, students must first review and practice subjects and predicates (simple sentences), something I make sure I do for my 6th graders very early in the year. Once that's been learned, they must begin to understand compound and complex sentences in order to mix up their sentences in each paragraph they write.
At this point I like to teach my students about the
ABCs of bad paragraph writing...
If a student has too many short sentences strung together in a paragraph, it feels very choppy to the reader, like the water on a windy or busy day water skiing at the lake. In this scenario the reader may feel:
Agitated.
If a student consistently writes a similar sentence structure over and over and these are medium length sentences, the reader may feel:
Bored.
And if a student enjoys writing the longer sentences that have a lot of information embedded in each one, I tell the students that the reader has trouble following the line of reasoning, and the reader may feel:
Confused.
We do not want the readers to be agitated over consistently short and choppy sentences, bored with the monotony of the medium length, or confused at the constant long explanations. There has to be a balance among the three.
That balance comes when the short, medium, and long are strategically structured for the purpose of the writing. In my opinion, this can only occur with continual writing practice and proper feedback.
When a student learns to appropriately manipulate the lengths of sentences within the paragraphs written, the reading is smoother and more enjoyable for the reader. Once a writer understands this and begins to write longer pieces, the same is true of paragraphs: we need short, medium, and long paragraphs put together in creative ways to make the reading experience a smooth one.
The reading becomes effortless, like the speeding boat that pulls the skier through the water on a lake as smooth as glass.
I have to admit, the last time I went water skiing maybe 5 years ago, it wasn't very impressive. Something about a wakeboard and one very uncomfortable face plant with an eyeball full of water. Let's just say, I'm past my prime.
But even in my prime, I had trouble. I remember trying to get up on a single ski while in high school. A buddy had invited me out to the lake with his family, but I couldn't quite accomplish it. I was much more comfortable on two skis.
That was a long time ago, but I remember one rare moment when we were the first boat on the lake in the morning, and the lake was like glass. It's just too cold to dip your toe in first. You'd never go for it. You just have to brave it and jump in.
When I teach writing to my middle school students, I try to get them to jump in. Check out my recent post Big Moment Writing to see how I do that on the first day of school. Many times the students fight the freedom to just write, and they have so many questions: "How long does it have to be?" "How many sentences in a paragraph?" "What should I write about?" Or they just sit there and resist: "I can't think of anything." "I don't know how to start." "I'm not good at writing."
Have fun, try new things, take risks, just write. I'll help you from there.
Once students brave the cold water and jump into their writing, they feel more comfortable producing work. At that point, I have a chance to analyze where they're at in their writing journeys. One of the things we work on in our class during the year is one of the 6+1 Traits of Good Writing: Sentence Fluency.
It's often a challenge to get students to simply write complete sentences, but once we figure that out, then it's time to write more smoothly. Like glass.
Grammatically speaking, students must first review and practice subjects and predicates (simple sentences), something I make sure I do for my 6th graders very early in the year. Once that's been learned, they must begin to understand compound and complex sentences in order to mix up their sentences in each paragraph they write.
At this point I like to teach my students about the
ABCs of bad paragraph writing...
If a student has too many short sentences strung together in a paragraph, it feels very choppy to the reader, like the water on a windy or busy day water skiing at the lake. In this scenario the reader may feel:
Agitated.
If a student consistently writes a similar sentence structure over and over and these are medium length sentences, the reader may feel:
Bored.
And if a student enjoys writing the longer sentences that have a lot of information embedded in each one, I tell the students that the reader has trouble following the line of reasoning, and the reader may feel:
Confused.
We do not want the readers to be agitated over consistently short and choppy sentences, bored with the monotony of the medium length, or confused at the constant long explanations. There has to be a balance among the three.
That balance comes when the short, medium, and long are strategically structured for the purpose of the writing. In my opinion, this can only occur with continual writing practice and proper feedback.
Short sentences are effective when a profound statement is necessary and should be followed by intentional thought.
The reader should sense a purposeful pause and have a chance to consider that thought. Too many of these cause a stuttered experience. The flow of the reading is interrupted too much and can be irritating for the reader.
Long sentences are effective when more detail or elaboration is needed.
Proper punctuation is of utmost importance because these thoughts can lead to run-on sentences without the correct care. Combining sentences into compound or complex sentences with logical transitioning will help, but too many of these can lead to a laborious task for the reader. It is tough to track all the events or ideas that are going on in the writing when there are too many longer sentences. The reader's mind needs a break.
Medium length sentences are effective to balance out the short and the long sentences.
These are the types of sentences that connect the shorter profound stopping points with the longer more detailed explanations. These medium length sentences are like the glue that binds the paragraph together as one cohesive unit. A straight forward simple subject to predicate structure works well for these medium length sentences. It is also important to have intentional vocabulary and word choice with strong action verbs in the medium length sentences.When a student learns to appropriately manipulate the lengths of sentences within the paragraphs written, the reading is smoother and more enjoyable for the reader. Once a writer understands this and begins to write longer pieces, the same is true of paragraphs: we need short, medium, and long paragraphs put together in creative ways to make the reading experience a smooth one.
The reading becomes effortless, like the speeding boat that pulls the skier through the water on a lake as smooth as glass.
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