The Incident That Triggered My Book on How to Teach Writing

“Since attention follows interest, it is folly to attempt to gain attention without first stimulating interest.” -- John Milton Gregory, The Seven Laws of Teaching

Like many American boys, I grew up playing baseball, football and basketball. We had pickup games throughout the year and intramurals at school. Many of us even earned our varsity letters in one sport or another. Soccer was not one of them.

With the exception of California it seemed there were few, if any, organized soccer teams--high school or otherwise--when I grew up in the Fifties and Sixties. So it was an interesting experience becoming a soccer coach when my son took an interest in this exhilarating sport at age six or seven. His first attraction, I believe, was the international character of the game. Soccer cards depict every nationality and the corresponding flags of a multitude of nations.

Though I'd only a modest relationship with soccer, I accepted the responsibilities of coaching and determined to excel at it. To do this I did what I usually do: I visited our local library and found books on the game. I studied the drills and exercises to develop my players’ skills. And I learned the rules.

At one point I also attended a clinic for coaches conducted by Buzz Lagos, head coach of the Minnesota Thunder professional soccer team. It was from Mr. Lagos, or “Coach” as he preferred to be called, that I learned what I consider to be the most important principle for writing teachers.

During the clinic we spent most of our time playing various games designed to teach soccer skills and develop our awareness of key principles. At the end of the evening we then gathered for a question-and-answer period.

During this Q&A one of my fellow coaches asked a question that was undoubtedly a burning issue for a number of us. “Sir, what skill level should my kids be at when they are 10 years old?” Here it was. What are the benchmarks that our boys and girls should aspire to as they advance in age? How deft should their ball handling be? How strong and true should they be kicking? How skilled in passing and receiving? How effective their ball control and other maneuvers?

Coach Lagos stunned me with his answer. He said, “Don’t even think about it. Only one thing is important, that they enjoy the game.”

Interesting answer.

We all know it’s true. The key to success in any endeavor is motivation. And that’s how our kids are going to become better writers, not by being forced to write but by wanting to and learning to enjoy it.

Your student or child will write more if she enjoys it rather than hates it. Think about this as well. The more they write, the more sentences and words you’ll have to grade or edit. You’ll also gain insights into your child's thinking. You’ll receive glimpses of who your students and children really are.

Though I created the exercises in my book to be fun, their aims are serious. Kids will learn not simply to write in sentences. Rather, they’ll learn some of the methods professional writers use to create interesting sentences. Kids will learn how to use the tools that help professionals become better writers.

Good writing is more than simply writing technically correct sentences with proper verb tense and punctuation. Good writing is writing that engages readers.

I strongly believe that learning how to communicate by means of the written word is a key component of any successful career. Kids who learn to write well will obtain more career opportunities and find more open doors than those who neglect this vital skill.

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Writing Exercises: How to Teach Writing and Prepare Your Favorite Students for College, Life and Everything Else is available here at Amazon.com.

Find information on all my books at Eds-Books.com.

One Reason Why Certain Kinds of List Articles Don't Teach Us Anything

From around fifth to tenth grade my kids were home schooled. During that time I created tests, taught some art classes and developed writing exercises to teach writing skills. My approach to teaching writing grew out of a remark that was made at the end of a coaches  clinic led by head coach Buzz Lagos and members of the Minnesota Thunder professional soccer team.

After spending an evening teach us various games and exercises that would help our youth advance their soccer skills it began to get dark, we broke for a Q&A session to sum up. During this Q&A one of my fellow coaches asked a question that was undoubtedly a burning issue for a number of us. “Sir, what skill level should my kids be at when they are ten years old?”

In other words, what are the benchmarks that our boys and girls should aspire to as they advance in age? How deft should their ball handling be? How strong and true should they be kicking? How skilled in passing and receiving? How effective their ball control and other maneuvers?

Coach Lagos surprised me with his answer, though it should not have been a surprise at all for it was the way I learned to excel in baseball as a kid. He said, “Don’t even think about it. Only one thing is important, that they enjoy the game.”

John Milton Gregory, in his book The Seven Laws of Teaching, writes, “Since attention follows interest, it is folly to attempt to gain attention without first stimulating interest.” This is essentially the same idea.

I decided that if I could create writing exercises that were imaginative and fun, my kids would produce more words than if it were a drag. The writing exercises, along with my grading approach, ultimately proved quite effective. So much so that Susie later encouraged me to assemble these into a book. Which I did.

The lessons were not about spelling and grammar. Those foundations had already been laid by years of schooling. Instead, the lessons were about capturing the reader's attention at the opening. Or about story and article structure. And on how to broaden one's vocabulary using a thesaurus. And when it's OK to break the rules.

The point here is that we learn by doing. 

And that's my problem with list articles. If you're like me you see them all the time. 37 ways to grab a reader's attention in the first sentence. 50 ways to improve your writing. 64 KPIs you need to track to succeed in business. The most important 104 acronyms every internet entrepreneur should be aware of. Ugh.

Now frankly, if you are also like me, you've probably never finished reading one of these articles. If the article is a rehash of other lists and thus offering nothing new, then you dismiss it a third of the way through, if not sooner. On the other hand, if the author has dug deep and produced an exceptional collection of useful ideas that truly sparkle, then you know you can't just zip through it. You have to slow down your pace for a spell and --

"Wait, I'm too busy for this. I'll get back to it later," you think, knowing you will not.

There are some great resources for writers online these days. As we all know, you don't learn to play piano by reading about it. You have to practice, practice, practice.

The best advice I ever got when I was a young artist went like this: It takes a thousand bad drawings to make a good drawing. I took that to heart. I didn't worry about making a masterpiece when I started. I filled pages with drawings and developed eye-hand coordination. I learned what my "tools of the trade" could do. I learned how to see like an artist.

Writing is likewise learned by doing.

Don't let those list articles intimidate you. The authors mean well, and they nearly always have a takeaway that can help you. Next time you see one, park it somewhere on your hard drive and read it when you have a little more time, when you're not working against a deadline. Read it like you would a poem, more meditatively. Take one assertion to heart and see if you can apply it to your next writing assignment.

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REMINDER: For what it's worth, tonight is the closing reception for Plein Air Duluth, a juried show featuring artists from all over North America who came here this week to paint outdoors in our fabulous landscapes. Forty artists participated in this week long event and tonight from 5-7 p.m. the results will be on display at the Duluth Art Institute Galleries in the Depot. Juror Dan Mondloch will award ten prizes.  

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Meantime, life goes on all around you. Celebrate it!