A Word on Student Writing from The Academic Director

I just wanted to take a moment to address some concerns that has come up a few times with regard to student writing.

Many of our students, your kids, when they get to SOAR, are reluctant writers and some just plain hate to write, either because it is difficult for them physically, difficult due to a processing problem, or difficult just due to the fact that they have not had any positive experiences with writing in school to date.

We're hoping to change all that.

Part of the way we do this is by reinforcing successive approximations at whatever our goal(s) are for your child's writing. We praise them for what they are doing well, while at the same time, making suggestions, for things that they should look at changing, editing, or revising, to make their writing better, with regard to length, content, and conventions. It's the glass half full philosophy.

The result of this may be, that the letters you receive at home, or the blogs you see posted online, may not be perfect. This is not because we are not checking, correcting or instructing, it is just that, as educators, we are making a choice, with regard to where to focus and where to place emphasis at any given moment.

For example, if a student, who has never written a paragraph before is excited about something they have written or word processed, we are going to look at the content, and point out the attention to detail in their thoughts and ideas before mentioning the several spelling or punctuation errors.

Think of it this way. If all you ever got from the boss at work was criticism for the things you weren't doing, or the expectations you weren't meeting, wouldn't your desire to deliver for them begin to diminish?

Our goal, in general, is to turn your kids " on" to school, reading, writing, math, history and science. We are, after all Success Oriented, Achievement Realized. The definition of success isn't perfection, and one doesn't need to demonstrate flawlessness in order that we say they have achieved.

My students are also always asking me with regard to their writings, " Mike, is this long enough? "
"Mike, does this sound good enough?"  While I will tell them what I think and I will give them my opinion and my guidance when needed, my answer is often, " You are the author. Do you feel it is long enough to express what you wanted to say?"

The result here will often be, that students will write what they want.  Often without external requirements being placed upon them, they will surprise.

I also don't censor with regard to content. The result being, that you may see your kids writing things, that "they wouldn't write in school." We talk about freedom of speech as well as things that are and aren't appropriate in a general sense. We talk about speech that can be harmful or hurtful towards others. Beyond that, I really don't place restrictions on our students. If I did, we might not ever see what they were truly capable of. We could be snuffing out the flame before it ever had a chance to blaze.

So, to conclude, if you see letters coming home that aren't perfect, or if you see a posted blog, where your child has written something that makes you a little uneasy, because it is not what you would typically expect from school, remember that we are not a typical school, and your children are extraordinary. We recognize that what comes home is all you see, and it is all you have to judge, That is why I felt the need to share these thoughts. If your child posts a blog, and it is not grammatically correct or totally correct with regard to use of conventions, it isn't for lack of modelling, and instructing. At the end of the " writing process" your children will  know what the things are that they need to correct, to make their writings have the best presentation possible. Once it is turned over to them a final time, it is their work, and it is their responsibility.

At the end of the day, we can model, and we can influence, but like you or I, we really can't make our students, our children do anything that they, themselves don't want to do. So they key is to turn them on to writing, to school in general, so that they develop that intrinsic motivation to, say, write, for the purpose of expressing ones thoughts, feelings and emotions, rather than writing, because it is a school assignment.

Think what motivates you to do something... anything. Where does that motivation generally come from? Generally it is from within. That is what we are trying to instill in your children.