“Everyone needs a coach. It doesn’t matter whether you’re a basketball player, a tennis player, a gymnast, or a bridge player.” (or a writer, or a reader) ~ Bill Gates
Writing is like playing basketball. Rebound- LOTS.
My friend, Helen Stanphill, who wrote for Focus on the Family’s Clubhouse Jr. Magazine,was a guest author in one of my elementary& middle school-aged writing classes. She told the students that writing is like basketball. REBOUND.
How? Well, writing is a process; it takes time and practice. Basketball has a process too, but the most important part of basketball is the rebound. I think rebounding in life and writing is important too. Just do it again & again until you achieve. In basketball, you have to get off the bench and keep playing to get better at playing. So it is with writing.
I know that often times parents and teachers forgo writing or writing lessons for many reasons. One of the many reasons that I hear is that they don’t have time, but I believe the writing process is invaluable. When you make the time, you will see results. Promise.
I also know from my own experience that sometimes it is just easier to forgo writing. My children complained so much bucking and snorting that I passed on our writing time more often that I should have simply because I didn’t want to deal with the conflict.
Whatever your reason is for not writing, please just rebound. Pick it up and do it again and again. Soon, you and your children/students will make writing gains. One must write to get better at writing just like one must get off the bench, play the game, and rebound in basketball.
Here is the writing process related to basketball:
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Pre-write- In basketball, the coach scrawls the plays on a whiteboard. These are the ideas of what to do on the court. This is the draft of plays for the players. Similarly, in writing, you just get your ideas on the paper. Graphic organizers are a wonderful way to organize your thoughts.
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Draft- Write- In basketball, the players go out and run the drafted plays to ensure they work. They organize themselves on the court according to the chart the coach drew out in the draft. The coach needs to see if each player suits each position. In writing, one just gets all the ideas from the pre-write organized and on the paper. Just write. Don’t get hung up on correct punctuation or spelling; just get all your thoughts onto the paper.
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Revise, Edit- The coach moves players around after viewing them play the drafted moves to make the plays more effective. In the same way, writers move their writing around to make more sense; they may delete some items, add some items, and correct some items. They check for what I call CUPS (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation, & Spelling) errors. They make corrections to have a winning paper just like the coach moves the players around and tweaks the plays to have a winning team.
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Rewrite– In basketball, the team runs through the plays that have been revised making corrections. In writing, the writer rewrites the paper with all the corrections. This is the rebound. Do it again and again until it is good, a score.
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Publish – The scoreboard shows off the basketball team’s points. When they are playing well, they score. The scoreboard is a wonderful way to reinforce their good work. Likewise, in writing, publishing your work is a way to show off and reinforce your hard work or your student’s hard work. See the 5th bullet of independent writing to get publishing ideas such as having children sit in a special author’s chair, display their work, type up their work, create a powerpoint, make into a book, etc. Publishing is also as easy as verbally sharing. This step is important because it creates a purpose to complete the work AND it celebrates success of the finished work. It’s a win.
Writing is an art that takes practice. Writing is a process. Whether you are writing or teaching writing, remember to rebound. Lots! 🙂
Let’s make a positive difference~ one word at a time.
♥Pamela
Please share this article with others that you think would benefit from these tips. Also, please ask any questions that you may have about teaching children reading or writing. Leave your questions in the comments. I’ll answer. 🙂
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Photo Credit: 1. pixabay.com 2. unknown 3. oncoursesystems.com
Thanks for sharing at my party! That infographic really makes it look simple -thanks!
Nicole,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. It truly is simple. The trick is staying consistent.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time. 🙂
Pamela
Hi Pamela,
I found you at Squishable Baby. This is a very good article on the writing process, and the reminder that writing takes time is wonderful. I’m thankful for the curriculum that we use – Moving Beyond the Page. It is heavy in writing, and it comes with the graphic organizers that you mentioned in your article. My 9 year old loves those. I will certainly share this post, it’s just a great resource for what could possibly be a frustrating and tiring aspect of home schooling.
Stephanie
Stephanie,
It is so great that your curriculum has an emphasis on writing and that you make time to do it. The rewards are invaluable. Your 9 year old will be such a good writer which is a life skill. 🙂 I’m glad it has graphic organizers too. I love to use them. I am glad you enjoyed this article. Thank you. Also, thank you for sharing it and taking the time to comment.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time. 🙂
Pamela
My kids hate that I insist on them writing essays. I don’t make them do them nearly enough though. I still find that I fall short of producing quality content all the time too. I love this analogy comparing basketball with writing.
Crystal,
I hope that this was encouraging to you. Most of us fall short with having our children write consistently, but the rewards are so worth it. You can do it. 🙂 I’m glad you like the analogy.
Thank you for taking time to comment.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time.
Pamela
Pamela,
Basketball and writing! Who knew? I love the idea of transferring techniques from one method to the other. It is difficult to motivate reluctant writers so I appreciate your words of wisdom and advice. Great post!
Donna,
I’m so happy you enjoyed the post. I know that it is hard to motivate reluctant writers, but once they experience some success, I think they are a bit more willing to write. Thank you for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time.
Pamela
This is such a useful analogy…both in my own writing life and for when I begin homeschooling my children. Pinning this!
Thank you so much for linking up with the Ladies Collective Linkup. Hope to see you again Wednesday at http://www.bestofbabylady.com!
Iulia,
Thank you so much. I’m glad this was useful to you.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time.
Pamela
I have a heard time just getting my son to pick up a pencil, for writing or math. But then again he has special needs. When he wanted to write on day and asked to use the word program on the computer I let him. Why? Well because he wanted to share his thoughts, which was awesome. Of course I still make him practice writing and he still fights me tooth and nail. Lord I try…..Thank you for being part of the (mis)Adventures Monday Blog Hop!
Mindie,
You did a great job. I’ve taught children with many different learning challenges such as dysgraphia, dyslexia, etc. The best thing you can do to get them to write is to let them keyboard or use a table or i-Pad. I know it must be hard, but I want to encourage you to keep trying. Perhaps he can dictate to you what to write at first. Take turns. 🙂
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time. 🙂
Pamela
I so agree with your last comments there – my younger son is dyspraxic and now touch types. He uses his tablet a netbook at school and will have dispensation to type his public exams. Once we got over the hurdle of what his writing looked like and him being marked for content, he’s been able to fly – and both my sons, i like to think, now thank me for making them write a lot with me when they were smaller 🙂
Marjorie,
It is awesome that you helped your sons persevere with writing. The rewards are great.
Thank you for taking the time to comment.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time.
Pamela
Excellent post. I couldn’t agree more about the “rebound” and it’s importance in anything you do in life. Try and try again until you achieve success. Thank you for sharing this on the hop.
Dear Stacie,
Yes, rebounding is important to all we do in life. 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to leave a comment.
Together, we make a positive difference ~ one word at a time.
Pamela