Growing a writer
Brave Writer recognizes three distinct aspects of writing. Our curriculum combines these aspects of writing to develop skilled writers:
- Mechanics & Literature - programs that expose children to high-quality literature and teach the mechanics of writing: grammar, punctuation, spelling, literary devices
- Original Thought - classes and PDF manuals that support children's and teen's abilities to grow their vocabulary and ideas into their writing
- Writing Projects - developmentally scaled writing assignments that bring the current mechanics of writing skills and original thought together for a completed writing project
A child's writing life begins before the child can read or write. Their verbal fluency represents their original ideas that make up the heart of their writing.
On the left base of the triangle are mechanics and literature. A child learns to read and write in kindergarten through second grades.
On the right of the triangle is a child's original thoughts. These are fluent by age five.
At the start of the writing journey, these two sets of skills are as far apart as they will ever be.
The journey to becoming a fluent, independent writer takes ten years. The distance between transcription skills and original thinking shrinks as the child gains skill.
The journey to becoming a fluent, independent writer is traveled up the sides of the triangle. Imagine the parent's level of support and help as the green space inside the triangle. A parent's role diminishes over time (the narrowing of the triangle) as a child gains skill in bringing mechanics and original thought together to create writing projects.
To grow a child's writing, developmentally scaled writing projects are introduced that maximize a child's current mechanics skills while enabling a child's fluent self-expression to flourish in their writing.
Learn more:
Hear more about the Writing Triangle here in this short video clip: The Writing Triangle