One of the hallmarks of the IEW writing program is that it requires students to consciously use all 6 of the "dress-ups" that it introduces in every single paragraph until they have internalized the process and can then be less conscious about it and still have varied sentence openings and structures. So in that spirit, here's a little composition of mine.

Amazingly, I jogged a level two miles with the novice group of runners from our church who are training for the upcoming Monument Avenue 10k race in March. While I typically consider myself to be a mediocre, if not incompetent runner, today I shocked myself by not becoming excessively winded or throwing up. Because I was able to complete the entire run without walking, I am now looking forward to the training I will do for the next six days and promise myself that I will not slack off like I did last week.

See? There's a:

--who/which clause
--"ly" adverb
--because clause
--quality adjective
--strong verb
--adverbial clause (www.asia: when, while, where, as, if, since, although)

I am doing my best to help my boys and my students in class to produce work with these kinds of stylistic elements, and especially for them to do it naturally. The writing that results is often varied, interesting, complex, and helps them create better cohesion because the required adverbial clauses tend to make them logically link ideas together, which can create a better flow for the reader. I am so very pleased. I have seen a complete transformation, especially in Ollie, who used to be phobic about writing. He still is a very, um, challenged speller, and he seems to have an on-again, off-again relationship with punctuation and capitals. But that aside, he has allowed himself to become much more creative in his written work, and he can now face a blank sheet of paper without panic or seizure. Here is part of a recent piece of writing he did, and I'm shocked to say that it only took him about 45 minutes to produce a 3 page story, something I would never have believed possible even 3 months ago. I have edited for punctuation and spelling here, but here is the middle of his fable about the Lion and the Shepherd (a version of Androcles and the Lion)

"As he was hobbling by, a shepherd who was named Carlos heard the anguished screams of the lion. Carlos cogitated ,"What a poor creature! I must help him!" So he nonchalantly walked up to the lion and pulled out the sharp, glistening barb from the sole of the lion's foot. As soon as it was out, the lion did a backflip and rode a unicycle to show his utmost appreciation and then shimmied down the rocks into the darkness."

I could not be more pleased! And he handwrote his first draft, which I know is difficult for him. We have been practicing this week with some other stories, though I've only had them discussing them orally with our Story Sequence Chart or I've been writing down an outline with their help. Breaking down the process into smaller parts is really helping them get a handle on a concept that is new and more involved than what they've done in writing so far. Now they must ask questions, consider the elements of a story and how it develops, analyze for theme or moral (is the moral of "Where the Wild Things Are" to not sass your mother or that running off on your own is not as satisfying as it sounds when you are angry and hurt or that being a benign dictator isn't a fair tradeoff for being away from the love of your family?), and then put that into words using a specific set of stylistic techniques. I'm ready to start Frances with the program, too, after seeing how well it both promotes creativity and gives comforting boundaries. She is not a reluctant writer, but she could use some strategies to help her stories have a greater sense of plot and development, rather than many episodes and excessive, if very creative details. I love really finding something that is a good fit for us and not wondering whether I should be using something else!

Last night was a banner tennis night. Not to brag, but I played the absolute best tennis of my life. I was aggressive, not at all afraid of the net, I was running around like a madwoman and sweating buckets, and I was getting to balls that I normally would have considered a lost cause. It was an amazing feeling to know that I had played my hardest and best and that we won (6-2, 6-2), but also deserved the win because we had worked for it. Sometimes I don't feel completely in sync with my partner, and because Hilary and I don't play together very often (only at this particular tournament, actually, which is only once a year), it can be awkward because we do not always read each other's needs and movements. Last night we were simply on. As a result, we won the A Flight of the 6.5 and under division, which was exciting. And if that wasn't enough, I won a raffle item, a free one-hour lesson with one of the pros at her club. I love private lessons, but since they tend to run around $50/hr, I don't get to do them as often as I'd like, so this was a super prize for me. Plus, now that I am on fire for tennis, I'm motivated to up my game and throw my whole self into it (okay, not the whole self, but as much as I can spare from my teaching roles and obsession with iPod Skeeball). I think I did win a "loser's bracket" before at Woodlake at a tournament (though I never did get that Woodlake dri-fit tank top I was supposed to have been given as a prize!), but normally I end up out in a semi-final round. This is hopefully the beginning of something big.

I love days when we don't have a lot of stuff to do, and today and tomorrow are among them. We are watching movies (the boys are watching "9" right now, but it's not my type of flick), I took Frances out to buy some craft supplies (she wants to sell shell animals and friendship bracelets as well as regular and gluten-free baked goods at a farmer's market this spring), and we went to the library to get some origami books. Kerry and I were able to go out to lunch sans children after the run/walk this morning. And tonight I'm going to take as many people as I can cajole to go to see Thoroughly Modern Millie at the local high school. Tomorrow I'll need to prep for my classes and inventory our ski supplies. Walter and Ollie are going on Monday morning bright and early, so they will miss their Monday classes. I'm jealous, since I want to chaperone and can't because I have to teach. Doesn't being responsible suck sometimes?!