The Killgallon Sentence Composing method and books preceded The Writing Revolution, and includes student worktexts. I'm using their books with my kids this year, and am looking forward to seeing results from focusing on lowly sentences.
The Killgallon method looks like an improvement over most approaches to writing instruction, but as far as I can tell the activities aren't designed to be embedded in curriculum content. If I'm wrong about that, let me know, but if I'm right, that would be a significant difference between Killgallon and The Writing Revolution. As I say in the post, embedding writing activities in the content of the core curriculum enables students to acquire writing skills and content knowledge simultaneously.
You are right in that it focuses more on good literature and its creative structure, than it does on imparting "content knowledge" of history, science, etc... I just homeschool and don't have time to develop embedded writing activities in all of the content I teach, or for multiple grade levels. But luckily the curriculums I've chosen are pretty content-heavy already, and there is a lot of discussion and creative individualized teaching methods I can use with my very small "class". Anyways, I enjoy your blog, even if I might not be your primary audience.
It sounds like the Killgallon method serves your purposes well! I asked about embedding the activities in content mainly because I often say that The Writing Revolution is the only method I know of that combines three things:
1. Modifying cognitive load by beginning at the sentence level, if that's what students need.
2. Teaching grammar and writing conventions in the context of students' own writing.
3. Embedding writing activities in the content of the curriculum as much as possible.
I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed another method that does all three.
Have you looked At Engelmann’s Expressive Writing programme? He created a logically structured sequence that establishes key English syntax (subject and verb) and the builds and builds. It’s delightful and I’ve seen it have remarkable impact.
I'm not familiar with it at first hand but I have heard good things about it from others. I would guess that, as with the Killgallon method, it doesn't embed writing activities in the content of the curriculum, as The Writing Revolution does. I'm sure Expressive Writing is better than most other approaches to writing instruction, though.
The Killgallon Sentence Composing method and books preceded The Writing Revolution, and includes student worktexts. I'm using their books with my kids this year, and am looking forward to seeing results from focusing on lowly sentences.
The Killgallon method looks like an improvement over most approaches to writing instruction, but as far as I can tell the activities aren't designed to be embedded in curriculum content. If I'm wrong about that, let me know, but if I'm right, that would be a significant difference between Killgallon and The Writing Revolution. As I say in the post, embedding writing activities in the content of the core curriculum enables students to acquire writing skills and content knowledge simultaneously.
You are right in that it focuses more on good literature and its creative structure, than it does on imparting "content knowledge" of history, science, etc... I just homeschool and don't have time to develop embedded writing activities in all of the content I teach, or for multiple grade levels. But luckily the curriculums I've chosen are pretty content-heavy already, and there is a lot of discussion and creative individualized teaching methods I can use with my very small "class". Anyways, I enjoy your blog, even if I might not be your primary audience.
It sounds like the Killgallon method serves your purposes well! I asked about embedding the activities in content mainly because I often say that The Writing Revolution is the only method I know of that combines three things:
1. Modifying cognitive load by beginning at the sentence level, if that's what students need.
2. Teaching grammar and writing conventions in the context of students' own writing.
3. Embedding writing activities in the content of the curriculum as much as possible.
I just wanted to make sure I hadn't missed another method that does all three.
Have you looked At Engelmann’s Expressive Writing programme? He created a logically structured sequence that establishes key English syntax (subject and verb) and the builds and builds. It’s delightful and I’ve seen it have remarkable impact.
I'm not familiar with it at first hand but I have heard good things about it from others. I would guess that, as with the Killgallon method, it doesn't embed writing activities in the content of the curriculum, as The Writing Revolution does. I'm sure Expressive Writing is better than most other approaches to writing instruction, though.
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https://sentencecomposing.com/ great resource.