The Checklist Challenge (CC), a challenging checklist of editing tasks, is included in ninety percent of the assignments in all one hundred of my books. It is taught extensively in the first couple lessons in each first semester Meaningful Composition book for grades 4 through 9 (and books 2 and 3 have lessons scattered throughout them). There are even downloads teaching nothing but how to complete this amazing editing tool (I really love the CC!).

But it has recently come to my attention that teachers really want help in scoring it. I mean, is a colorful paper enough? What about every box checked off? How about great adjectives and adverbs sprinkled throughout?

So, I have created a video that will at least get you started in how to grade your student’s CC—how to teach them to code it thoroughly, what a completed CC paper looks like, how to cross check the chart (and its check boxes for each task) with the student’s paper, how to total a score up, and much more.

I hope this video helps you see how you can quickly and efficiently score your student’s CC—and how the CC can be used as an incredible writing improvement tool at all grade levels.

How to Grade the Checklist Challenge

Love and hope,

The post How to Grade the Checklist Challenge appeared first on Character Ink.

Whenever I start out with new students in a class (Character Quality Language Arts or Meaningful Composition), I always spend the a little time each week for the first few class sessions learning how to complete my Checklist Challenge (CC). Over ninety percent of the papers in all of my books utilize this editing tool, so I spend a great deal of time teaching it and helping students learn how to complete the CC tasks. It is worth it to really dig in and teach students the fundamentals of the CC—including strong verbs and describers, sentence structure and rhythm, word choice, and much more.

I thought you might enjoy another peek into my Live Online Writing class to see what week three of the CC instruction looks like—and I don’t like for people to watch the video without the document in front of them, so you can print that below also!

(If you want your kids to learn how to thoroughly complete the Checklist Challenge, check out one of our Downloadable Products that teach these skills {also available in our Members’ Area}:

Beauty & Beast Characters Checklist Challenge

How to Complete the Checklist Challenge–Level I

Character Ink Press Membership

Click here to download the pages we talk about in the video above.

Note: This lesson is from my first semester of a Live Online Class. The book used here is my upcoming remediation book, Jump Start! This book will be available in our store in October. It is remediation for students in 8th through 12th grade who have not yet learned to write four to eight paragraph papers. It begins with fifth grade level projects and instruction and then moves all the way until the end of the book has 9th grade projects. All skills needed for all the types of projects are taught incrementally within the lessons. Moreover, this book is ideal for any student desiring to many of my methods within one book—remedial or not. Many students have taken this class (live) over the three years of my and Joshua’s writing of it who simply wanted to learn many of our methods all in one place at one time. This definitely fits the bill for that as you can see in its Table of Contents and Skills & Projects lists here.

P.S. I am happy to answer any questions you might have about my classes—live or online—or any of the methods I use in any of my one hundred books! Ask away in the comments below or email me!

The post Jump Start Class–More Checklist Challenge Teaching! (Video & Downloaded Pages Included!) appeared first on Character Ink.

This week’s Wondering Wednesday is a video in which I teach how to use my Checklist Challenge. Whether you are a CI curriculum user (Character Quality Language Arts, Meaningful Composition, or Write On!) or not, if you are a teacher who longs to merge grammar with writing (as it should be!), this video will give you tips and ideas that you can begin incorporating immediately.

The store description of the Checklist Challenge Packet is given below. This text will give you some ideas on what you can expect to learn in this week’s Wondering Wednesday!

How to Complete the Checklist Challenge—Level I is a downloadable e-book that walks students (and teachers!) through the first three-fourths of Donna’s effective Checklist Challenge. The Checklist Challenge is a challenging checklist of tasks that help students go through their writing, one task at a time, and revise, edit, add to, embellish, and improve.

The Checklist Challenge has the following characteristics/benefits:

 (1) Each task is given separately (i.e. not just a big master list with no explanation). The tasks are explained and samples are provided.

 (2) The checklist has check boxes (one per paragraph) for each essay/report/story that you can customize to a certain project. It is clear that a paper has four paragraphs, so most of the task should be done four times—once per paragraph.

(3) The tasks are skills learned in grammar. Once a child learns how to use quotations, he should practice them immediately by putting them in his writing. The Checklist Challenge marries grammar and writing in a way that other programs do not.

 (4) Coding instructions are given so that a student can be taught to code his additions and revisions for easy teacher-grading.
And so much more.

This thirty-four page document has multiple YouTube videos related to it, so go check out Character Ink’s YouTube channel for help in utilizing this fantastic writing tool.

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The post [Video] How To Use the Checklist Challenge appeared first on Character Ink.

Click here to download the printable Sample Checklist Challenge!

This video has Donna Reish, author of the Checklist Challenge method, teaching how to use the Checklist Challenge. The Checklist Challenge is included in nearly every writing project in every Character Ink Press book (including Character Quality Language Arts; Meaningful Composition; Write On, Mowgli; and Write On, Peter Pan). This sample one may be tweaked and used over and over again in classrooms, homeschools, and co-ops.

The Checklist Challenge has the following characteristics/benefits:

(1) Each task is given separately (i.e. not just a big master list with no explanation). The tasks are explained and samples are provided.

(2) The checklist has check boxes (one per paragraph) for each essay/report/story that you can customize to a certain project. It is clear that a paper has four paragraphs, so most of the task should be done four times—once per paragraph.

(3) The tasks are skills learned in grammar. Once a child learns how to use quotations, he should practice them immediately by putting them in his writing. The Checklist Challenge marries grammar and writing in a way that other programs do not.

(4) Coding instructions are given so that a student can be taught to code his additions and revisions for easy teacher-grading.

And so much more.

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