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3 Strategies to Improve Student Writing Instantly
Editor's Note: A version of this post first appeared on Techie Teacher and Character Coach. "But Miss Parrish, I can't think of anything to write!" Haven't we all heard similar lines in our classrooms? We see hesitant writers sit with a pencil in their hands and a paper on their desks, almost as if they have been handicapped by the task we asked them to do. How is it that some students have so much to say when talking out loud, but when a pencil is put into their hand they suddenly hesitate, struggle and have nothing to say? The answer is to simply have them produce "writing" without technically "writing" at all. Strategies That Work 1. Have your student stand up while you sit in his or her seat. 2. Identify a way that your students can audio record themselves "speaking" their essay rather than "writing" it. 3. Identify an app or tool that will transcribe speaking into text. Communication Before Craft How have you helped students write without putting pen to paper (or pixel to page)?
Making An Outline
/** * Simple encryption to hide email addresses from crawlers in webpages. * This code is Free Software provided under an MIT License. * Written by Diego Doval: bnaeQ0bvPXOnZQYgaZqp1ZQO * */ CRLS Research Guide Making An Outline Tip Sheet 14 Ask these questions: What is it? An outline is an abbreviated picture of the parts of your paper or project and the order in which they will come. Why do it? It helps you to... An outline might be just for your own use, or your teacher may require that you hand it in while you are working on your project, so they can get an idea of where you are headed. How to do it: Figure out the most logical flow of information, the best order for the information to be in, using the subtopics you created earlier. WHERE TO GO FROM HERE:Worksheets: Copyright © 2004 Holly Samuels All Rights Reserved
Persuasion Map Helps Students Formulate Persuasive Essays
Developing persuasive writing skills is a process that students start in elementary school and continue to develop through high school and beyond. Read Write Think offers a good interactive guide that can help students craft a good persuasive essay. The Persuasion Map asks students to start with a thesis statement before walking them through developing support for that thesis. Applications for Education Using Read Write Think's Persuasion Map won't replace the need for your instruction, but it could be helpful to students who need a little assistance after your lesson.
Writing the Essay Intro and Conclusion
Your essay lacks only two paragraphs now: the introduction and the conclusion. These paragraphs will give the reader a point of entry to and a point of exit from your essay. Introduction The introduction should be designed to attract the reader's attention and give her an idea of the essay's focus. Begin with an attention grabber. Conclusion The conclusion brings closure to the reader, summing up your points or providing a final perspective on your topic. All the conclusion needs is three or four strong sentences which do not need to follow any set formula.
Concluding Sentence
It is important for students to know how to write a conclusion, whether to drive the final point home or to transition to the next point. Writing a conclusion clinches everything mentioned in a paragraph. A conclusion may restate the claim in the topic sentence, but now it has all the supporting details behind it. Whether the conclusion reinforces the topic or leads into the following topic, a paragraph’s concluding sentence plays an important role. Time4Writing’s free writing resources cover the formulation of a strong conclusion in a paragraph. The games, printables, presentation, and video supplement Time4Writing’s online courses.
How to Write an Essay
This page continues from our page: Planning an Essay, the essential first step to successful essay writing. This page assumes that you have already planned your essay, you have taken time to understand the essay question, gathered information that you intend to use, and have produced a skeleton plan of you essay – taking into account your word limit. This page is concerned with the actual writing of your essay, it provides some guidelines for good practice and also some common mistakes you will want to avoid. Structuring Your Essay An essay should be written in a flowing manner with each sentence following on logically from the previous one and with appropriate signposts to guide the reader. An essay usually takes the following structured format: The introduction The main body: a development of the issues A conclusion A list of references of the sources of information you have used The Introduction Warning Some people are far too ambitious in writing their introductions. A Conclusion Style
The Introduction
One easy way to write the introduction for an argument or opinion essay is to write THREE sentences: two about the topicone thesis sentence You can write either Situation or Opinion introductions. Situation Introductions Write two sentences to describe the two sides of the present situation. Sentence 1: One side of the present situationSentence 2: The other side of the present situationSentence 3: Thesis: What you are going to do in your essay Who should take care of our old people? Does Aid to Poor Countries Work? Should dangerous sports be banned? Opinion Introductions In this kind you give two opposite opinions in the first two sentences. Does space exploration benefit mankind? Does space exploration benefit mankind? Do Athletes Deserve Their High Salaries? As well as situation or opinion introductions, you can use the following variations: What do you want to do now? Look at some sample Introductions (recommended)Look at Thesis sentencesHome
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Editing Your Essay
Most essays are dramatically improved by careful editing. If possible, put your essay aside for a few days before you try to edit. This gives you time to think further about your answer and arguments and return to your work with a fresh perspective. Don’t panic if you find faults in your essay - this is part of the process. If you find that you need more information, or your argument has holes in it, keep calm and concentrate on fixing the problem. Once you have a well-organised and complete draft: Check the overall structure of your essay; does it have a clear introduction, body and conclusion? For more about editing see our Editing checklist. See next: Handing in your essay
Dr. Rod Ellis: TESOL Written Corrective Feedback - matbury.com
Professor Rod Ellis, gave a presentation which is available on YouTube.com. In it, he focuses on written corrective feedback. I’ve written a basic summary below. Get a drink, a snack, your notebook, make yourself comfortable and enjoy an allusive, informative explanation of the current state of affairs regarding written corrective feedback; the types and strategies, what we know, what we don’t know and what we should do. Running time: 1:09:08 Why do we give written corrective feedback? To enable learners to revise their own writing, i.e. produce a better second draftTo assist learner to acquire correct English A Typology of corrective feedback types Strategies for providing corrective feedbackHow learners respond to the feedback Written corrective feedback strategies 1. Advantage – Provides learners with explicit guidance about how to correct their errors. * The effect of focused written corrective feedback and language aptitude on ESL learners. 2. Advantages Disadvantages 4. 1. 2. 5. 6.
