Teachers: Help!

[Gremlin]

I'm currently helping out a family friend by giving her some tutoring on the side. She's a freshman in high school, and recently switched schools but she'll most likely be in the honors or AP classes. She's a bright kid, but she's lagging in a couple areas, mostly in just getting it done and writing essays. I've been poking around for some basic writing exercises online, but writing is really intuitive for me and I don't exactly know how to teach it. My current game plan is to go through the step-by-step process of writing your basic five-paragraph essay, using some topic she's passingly familiar with, probably analysis of one of her English books because she loves reading. You know, the whole thing--outline, make an argument, find evidence, organize it, etc. But I don't want to throw her the same old stuff she's seen from school, or even worse, new stuff that doesn't help her.

So, guys and gals, how would you handle this? Am I on the right track, or did I miss a turn somwhere?

[danhagen]

Go to newsu.org. It's a free journalism site with a number of excellent writing courses that you can work though on line for free.
I'm a journalism professor, by the way.

[zuludelta]

The appropriate approach depends on the subjects you're helping her out with, but in my experience (I used to tutor high school chemistry and college-level research statistics), stressing consistent practice and progressively more difficult exercises is always a good tactic in helping the student gain confidence in whatever subject area it is he/she needs to work on. A lot of bright students just need to gain that extra confidence and motivation (or alternatively, lose their misplaced overconfidence) to reach their potential.

[Tortuga]

One of the current trendy models for teaching writing is called "6 + 1 Writing".  I realize that this model caters more to younger students, but in my opinion there's a ton of great ideas in it that could help any age.  The 6 "traits" are Ideas, Organization, Voice, Word Choice, Sentence Fluency, Conventions and the + 1 is Presentation.  The beautiful thing about 6+1 is that the teacher and the student focus on ONE trait at a time.  In teaching, in process and in assessment, that ONE trait is the driving force behind the piece.

Here's an example of how the Traits could work for your idea there.

-If you wanted to focus on Ideas, you would spend time deciding on main paragraph ideas (topic sentences) and how you develop those ideas.  What details can be given to support the initial idea?

-If you wanted to focus on Organization, you would work on the format aspects of an essay.  Intro paragraph includes a thesis, supportive paragraphs each start with a topic sentence and have a concluding sentence.  The topic sentences would vary from compelling questions, to bold statements, etc.

-If you wanted to focus on Voice, you would make the essay a persuasive essay.  How can she express her feelings about the topic in a way that compels someone to agree with her?  What personal connections can she make between the book and her own life experiences?  Can she write in a way that she sounds more like a person and less like a robot?

Hopefully you get the idea.  Like I said, the nice thing about 6+1 is that you can essentially ignore the other traits while you get some real focused time on ONE specific trait.  We tend to otherwise focus waaaay too much on Conventions.  But as one of my workshop presenters said, "I don't know about you, I've never had a book make me cry because the author knew how to use punctuation really well."

[detourne_me]

Well, she's a freshman in high school right?  that's grade 9 nine in Canada, from what I remember we studied To Kill a Mockingbird, MacBeth, and some others... can't quite remember.
As far as writing goes, the curriculum at the time was a standard five paragraph essay...perhaps deductive essay format too. So, I believe you should go with what you know.
Your game plan is to teach her the 5 paragraph essay, you know it well, it's probably the required writing of her curriculum. I see no problem with it.
It's much better than trying to tackle a new style, and then teach it without being fully familiar with it yourself.
Personally I go at the 5-paragraph essay with a hamburger analogy,
You've got the bun on top, it's bread, it's a little plain, it lets you know what you're going to eat. Sure there could be some sesame seeds on top, enticing you.
Next you've got some lettuce, It's healthy, it's good for you, you can get a point across.
Then you follow it up with some cheese, this is the sweet stuff, it really hooks you into eating the 'burg or accepting the argument of the essay.
Then you've got the meat itself. This is the reason why you're eating the hamburger. It's the bulk of the argument, and the strongest facts you've got.
Finally, we have a conclusion, the bottom bun, the thing that keeps it all together, without this bun you'd just be eating a bunch of random ingredients.

hmm, in the past this approach has worked well with my students (although writing isn't really a strength for most efl students)

Good luck!


oh, another hint about researching for an essay.
If it's a book report, what i used to do was get the long thin post-its,  after reading a book I'd decide on which themes were most prevalent, then i'd either color coordinate, or just write the themes on the post-its,  then i'd go through the book again putting post-its next ot quotations or paragraphs that i felt represented the themes.
After doing that, sometimes I would make a little matrix chart in the front cover, labeling themes, and sections, then i'd input all the page numbers from the quotations I just picked out.  I'd find any intersections and see if i could develop a thesis from there.
man, i ran my books ragged, always writing in the margins, making notes anywhere and everywhere.  I'm sure i still have some texts stuffed away with all the post-its still attached.

[thalaw2]

It seems to me that you are on the right track.  I agree with Zulu in that it takes practice.  The methods have been proven so she'll progressively get better with practice.  Engage her in some debate and critical thinking and brainstorming...keep the idea wheel well oiled.  The subject matter can always be related to something she enjoys.  As a tutor your job is also to give the student another route/venue (i can't think of the right word) in which to express herself not just to cover things covered in class.  Make those things from class more real or easier to understand.