How Can We Reduce the Fear of Writing?

I agree that most students fear writing. However, I have found lots of practice, using graphic organizers for prewriting, and individual mini-conferences with each student while the others are working independently or in small groups helps tremendously. I also believe in giving students a choice of essay topic as if they enjoy what they are writing about they are more motivated. Whether it involves a novel, a persausive topic, or research topic, providing students with a choice allows them to feel more in control and not as overwhelmed.

Before we talk about editing, I cannot stress the importance of pre-writing! I tutor tons of students of all ages and you would be suprised at how many either were never taught how to prewrite (concept maps, brainstorming, outlining etc) or were taught but still have no idea how to use this tool. Pre-writing allows students to focus on the topic and also to structure their writing so that it progresses logicially. No matter what the grade level from elmentary to high school, pre-writing is extremely effective and necessary. In addition, once students complete their pre-writing they gain confidence that the actual essay writing comes a lot easier.

Finally, to address the individual min conferences, I am pretty detailed in my annotating of mistakes but not only do I acknowledge the mistakes, I also offer examples of how to fix them or rewrite the sentence. At the end of every student's paper I bullet point the strengths and weaknesses of the essay. This helps the students see what they did well and what the need to improve on. Unfortunately, if you don't conference with students, many will just look at the grade and never look at the essay again. All my experience has been been in the middle and high school RSP English department so my classes have been a lot smaller than the average English class. It is too bad that not all students can have such small classes as I know conferencing and grading takes an exorbitant amount of time.


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Referral Incentive!

Beach Cities Tutoring would like to touch the community just as we have helped your student!  We  would like to offer a coupon for $20 off for any client who refers a new client. The new client must book at least one session for the existing client to earn the reward! Please mention this blog to receive your coupon.


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Writing Conclusions for Elementary School Students!

Throughout my tutoring experience, I have found that many students of all ages have difficulty writing conclusion sentences. A good activity for elementary students is to give them a topic sentence and then tell them they need to write a conclusion that expresses the SAME IDEA but use DIFFERENT WORDS. They should NOT add new information (ie details) in their conclusion. It is extremely important to give them examples.

Topic:  Winter sports are lots of fun.

Conclusion:  I always look forward to participating in winter sports.

Topic:  Last summer, I went to Hawaii with my family.

Conclusion: I enjoyed spending time with my family in Hawaii.

Here are some other topics your student can try:

Topic: Students should not wear uniforms at school.

Conclusion:______________________________________________

Topic: It is important to eat a variety of fruits and vegetables if you would like to have a healthy diet.

Conclusion:______________________________________________

Topic: I will never forget my first day of fourth grade.

Conclusion: ______________________________________________

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Editing Checklist for Essay Writing

I believe it is important to provide students with an editing checklist to make the revision process less scary! For example,

Did you use at least three transition words in your supporting detail paragraphs?
Did you start your introduction with a hook?
Is your thesis the last sentence of your first paragraph?
Do all your supporting paragraphs 1-3 support your thesis?
Do you explain the significance of your quotes?
Did you use proper punctuation and capitalization?
Are all words spelled correctly?
Do you have a conclusion sentence at the end of every paragraph?

You get the idea. This way it is a visual, specific way in which they can learn HOW to edit. Believe it or not, often students have never been taught how to revise their papers and what to exactly correct during the revision process.

I would be happy to provide a copy of the editing checklist if you would to visit my website at http://www.beachcitiestutoring.com

Less is Sometimes More When It Comes to Homework

When it comes to math homework, practice is important, but if a student understands the concept after 5 to 10 problems they do not need 40 problems to practice. This can be counterproductive as they may not do the work at all or feel so overwhelmed by the work that they become frustrated that they develop a negative attitude toward math and homework in general. As a teacher, I strongly believe in not assigning busy work as students will resent it. Instead, checking students' knowledge of concepts by short quizzes following short homework assignments is more effective because they can feel successful and if you can assess areas of weakness to focus on. Tailoring homework to the students' needs is definitely the sign of perceptive teacher.
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Active Reading Strategies

I am sure many of you have read a page or ten pages and asked yourself what did you just read? It is very possible for students to physically read the words without comprehending what they read. I highly recommend the following strategies to ensure that your middle or high school student is actively engaged.

1) Make an outline/take notes

2) If at all possible, buy novels so that you can underline, highlight and annotate (take notes) while you read. This will greatly help your child when they must write an essay on the novel.

3) Fold a piece of notebook paper in half and have the student write down questions they have about the material while reading. They should answer the questions on the other side of the paper (Cornell notes).

4) Students should make a personal dictionary of words that they do not know. This will enhance their comprehension as well as prepare them for the SATs/ACTs.

5) Have student write short chapter summaries.

6) Have student writes write predictions before reading each chapter of a novel.

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Spanish Lessons for All Ages

I have had a recent demand for Spanish lessons especially for young children. I will be offering Spanish lessons for individual children and small groups of children throughout the summer and school year. Lessons would include teaching basic conversational phrases as well as vocabulary, using picture flash cards and games. Please reserve your time slot as soon as possible!

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