Bit & Rudder

Homeschool Writing Made Easy

high school

How to Teach Writing to Middle and High School Students: Step 2—The Writing Process

· ·

Click to Share

#2 How to Teach Writing to Middle and High School Students: Step 2—The Writing Process

Understand and use the writing process

My goal in this series is to give you—the homeschool parent/teacher—a straightforward, tactical plan for teaching writing to older students. In the last episode, I explained how easy and effective structured journals can be, especially if your child lacks confidence as a writer. Journals aren’t exactly magical, but pretty close—and so very easy to implement.

So that brings us to the next step which is all about the process of writing—and it has steps too—perfect, right? Because steps give us a pathway—from blank page to finished product.

In this episode, I talk about

  • How to help students find and explore a topic so that they never again have to say “I don’t know what to write about”
  • The crucial difference between revising and editing, and why it’s important to do both
  • Why the first version of a paper should not be the only version
  • One clever trick for proofreading

In this nuts-and-bolts episode, I take you through every step of the writing process

  • Prewriting
  • Drafting
  • Revising
  • Editing
  • Publishing

And I provide plenty of examples so you can see this powerful tool in action!

Be sure to grab the cheat sheet I created for this episode, so you can practice the writing process for each and every writing assignment.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Journal Writing Plan

The Writing Process Cheat Sheet (Episode 2)

Episode #1 How to Teach Writing to Middle and High School Students: Step 1—Structured Journal

Click to Share

How to Teach Writing to Middle School and High School Students: Step 1—Structured Journals

· ·

Click to Share

#1 How to Teach Writing to Middle School and High School Students: Step 1—Structured Journals

This strategy helps students practice writing without the fear of failure.

Confession: I avoided teaching my kids to write for years because I was so overwhelmed with the process. Oh sure, I had a curriculum, more than one even, and every year I promised myself that this was the year we were going to write. Usually, though, we didn’t make it past lesson 3 because it was too confusing, time-consuming, daunting, difficult. You get the idea!

If this sounds familiar, then you may find that this episode gives you exactly what you need to break through the confusion and prioritize writing this year.

Because let’s be honest, teaching writing can be tricky—there are A LOT of moving parts. If you don’t have an easy-to-use plan, it’s hard to keep moving forward.

In this episode, you will learn

  • a plan for writing so easy that you can start it today
  • a strategy that will get your child in the habit of writing
  • a way to help your child become a more confident writer
  • a nearly effortless way to get you—the parent/teacher—in the habit of assigning and grading writing

If this sounds too good to be true, I can assure you I have seen the results first hand, with my own children and in English classes I’ve taught. 

I won’t keep you in suspense any longer. The tool at the center of these great results is a structured journal. The “structured” part of that is very important as I explain in the episode, because journal-keeping without clear guidelines can be a big waste of time.

But I’ve got you covered with exact guidelines for assigning journals, plus all the prompts you need and instructions on how to grade student entries. It’s all laid out in this episode, but I’ve also created a FREE Journal Writing Guide with all the information you need to get started.

So if you’re ready, it’s time to learn all about how to set up your writing classroom.

Links mentioned in this episode:

Journal Writing Planhttps://marvelous-artist-7428.ck.page/713dbe727c

https://marvelous-artist-7428.ck.page/713dbe727c

Journal Buddieshttps://www.journalbuddies.com/

https://www.journalbuddies.com/

Click to Share

Steps for Writing a Descriptive Essay

· ·

Click to Share

Here is an assignment guide you can use for writing a descriptive essay about a person.

Assignment: Describe someone who has been an important influence in your life.

Length: 300-500 words

Audience: Formal/Academic (imagine writing this essay as part of a scholarship application)

Instruction: Descriptive writing is about painting a picture for the reader. To do this, you want to use language that appeals to the five senses. The prewriting questions will guide you through this process.

Prewriting

  • Make a list of people who have influenced you. Think about teachers, coaches, church leaders. Also, consider those influences that you might not know personally: singers, actors, missionaries, authors, characters in stories, politicians. Try to make a list of at least ten people.
  • Circle the person on your list that you are most interested in writing about. With that person in mind, answer the following questions:
  • What is the main impression you want to convey about this person? Is he/she cheerful, nervous, careful, funny, etc.?
  • List three pieces of evidence that support the main impression you want to convey. For example, suppose the main impression you want to convey about your subject is that she is nervous. How do you know she is nervous? Maybe she bites her nails or jumps at the least little noise or constantly furrows her brow in a worried expression or cuts her kids’ meals into tiny bite-sized pieces to prevent choking. Think about actions and mannerisms that demonstrate the impression you want to convey.
  • What sensory details can you bring in to paint a picture of this person? In other words, when you think about this person, what images come to mind?
  • What does he/she look like?
  • What sounds do you associate with him/her? (for example, singing or a certain accent, or the clink of pocket change)
  • What smells/tastes do you associate with this person? (for example, the smell of pumpkin spice candles in Grandma’s house, or the taste of homemade apple pie, or the smell of the ocean because she lives near the beach)
  • How does he/she make you feel?
  • How has this person influenced you? Why is this person important to you? List the ways this person has influenced you. These are the points you will develop in your essay.

Drafting

If possible, write the essay in one sitting. Focus on ideas and organization rather than on mechanics and style.

The essay needs a minimum of three paragraphs—an introduction, body, and conclusion. However, there is no set number of paragraphs.

Introduction The goal of the introductory paragraph is to grab the reader’s attention and state the purpose of the essay.

Ways to grab the reader’s attention:
–start with an interesting detail about the person
–start with an interesting (and relevant) story about the person
Purpose:
–make a general statement (in a sentence or two) about who this person is and how he or she has influenced you.

Body: The body should describe the person and explain in detail the reason or reasons that this person is influential. For example, let’s say you are writing about the influence your grandmother has had in your life. Grandma is important because she always makes you feel loved and appreciated. She shows her love by taking the time to listen to you and by sending you special gifts. Those are the general statements that need to be described in detail. Here is an example of a paragraph that develops one of these statements.

Because Grandma believed that “idle hands were the devil’s workshop,” she was always busy, whether it was baking her famous apple turnovers or scrubbing a pile of dirty dishes. But no matter how busy she was, she always had time to listen to me. She would stop whatever she was doing, pull off her grease-stained apron, and give me a big bear hug. Then she’d invite me to sit on the settee with her and have a cookie and a cup of milk while I told her what I’d been up to lately. …

This paragraph can be further developed with additional details that reveal more of the grandmother’s character and influence. Perhaps Grandmother not only listens but also gives valuable advice, and so on. After this idea is developed, move on to the next point about Grandmother sending gifts and provide details about that idea. Continue to develop each point in this way.

Conclusion: The concluding paragraph wraps up your paper, usually by circling around to the beginning and restating the purpose in different words. An interesting detail or illustration about the person that ties in with your main idea is a good way to close.

Revising

If time permits, allow at least a day to pass before students revisit their drafts.

Students should read through their drafts and make improvements. They should also have at least one other person read their essay and make suggestions for improvement.

The draft should be considered a working copy, and as such, students should mark it up with margin notes, arrows, crossed out words, and so on.

Editing

After students are satisfied with the revisions, they should create clean copies suitable for publishing. The final step in this part of the process is for students to read their papers out loud because this will help them catch mistakes that they will miss if they only read silently

Publishing

Students should share their essays with others.

Evaluating

To see the complete guide for evaluating this essay as well as information for writing other types of essays, follow this link: The Basic PLUS Writing Plan.

Click to Share

Connect with me