Writing is such a complex activity, like riding a bike, that it’s hard to break it down into its constituent parts. Most of us develop our ideas as we write them out—leading to a fairly disastrous product! Often, as well, connections that are in our heads never make it to the page at all. To address these problems, I focus on the writing process. One key way to change a paper from a record of someone’s thinking, to an organized, comprehensible document is to teach the writer the attributes of a successful paper. Identifying, and then correcting, writing problems in the student’s own paper inevitably refines the ideas.
I teach students the hierarchy of significance from the basic structure of a persuasive or informative paper to the finer aspects of style. This hierarchy corresponds to multiple stages of drafting; the most significant weakness in a paper should be identified and fixed before the writer focuses on an element lower in the hierarchy. As the student revises, the paper improves until the final stage of proofreading. People, of course, may have difficulty with one particular part of the writing task—organization, topic sentences, grammar, vocabulary, etc. When this is the case, I provide focused exercises and activities designed to strengthen the skill.
writing
Philosophy and Approach
Writing is such a complex activity, like riding a bike, that it’s hard to break it down into its constituent parts. Most of us develop our ideas as we write them out—leading to a fairly disastrous product! Often, as well, connections that are in our heads never make it to the page at all. To address these problems, I focus on the writing process. One key way to change a paper from a record of someone’s thinking, to an organized, comprehensible document is to teach the writer the attributes of a successful paper. Identifying, and then correcting, writing problems in the student’s own paper inevitably refines the ideas.
I teach students the hierarchy of significance from the basic structure of a persuasive or informative paper to the finer aspects of style. This hierarchy corresponds to multiple stages of drafting; the most significant weakness in a paper should be identified and fixed before the writer focuses on an element lower in the hierarchy. As the student revises, the paper improves until the final stage of proofreading. People, of course, may have difficulty with one particular part of the writing task—organization, topic sentences, grammar, vocabulary, etc. When this is the case, I provide focused exercises and activities designed to strengthen the skill.