Helping a Teen Writer
Learn to 'Polish'
Today's
Snack: One of the prettiest and most delicious of foods is an apple. You can
"polish" it with a soft cloth to make it even more attractive. Or just skip the
decorations, and chomp it down with gusto!
--------------------
When
students get into later high school, they often have mastered the basics fairly
well. But their writing still doesn't show confidence and sparkle. College
admissions officers and professors are looking for students who can write with
the strength of their convictions and with a unique style or "voice."
But few students achieve that level
of excellence. Schools today are set up so that teachers are happy if a child
can meet the minimum standards. That's the norm. There's no incentive to spur a
child to greater heights than that. So if you want your teenager's writing to
really shine, you are going to have to help him or her add the polish
yourselves.
The first
thing to do is to put your student on a "diet" of reading outstanding, classic
literature over the coming weeks, to steep his or her soul like a tea bag in
great ideas and great language. Try to coax your student to give up TV, Instant
Messaging, 24/7 iPod listening and so forth, so that the beauty and power of
quality English can find its way into your child's heart, mind and soul.
Then help
him or her practice lifting his or her writing above the plane of the everyday,
onto the plane of excellence. It's a good idea to write something every day for
a week in a journal or notebook, and then have a parent evaluate a week's worth
of writing samples with an eye toward writing another week's worth and seeing
if the writing improves.
Here's a good rating scale to
follow. Note that in assessing writing, whether it's in the SAT or in a college
admissions office, the scores given to a piece of student writing basically
follow these parameters:
A "0" is
for a piece of writing that indicates the student did not understand the
assignment, failed to address the actual question, gave incomplete or
irrelevant evidence, or gave responses that were too general or vague.
A "1" is
for a student who provided reasonable analysis, but no textual evidence at all,
or else didn't connect the evidence with the analysis.
A "2" is
for a student who does better in making those connections, and displays
personality and "voice" in the writing along with strong elaboration and
extension of their ideas.
A "3" is
for a student who not only made those connections well, but displayed a
particularly unique and strong analysis, and supported those conclusions with
accurate and relevant examples, vivid vocabulary, revelatory quotes and
sophisticated literary devices.
A "4" - or
whatever the best score is -- is for a student who does all that PLUS reveals a
lot about his or her personality, opinions, feelings, emotions and uniqueness.
If you can reveal some way in which you have been victimized by society or care
about the downtrodden, the environment, ethnic or political minorities and
other left-wing ideology, it goes over better, too.
In general,
then, your daughter will do better if she not only shows mastery of the basics,
but goes far beyond, displaying an ability to "think outside the box" and come
up with unique and engaging perspectives and interpretations.
You need
writing that shows you are smart, but not only book-smart - creatively smart,
or able to support creative answers with specific illustrations, and to express
a strong and individual point of view with confidence and polish.
Also note:
there are some excellent writing aid downloads and materials available free and
for a nominal charge on www.educyberstor.com
By Susan Darst Williams
