Five Ways to Improve Essays

Five ways to improve essays By Kate Roberts

1. Push kids to have better ideas  Annotate entries (stories) o Line by line I- idea D-detail o Mining for ideas  Prompts to uncover ideas o I love… I don’t love… o It is wrong… It is right… o It is difficult… It is easy… o People should… people shouldn’t o It is fair… It is unfair…. . You go line by line and add in where it fits  Time o To collect o To write long o To reread o To refine  Model and chart ideas 2. Give time and strategies to write long about their thinking  Use thought prompts. Model for kids and explain each thought prompt o I think/What I’m really trying to say is… o For example… o This is important because (big picture) o The reason for this is… (meaning/root) o This connects to… o On the other hand… 3. Give them alternative ways to structure their essays  I used to think… but now I think…  I used to… because… Now I ….because…  My feelings about … are complicated o On the one hand… o On the other hand… o Another way I feel… o How do I make sense of this in my life?  Narrative story structure (feels like a memoir) o Beginning . Stop and think o Middle . Stop and think o End . Stop and think 4. Teach them the art of an angled story  Breathing Life into Essays  Cut out extraneous parts, cut, cut, cut, only keep what supports thesis  Spin it o Word choice matters o Verbs o Actions taken o Voice o Tone 5. Develop academic language Mad Sad Agitated Cheerless Distraught Dejected Angry Depressed Fuming Downcast Furious Forlorn Incensed Morose Raging Weeping Wrathful Wretched Happy Good Glad Agreeable Pleased Satisfactory Cheerful Congenial Gleeful Marvelous Joyful Pleasing Jubilant Stupendous Overjoyed Superb Walking on air Wonderful Rate words in order of intensity

Make Think Ask Create Ponder Question Build Analyze Challenge Arrange Consider Examine Compose Determine Inquire Conceive Figure out Interrogate Fabricate Imagine Investigate Fashion Ruminate Query Form Judge Grill Generate Reason Judge Invent Reflect Measure Prepare Cogitate Quiz Produce Mull Weigh Study