Thursday, January 30, 2014

Writing Lessons

If you have been reading my blog for long, you will know that I recently graduated college and don't have a full time job. So you might be wondering: What the heck do I do all the time? Well among other things, I have been teaching writing lessons to my siblings.  

Justin, Colton, and Melissa are all homeschooled. I figure my mom has a lot on her plate teaching the three of them, especially since they are all different grades. Since I love to write (hence the blog), I thought to make myself a little helpful by teaching them.  Now I am by no means a teacher, so I am making this up as I go. The good thing is, homeschoolers have a lot of resources to help them, since many homeschool moms aren't trained teachers (not that they aren't wonderful teachers, because many of them are!!).  Let me tell you, teaching writing/English is a whole lot harder than I expected! I end up spending lots of time on the internet looking for norms for 5th, 9th, and 11th grade.  I have also been using a book called The Elegant Essay by Lesha Myers to teach Justin and Colton. 

Here is a bit of what we have been doing:

Melissa: Melissa has been doing a book report on The Giver.  We spent the first two weeks reading and having literature discussions, as well as giving her some tips for writing.  Her book report is going to be a book "cover" where she has a piece of paper folded like a book jacket. On it will be an illustration, a review of the book, a character sketch of the main character, and a summary of the book.

Justin and Colton: Once a week I meet with both of them and I use The Elegant Essay to teach components of writing. So far we have gone over theses, body paragraphs and transitions. I don't follow the book very closely but she has great worksheets included that I use!

Colton: Separately, Colton has been doing a research paper on the French Revolution.  My goal is to help him learn to write a good thesis, find information, and learn how to quickly do citations. 

Justin: He is working on a persuasive paper. He hasn't turned in his thesis yet, so I'm not sure which topic he decided on.  In addition to doing a thesis and citations, Justin is going to be learning how to make an outline so that you have a structure when you begin writing your paper.

Like I said, I am no expert. For all I know, I'm doing this teaching thing completely wrong. However, I do hope that I can teach these three a love of writing! 

What about you? Do you have any experience teaching? 

No comments:

Post a Comment