Category Archives: English Writing Instruction

Writing well takes study and practice.

How to improve high school student writing

Posted on June 6, 2024 | Leave a comment

A study on ways to improve student writing is among the top ten education studies of 2023, according to Edutopia a free source focusing on what works in education.  Edutopia is part of  the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

The study found that providing students with rubrics and/or mentor texts can lead to higher writing grades.  It also lowers the amount of time teachers need to grade student writing.

In the study, high school students’ essays were graded on “clarity, sophistication and thoroughness.”  Then students were divided into small groups and told to use rubrics or mentor texts to revise their essays for a final grade.  Using these guides helped students improve their writing without more teacher involvement.

Rubrics and mentor texts increase the efficiency of teacher time, can be used over and over again, and “enhance self-feedback,” leading students to become more independent writers, according to Edutopia.

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, mentor texts, rubrics

How to write a narrative

Posted on May 7, 2024 | Leave a comment

A narrative is a short story.  It has all the parts of a short story—a beginning, a middle, and an end.  But that doesn’t tell you how to begin or what to include.  Wouldn’t it be nice if there were some formula, some plan, that would help you get going?  Well, there is.  Here’s how: 

On your planning paper or computer screen, write the word “setting.” Now draw two small arrows from the end of “setting.”  Next to the top arrow write the word “place.”  After the word “place,” identify the location of your narrative essay.  It’s easier if you have one place such as your math classroom, the soccer field or the airplane gate.  If you have more than one location, your story will become complicated to write.  Since you are learning by following a pattern, keep things simple.  Use one location only.

After the bottom arrow, write the words “time/day/season.” Identify when your story takes place.  Sometimes a general idea, like “morning” is enough.  If the day of the week or the season or temperature or climate is important to your story, identify them.  Usually, you will identify only one or two of these times, such as lunchtime, 85 degrees.

Stories are about people or animals–living creatures–so identify those characters: the people and animals who are important in your story. Sometimes that person will be you.  (Write “me.”)  Sometimes it will be named people.  Other times it will be unnamed people whose relationship but not their names are important such as the bus driver or the stray dog.  Keep your list short—maybe two or three characters.  The more characters you use, the more complicated your story will become.  Identify which character is the protagonist, the central character of your story.

Identify the point of view (POV) your story will have:

  • first person (told by someone who is part of the story);
  • third person objective (told from the POV of a video taper of your story who does not know what people are thinking); or
  • third person limited (told from the POV of someone who can hear the thinking of one or more of the characters).

Identify the problem to be solved (sometimes called the main theme) in your story. Is it about a student forgetting her lunch?  Is it about your mother nagging you to do your homework?  Is it about an athlete breaking his leg running to first base?  Every story needs a problem for the main character to solve or to learn from.

Identify the major plot points in your story, the important happenings in your story. A story has to start somewhere.  That’s the first plot point.  Something has to happen to cause a problem.  That might be the same plot point (if you start in the middle of the action, which is a good idea).  Or when something happens to cause a problem might be the second plot point if you include exposition as your first plot point.  Later, something or somethings have to happen to complicate the action.  Each of these is another plot point. The ending is the last plot point.

Identify the mood you want to convey. Is your story frightening?  Funny?  Nostalgic?  Mysterious?  You need to know before you begin so you know what kind of vocabulary and sentences to use, what to highlight, and what to hide.

Now you can almost begin.  Read next week’s blog for how to start that first paragraph.

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, narratives

Revisiting eight ideas to improve your writing

Posted on April 9, 2024 | Leave a comment

In my past blog, I suggested eight ideas to improve your writing.  In my next paragraph, I will ignore those suggestions and write poorly.  See if you can find eight examples of poor writing in this next paragraph.

A reader contacted this blogger a few days ago.  She informed me that there were good ideas in my most recent blog, and moreover, she suspected this blogger could utilize that blog to compose another blog that contradicts the advice of the first blog, and thereby set up a challenge to locate the poor writing and to attract a multitude of readers like her who are puzzle aficionados.  I listened to my reader’s admonition, and this paragraph is my response.

Spoiler alert:  The following paragraphs expose the poor writing.  Are you ready?

  • “This blogger” draws attention to the writer of the blog in a way that the word “I” does not. As the writer of the blog, I need to refer to myself in the paragraph.  But I should choose an inconspicuous way to do that.

 

  • “She informed me” draws attention to the way she spoke which is unimportant. “She informed” is better written as “she said.”  “Said” is an inconspicuous word.

 

  • “There were” puts the subject later in the sentence. “There were good ideas” could be better written as “my blog contained good ideas.”

 

  • “Moreover” and “thereby” are transition words that interrupt the flow of the sentence. “Moreover” is better said as “and.” “Thereby” is better said not at all in this paragraph. It is not needed.

 

  • “Admonition” is a four-syllable word and “aficionados” is a six-syllable word. Both draw attention to themselves because many readers might not know what the words mean.  It’s better to stick to simpler vocabulary (“advice” and “fans”) in a blog meant for children as well as ESL students and adults.

 

  • The second sentence in the three-sentence paragraph is 59 words long—far too many words for readers trying to understand the writer’s message. The sentence should be broken down into three or four simpler sentences.

 

  • “She informed me that” introduces and indirect quote. Use direct quotes whenever possible so readers can hear for themselves the vocabulary, the tone, the grammar and the inferences of the speaker.

 

  • And lastly, the paragraph is five lines long.  Is that too long?  Maybe, maybe not.  It is the longest paragraph of this blog, so it might look long–and intimidating–to some readers.  This is especially true because it extends the width of the blog.  Yet because the second sentence is so long, the paragraph is hard to subdivide.

 

All these ideas about good writing are based on the fundamental rule of good writing:  Clarity is the most important characteristic of good writing.  If a word or sentence or paragraph is not clear to readers, they will not keep reading.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Posted in "to be", blog writing, clarity, direct quotes, English Writing Instruction, how to write better, indirect quotes, rules for writing, said, Transitions, word choice

Cursive is on the upswing

Posted on February 19, 2024 | Leave a comment

The number of states requiring that cursive writing be taught is increasing, according to MyCursive.com.  In 2016, 14 states required teaching cursive.  Today that number is 21.  To find out if your state requires cursive, scroll down.

AK:  No.

AL:  Yes, cursive must be taught in grades 2 and 3.

AR:  Yes, cursive must be taught before students leave grade 3.

AZ:  Yes, students must be taught and must master cursive by grade 5.

CA:  Yes, students are taught cursive in grades 1 to 6.

CO:  No.

CT:  No.

DC:  No.

DE:  Yes, cursive must be taught by the end of grade 4.

FL:  Yes, cursive must be taught between grades 3 and 5.

GA:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive in grades 3 and 4.

HI:  No.

IA:  No.

ID:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive.

IL:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive by the end of grade 5.

IN:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive.

KS:  Yes, the Kansas Board of Education does require teaching cursive.

KY:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive beginning in grade 1.

LA:  Yes, cursive must be taught beginning in grade 3.

MA:  Yes, cursive must be taught beginning in grade 3.

MD:  Yes, cursive must be taught between grades 2 and 5.

ME:  No.

MI:  No.

MN:  No.

MO:  No.

MS:  Yes, cursive must be taught between grades 2 and 8.

MT:  No.

NC:  Yes, cursive must be taught to public school students.

NE:  No.

ND:  No.

NH:  Yes, cursive must be taught to public school students.

NJ:  No.

NM:  No.

NV:  No.

NY:  No.

OH:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive.

OK: Yes, cursive must be taught in grades 4 and 5.

OR:  No.

PA:  No.

RI:  No.

SC:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive by the end of grade 5.

SD:  No.

TN:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive.

TX:  Yes, cursive must be taught in grades 2 and 3.

UT:  No.

VA:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive between grades 2 and 5.

VT:  No.

WA:  No.

WI:  No.

WV:  Yes, public schools must teach cursive between grades 2 and 4.

WY:  No.

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Posted in cursive handwriting, English Writing Instruction

Movie trailers offer writers techniques to hook readers

Posted on January 20, 2024 | Leave a comment

Movie trailers are hooks to promote movies.  A trailer contains a series of snippets from a film which, its promoters hope, will lead you to view the film.  Trailers contain the most exciting, dramatic, scary, or humorous parts of a film, the parts most likely to lure you to see the whole film.

Usually, information in trailers is not presented in the same order as it is presented in the film.  Dramatic camera angles add edginess and energy.  The non-linear structure of trailers keeps the audience from guessing at the story line and ending.  You have to watch the film to find out.  Music provides atmosphere.  Voice-overs offer brief story lines.

Trailers shown on TV are usually 20 to 30 seconds long.  Trailers shown in movie theaters before a featured film is shown are longer, up to two-and-a-half minutes long.

Beginning in the 1970s, movie trailers were produced to be shown on prime-time TV at first, and then almost nonstop in the days before a movie’s release.  “Red band” trailers warn audiences of content not appropriate for some audiences, such as children.  Nowadays, many movie trailers are being custom made for various Internet sites and their audiences.

What can writers learn from trailers to improve their hooks? 

Some trailers begin by panning over scenery to set a mood or to identify a location.  Gentle farmland, fierce ocean waves breaking below cliffs, and a bird’s-eye view of New York’s skyscrapers identify vastly different locations and moods.  Farmland might suggest a rural, 19th century satire, or conversely, the site of the Battle of Hastings.  Crashing ocean waves might suggest a dangerous war invasion or a passionate romance.  And skyscrapers’ roofs might suggest a sophisticated comedy or a terrorist plan unfolding.  Writers can think of their eyes as cameras.  What scenery would cameras focus on to support the location and themes of a story, or to offer an ironical twist?

Trailers sometimes use repetitive sounds to entice an audience.  Music which sounds like car horns.  The chirping of birds.  The clicking of typewriter keys.  The cries of an unattended baby.  These instantly provide mood.  Writers can simulate sounds with words to hook readers.

A narrator’s voice can lure readers.  Though an audience can’t hear the voice, an audience can imagine how it sounds with good enough text description.  Writers can duplicate a voice’s tempo, its breathlessness, its harshness of tone, its childlike vocabulary or reasoning.

The next time a trailer comes across your screen, analyze how it hooks.  What techniques does the filmmaker use that you can use to hook readers?

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Posted in English Writing Instruction, hooks, movie trailers