If you've hired a writing tutor... (or how to teach writing in middle school)

[daijobu]

...how do you structure your relationship? 

 

I have an 8th grader who is writing essays using MCT.  I need someone else to evaluate her writing because I just don't feel confident to do it.  I've got a woman who isn't local so they communicate via skype and collaborate using google docs.  She seems 

 

I feel like having dedicated weekly meetings seems like too much.  Sometimes it takes that long just to get the books from the library and write up an outline.

 

Do you have your student submit outlines and drafts for feedback, or just the final copy?  I'm really just so confused right now.  

[EndOfOrdinary]

I don't know if it counts, but my mother is a literacy and writing specialist for public schools.  So she is tutoring my son once a week in writing. I do not pay her, obviously, but we get together as a family once a week and they have dedicated time where they do writing. English is not my thing.  I am not horrific at it, but it is not strong and I was crashing and burning trying to teach my son.  I will attempt to explain the way she went about teaching him.  It has been very successful - far better than my attempts.

 

Every week he comes home with one writing assignment.  I never know what the assignment is going to be ahead of time.  Initially it was very small.  They discussed refining a topic for a thesis.  He had to come up with 5 "bullseye" topics which were refined.  Then it was about outlining an essay where he had to do a quick outline using only about four words for each level of the outline.  Next, the flow of an essay was discussed where he had to read other's works, highlight various parts with various colors and look at the flow of the writing.  Next he had to write his own essay about anything (he chose MineCraft), then highlight it, then revise.  This was all for him to be able to see how with tiny steps, you can create a scaffold for an essay.  When he had a good grasp of how to write an essay, and could actually do it, then the writing became about his schoolwork.  If they had not spent an entire month going over the tiny pieces of how to get to the point of writing, then it would have been overwhelming.  Now, my son can come with a topic and outline in about 30 minutes.  He and I spent an entire year on this last year.  Her way is much more visual and really works for him.  Combined, it gave him a very strong scaffolding to be able to not be overwhelmed.

 

I gave her a copy of his entire literature and history curriculum so that she could see the bulk of what he was reading for school, and since then the assignments have been tailored to that.  All the literature is already in our possession.  I know what is coming so I can be sure to have it all, to have read it all, and to have everything already discussed and prepped.  The tutor should be able to give you a syllabus, scope and sequence, and a general idea about what is coming so that you can not be scrambling if you are not personally providing the information.  When my son has to use text-based evidence and sources, we use the Internet and digital resources.  This is because most of his literature and topics can easily be done digitally (they are currently ancient history and public domain classic short stories).  It eliminates the library completely.  No outside trips.

 

Things have progressed so that he is writing an entire literary analysis essay about one of the literature pieces he has read.  This is about 750 words and happens in progression like so: Wednesday - Instruction and assignment given, Thursday - Topic and Outline written up, Friday - Terrible first draft with quick sentences, Monday - Bulk up sentences, refine, add text-based evidence, Tuesday - Re-edit for grammar and clarity, then print.

 

The assignments are always small (between 250-750 words) and each last for just the one week.  This week he had to write a descriptive paragraph or two about the setting from one of the classic short stories we are reading.  This goes along with the discussion we have been having about Imagery.  It was a little more difficult for him since he is not used to creative writing.  He had to develop a similar weekly outline for creative writing as the one above he has developed for essay writing.  In the end, it was two paragraphs and about 425 words.

The only reason it is not overwhelming, is again, because he has tiny tasks each day.  If he had to just write, his head would explode.  Perhaps your daughter needs to have someone split it up.  One essay a week is not too much, but it can become a very daunting task if she has never had anyone show her how to pace herself.

[daijobu]

I am a writing tutor. I usually meet weekly with my individual students, I introduce a lesson and we do practice exersizes and I assign homework. Sometimes that homework is a new essay and sometimes it is a rewrite but I expect parents to help with outlines and drafts as needed, although I am always avalible between meetings.

 

Are you just looking for someone to evaluate her work, not actually teach the lessons? That is different IMO.

 

I'm curious.  If you assign a 5 paragraph essay that requires some research and MLA citations, how much time do you allow for the essay to be completed?