IF you are the parent of a high school student, you may have concerns about your son or daughter’s writing skills.  This is one of the toughest nuts for a parent to crack. In general, high schoolers do not respond well to support from parents, and, yet, with just a little bit of focused attention, they can improve by leaps and bounds very quickly.

    Writing comes down to a few things. Primarily, it is rooted in a persons’s ability to organize and plan at the beginning of the writing process and the ability to proofread and edit at the end. 

    Organizing and planning may include jotting a word or idea bank and making a web.  I am not a fan of outlines because many students are simultaneous rather than sequential processors.  If a student does not think “in sequence,” an outline can become a serious obstacle. 

    The editing process requires a student to have grammar, punctuation and spelling skills.  Students need to understand and identify the different types of sentences—simple, compound, complex and compound-complex.  It requires them to understand how sentences make paragraphs and how the function of each new paragraph is to add new information.  It requires them to understand the seven uses of the comma!

    Writing, then, requires creative or generative skills in combination with the skills of an analyst or critic. 

Most students are helped by learning to break large tasks down into smaller ones.  Identifying the individual steps in the writing process and becoming proficient in sub-skills will help a high schooler avoid the feeling of being overwhelmed that often accompanies writing.. 

Contact me—rosemariehester@mac.com–if you would like to discuss your high schoolers writing.