I’ve been guilty in the past.
And if your teenager is a bit of a perfectionist, or a bit of a worrier, then they are probably guilty of this too.
It’s committing the sin of editing WHILE writing or typing.
This is not the most efficient or effective way to do things, for two main reasons…
Verrrryy often I see essays, assignments and analyses that are too vague.
The student might use sophisticated language, they might have a good point in there somewhere, they might include plenty of technical vocabulary, but the overall message lacks clarity – it’s just too wishy-washy.
Here are the things that start the ‘vagueness alarms’ going off for any teacher or examiner so your teen can avoid them!
Have you ever seen the demo of filling up a jar as if it’s your life – and starting with the small things, and there’s no room left for the big important things?
I was reminded of this analogy recently and I got to thinking – What are the big rocks for happy, smart and successful students?
It struck me recently that a significant proportion of students are just not clear on what study really involves or what elements actually comprise their study.
In this video I share a few key questions that will help your teen REALLY figure out what’s holding them back and how they can get on that fast track to amazing grades and confidence!
It is so much easier to use the efforts and the experience of others, to help us get where we want to go. As a result , we can often get further and do so faster than we might’ve done by making our own way or trying to figure it all out for ourselves.
Recently I’ve been doing some unexpected Y12 Writing Test marking for state exam trials.
This wasn’t originally in my calendar for this year, but it’s been a great opportunity to get trained in another type of mark scheme and another national exam. Being an extended response Writing Test, students have a reeealllly wide choice of options of where to go with it.
Some students love that – But for most students (even those who are strong in English) this is a real challenge. I’m the same – I really struggle without guidelines, parameters and some specifics.
So, as a direct result of my marker training AND marking 142 Year 12 diagnostic tests, here is my triple A strategy for picking a focus or topic for any open-ended task – that your teen can use in ANY subject.
I’m a big fan of giving students templates for top quality answers that can be applied to any subject and an infinite number of topics.
Structural templates give students a kind of skeleton to hang their knowledge on.
One of these templates is PQE and I share it here as an example of how good templates can work.
The biggest jumps in marks and grades are often not in the writing stage.
They are in the edit and proof-reading stage.
This is also one of the easiest ways to get more marks or jump a grade boundary without needing to research more info, or add more content.
It’s also a great way for parents to help out their teen, without doing work for them.
Your teen sits down to write their short story/essay/speech/ insert whatever task you like here 🙂
And 15 minutes later they’ve not done anything.
There might even be mumblings of:
“I just don’t know how to start”
or “ I’m no GOOD at writing essays/stories/speeches – #insert your version here!”
You spend a few minutes trying to give them some encouragement or ideas but then afterwards,
They spend another 10 minutes staring at the screen, wondering
what to write, wondering where to start.
I’ve seen it so many times in the classroom and with tutoring students.
So I want to let you in on a little secret that has worked wonders for my students…
I’m here – in full festive spirit – and thought I’d use CHRISTMAS to produce a little summary and some of the key strategies I’ve been sharing this year.
