English essay query

chases0102

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone, in particular English teachers who may frequent here, could offer some advice.

I have a weak group of Ordinary level Leaving Certs for English - they are tough to motivate, and many if not all do not come from a tradition of reading in their backgrounds, and as a result, even their basic English skills are lacking.

I did not work at the school last year, and I have worked very hard with them on their material for Paper 2, and in fairness they are improving in that regard. However, the biggest problem that they are facing is undoubtedly the essay.

I have been at pains to emphasise that the essay is 25% of their entire grade, but a lot them really struggle; indeed, in a recent Christmas assessment many did not even attempt the composition, leaving in blank.

So I was wondering if anyone would have any prompts or techniques that may help? I have committed to staying behind and helping those in trouble with the essay, and I am just looking for some ideas.

Thanks.

acequion

chases0102 wrote: »

Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone, in particular English teachers who may frequent here, could offer some advice.

I have a weak group of Ordinary level Leaving Certs for English - they are tough to motivate, and many if not all do not come from a tradition of reading in their backgrounds, and as a result, even their basic English skills are lacking.

I did not work at the school last year, and I have worked very hard with them on their material for Paper 2, and in fairness they are improving in that regard. However, the biggest problem that they are facing is undoubtedly the essay.

I have been at pains to emphasise that the essay is 25% of their entire grade, but a lot them really struggle; indeed, in a recent Christmas assessment many did not even attempt the composition, leaving in blank.

So I was wondering if anyone would have any prompts or techniques that may help? I have committed to staying behind and helping those in trouble with the essay, and I am just looking for some ideas.

Thanks.

I find that personal or story essays tend to suit the weaker kids best. There is generally a good bit of scope in the personal ones to appeal to all tastes. What I would do is choose a very general personal essay and go through the entire planning stage with them in class so that they are all coming up with ideas. I would also spend some time on the structure,the idea of a beginning,middle, end and the use of paragraphing. Maybe you could write the introductory paragraph and once the rest have been planned by the class, get them to write a few paragraphs in pairs and for homework.You might need to repeat that process with a few essays to get them up and running.Once they learn to approach it in baby steps they mightn't be so overwhelmed by it.I would also show them lots of samples.With the story essays,I find some of them get a bit carried away, but if that floats their boat,let them at it! Anything that actually gets them writing is good. They will then improve with practice.

On another note and I certainly don't mean to patronise,but I wouldn't be staying behind too much if I were you. As can be seen from recent developments, the more we give the more we're expected to give, and much as we want to help our students,there's not much appreciation shown to teachers these days. Plus, if one teacher in a department does extra,that puts pressure on everyone else to do likewise.

Anyway, best of luck!

chases0102

Thanks very much for your response acequion, much appreciated.

Focussing on the Personal essay and short story is definitely a good idea - it will help give them some sort of structure to aim for in the exam. Plus, as you say, they will certainly be able to write more! Many of the students struggle to create any scenarios or kernal that would develop into a composition. I'm constantly saying to them, no one ever got marks for a blank sheet of paper, so what I'm aiming for in the short term at least is to have the confidence to attempt it.

Scaffolding the essay is what I had been planning on doing, very similar to what you were suggesting. I do believe that confidence is a huge issue with the students, the majority of whom are boys, and there is certainly an element of being in danger of 'not looking cool' if they write a personal essay! So hopefully, by providing maybe the opening and closing paragraphs, they will provide the rest.

Of course you were not being patronising in the last part of your post. On the contrary, I welcome any advice. I suppose I should have said that I am not prepared to have the entire class stay back with me, just those who are really struggling with the essay ( 6 or so); and when I say struggling, I mean not attempting it at all. So I do think any help that I can give may be of some benefit. Incidentally, I will only be doing this once - I do not wish, as you stated, to get into the habit of giving them too much. For the record, I think I give them too much as it is!

Anyway, thanks again for your reply, much obliged.

acequion

chases0102 wrote: »

Thanks very much for your response acequion, much appreciated.

Focussing on the Personal essay and short story is definitely a good idea - it will help give them some sort of structure to aim for in the exam. Plus, as you say, they will certainly be able to write more! Many of the students struggle to create any scenarios or kernal that would develop into a composition. I'm constantly saying to them, no one ever got marks for a blank sheet of paper, so what I'm aiming for in the short term at least is to have the confidence to attempt it.

Scaffolding the essay is what I had been planning on doing, very similar to what you were suggesting. I do believe that confidence is a huge issue with the students, the majority of whom are boys, and there is certainly an element of being in danger of 'not looking cool' if they write a personal essay! So hopefully, by providing maybe the opening and closing paragraphs, they will provide the rest.

Of course you were not being patronising in the last part of your post. On the contrary, I welcome any advice. I suppose I should have said that I am not prepared to have the entire class stay back with me, just those who are really struggling with the essay ( 6 or so); and when I say struggling, I mean not attempting it at all. So I do think any help that I can give may be of some benefit. Incidentally, I will only be doing this once - I do not wish, as you stated, to get into the habit of giving them too much. For the record, I think I give them too much as it is!

Anyway, thanks again for your reply, much obliged.

You're very welcome,chases0102, glad to help.They're lucky to have such a dedicated teacher. The very best of luck!