• Home
  • Login
  • Registration
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • RSS
ESLarticle.com
Tweet
  • Home
  • Articles
  • Blog
  • Members
  • Add Article

Top Categories

Teaching 509
Other 210
Classroom Management 138
Career Development 135
Learning Methodology 121
Study Skills 90
E-Learning/CALL 87
English Language Learning (ELL) 78
Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) 77
Teaching Methodology 76
English Language Teaching (ELT) 73
English as a Second Language (ESL) 64
Teach in Shanghai
Home / Articles / Teaching / Writing / View Article

Publishing

  • Articles
  • Add Article
  • Articles Archive
  • Latest Articles
  • Popular Articles

Latest Articles

Jan 5, 2019

Metacognition in Reading Competency

As related to the reading process, metacognition can be defined as contemplation concerning one's own thinking processes or knowledge of one's own...

Jan 5, 2019

Mass Media Literacy Reflections for Language Instructions

"You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself." Galileo Galilei Mass media forms thrive today. As development...

Nov 30, 2018

Ideas for the First Class with New Learners

~~The first class with new learners can be an anxious one for all concerned – teacher as well as learners. Below are some tips to make that first...

Nov 19, 2018

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners

10 Amazing Hacks for English Learners It is estimated that there are over a billion English speakers in the world, including native speakers,...

Nov 15, 2018

Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Hom

Education Today, December 2013 Building Reading and Writing Knowledge with Very Young Children at Home  Timothy G. Weih University of Northern...

Popular Articles

1131429 Views

5 Creative Ways to Decorate Your Classroom Bulletin Board This Winter

Back to school, fall leaves, Thanksgiving and Christmas all easily lend themselves to great decorating themes, but what to do when those are over...

370408 Views

Three Unique Ideas To Make Your Bulletin Board More Useful

Bulletin boards have long been existent in campuses. They have proven to be such versatile and useful aids in both the learning and teaching...

135693 Views

History of the Chalkboard

Walk into just about any classroom and you will find one: A dark green board on the wall, lined with pieces of chalk and felt erasers. Chalkboards,...

63212 Views

Report Card Comments

For a small minority, writing report cards isn't a big deal. But most teachers generally dread report card writing time. Completing the comment...

41591 Views

The Most Useful American Business Words

The Most Useful American Business Words: Here's a list that will come in handy for any student enrolled in an English as a Second Language (ESL)...


Writing Tips For the Back-to-School Essay

by Gini Cunningham

Oct 4, 2009 Writing 2673 Views

_notregistered/art_3179_36d98495b1~.jpg

Summer days are melting away as school bells prepare to chime. Three months of festivities have quickly vanished, but more fun and learning are about to unfold. A favorite back-to-school topic for writing is "What I Did This Summer". I admit, with chagrin, that I often assigned this odious task to my eighth graders. I wanted to learn more about them and vacation tales helped develop a picture of student interests, experiences, and of course, writing skills.

The problem is that the subject is enormous. Just think: three months, 90 days, 24 hours per day... That adds up to a whole lot of adventures. My students generally reacted to this assignment in one of two ways. The less than eager writers said, "I didn't do anything", as if that excuse would release them from responsibility; the second group, having done hundreds of things over the summer proceeded to list every single one. "My Trip to Disneyland" became: we got up, ate breakfast, packed our suitcases, climbed in the car, bought gas, drove to Reno. I am sure you have the idea. There were no details, nothing to reveal the excitement and/or family trip agony of this event. Instead I read an inventory of every single dull moment of the excursion right up to Splash Mountain followed by the return home. Splash Mountain - I love this Disney ride. I enjoy reliving the breath-sucking thrill of shooting off the waterfalls and crashing into the shimmering pond below.

Students rarely describe the most magnificent aspect of their trip since tedious lists have filled the page with no room remaining for the real point of action. The core of the adventure, the electrifying jolt I long to read about and visualize in my mind, are abandoned and I am left to wonder if life is just a list rather than a jam-packed adventure. To focus thoughts try this technique called Zoom Lens. Going back to Disneyland story, ask the writer, "What was the best part of the trip?" With a reply of Splash Mountain, take out an imaginary camera and begin to zoom: past the mile-long, winding line (a fine story for another day especially if Sister Sal has a broken leg and the entire family is escorted by Goofy to the front of the line), past the tumbling travel logs, past the raucous serenade of silly pirates. Begin by describing the glimpse of dazzling blue sky just ahead, the roar of thundering water, and the butterfly feeling whirling inside as you drop off a sparkling cliff and rocket into the watery unknown. Writing has moved from the general (list) to the very specific (swooshing out of Splash Mountain). Your child can most likely relate twelve more exhilarating details of just this portion of the ride, things to add when creating this paper.

With the Zoom ideas in mind, now design a UNiversal Organizer (UNO) for the key points to be included in this masterpiece. Take a blank piece of paper and a compass if you have one and draw a 2-inch circle in the center. You can free-hand this as well but I know that many writers are perfectionists and prefer concentric circles. In this circle write the title or key focus of the paper. Now draw a second circle 1-inch around the first, and then a third and a fourth. Divide the circle-figure by drawing lines that bisect the circle, creating six, equal pie-shaped segments. Starting at the center, move out to the first sections and jot in key areas for writing: who, what, when, where, why/how, and results/conclusion. In the next ring write the details that correspond to each area, i.e. who: Dad, Brother Bob, an unknown stranger, and me. Complete each section around the circle and then move out to the next ring to add details like the growl of the rapids (what) or the gagging reflex noise of...(the stranger). Continue to add ideas and information around the ring.

Your child may have used brainstorms in the past where ideas were dashed and dotted everywhere around the page and when time came to actually write the essay, frustration rampaged as she searched for organization in the jumbled mess. Now she can simply follow her notes to compose a well-formatted, easy to read story. For more information on the UNiversal Organizer check out www.metrostate.edu/writing/uno Let me know how the UNO and Zoom Lens tools work for you.

Article source: http://eslarticle.com/pub/teaching/writing/3179-writing-tips-for-the-back-to-school-essay.html

  • General Information
  • Pictures
Author Info

Author Name: Gini Cunningham

About Author: Educational consultant; free lance writer; life coach; professional development presenter

General

Pictures:

Most Recent Articles

  • Jun 16, 2018 Highlighted Key Writing Guidelines for ESL Foundation Learners by Gini Cunningham
  • Jul 31, 2017 Effective Writing Instruction Teaches Developing Writers to Construct by Gini Cunningham
  • Mar 24, 2017 Differentiating Writing in the Classroom by Gini Cunningham
  • Oct 15, 2016 Fractional Analysis As an Approach to Literary Writing by Gini Cunningham
  • Oct 5, 2016 Types of College Essay Topics That Every Student Must Know by Gini Cunningham

Actions

  • Print Page

Articles Archive

  • April 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020

Random Articles

Grammar

Teaching Participial Adjectives to ESL/EFL Students

Choosing between the present and past forms of the participial adjectives imposes problems to ESL/EFL students. English learners often use present...

Young Learners

How To Improve Handwriting

Handwriting can be something that people get embarrassed about or wish to change. It's amazing how different writing is from person to person....

English Language Learning (ELL)

Advantages of Learning English

While you're learning English as your second language, you should know that there are millions like you trying to understand the complexities of...

Teaching

5 Things Teachers Need From Students

When we think about schooling, we often wonder exactly what it is that students require from their teacher. However, it is important to understand...

Other

Are Girls Brighter Than Boys?

Many are of the view that girls are brighter than boys, I disagree. I believe boys could outshine girls on any given day once they put their minds...

About ESL Article

ESL Article is a private ESL/TEFL site designed and maintained by educators and educational administrators. It was launched in August 2008 with the aim of bringing ESL/TEFL students, parents, teachers and schools information and articles about the teaching profession and learning community.

Icon Group Member

ESL Article is a member of Icon Group Thailand (IGT), a group of ESL TEFL TESOL websites providing educational resources and information to teachers, schools and students around the world. The group was founded in 2003 and now includes 15+ websites covering educational information services, teaching resources and e-learning.

What is ESL?

English as a second language (ESL) is the use or study of English by speakers of different native languages. It is also known as English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), English as an additional language (EAL), and English as a foreign language (EFL).

  • Home
  • Registration
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Help
  • Partner
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
​

© 2021 ESLarticle.com.
Member of Icon Group Thailand - Educating the Future:
TESall All TESOL  Total ESL  ESL Job Feed
TEFL World  TEFL Jobs Overseas  Teach Overseas
Asia TEFL  ESL Powerpoint  Teacher Training