Wednesday, November 3, 2010
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 2, 2010
Bob the Tutor: What You Can Do to Raise Your SAT Score the Last ...
Bob the Tutor: What You Can Do to Raise Your SAT Score the Last ...: "With less than one week to go until the SAT there are still things that you can do to increase your score on test day. If you do nothing e..."
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Writing a Personal Essay for College Applications
Essay Writing ideas by Jennifer Tsay, Omega Teaching
I have a friend Jennifer Tsay who owns a tutoring business in Menlo Park CA, OmegaTeaching. We share ideas and thoughts about how to help our students reach their goals. Jennifer runs writing workshops; following are some her thoughts on writing a personal essay.
Jennifer wrote:
I have started to develop my own techniques to help kids w/ the personal essay. In general, I have found essay writing advice was too vague.
I started to use literary techniques that students already study, but don't always consider adapting for their writing. One technique is Joseph Campbell's The Hero's Journey. What is your transformation as the hero at the end of your story? Or what is your epiphany? to borrow the language from short story literary analysis.
I still think that students should consider how "transformation" is really the plot line aka The Hero's Journey. A good memoir doesn't just relate a story, but shows how the character in the story is transformed -- and transformation can be subtle, perhaps just greater insight and understanding of who they are. In short story analysis this is the epiphany.
I also found a terrific book on tips for magazine writers that gives specific examples of introductory hooks and leads as well as conclusions; Don McKinney, Magazine Writing that Sells. Your personal essay will essentially be an article about yourself.
Showing not telling is a classic journalism technique but for kids, you have to give them examples and specific techniques.
I tell them to describe the 5 senses, use dialogue and quotes (this comes naturally to journalists, but not a typical high school student who has spent last the 4 years writing the standard 5 paragraph persuasive snoozer).
For further polishing, Harry Noden has a book called Image Grammar that shows specific techniques to establish flow (for example -- use participles as adjectives -- recent cognitive science and linguistic research is showing how this makes writing more vivid). His book confirms recent fMRI scans showing that visual imagery and literary imagery light up similar parts of brain.
Below is advice that Jennifer sent to a student on how to prepare to write her personal essay.
As a writing prompt I have come across two related to goal planning and introspection. [You] could also consider these as ways to approach [your] college admissions applications.
1. Write a resume of your current skills. Or write one for your "dream job." This helps students "backwards" map and really think about what education and skills they need to get the career or life they want.
2. Write your obituary. This is decidedly more morbid, but it is the same goal. How do you want to be remembered and what will you accomplish with your life? (Note: This advice comes from Stephen Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.)
If only some forward-thinking teacher had given me these exercises when I was 16!
[You] can also consider how the particular college and its offerings will fit [your] goals and needs.
Another interesting website that contains short personal essays is "This I Believe." They broadcast these audio essays on NPR and have curriculum for middle and high school students. You can listen to those that spark an interest.
The essays are also available in print form and I find them a good place to hear "voice" in writing. Writing is becoming more personal and informal than even 5 years ago.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing.
1. Write a resume of your current skills. Or write one for your "dream job." This helps students "backwards" map and really think about what education and skills they need to get the career or life they want.
2. Write your obituary. This is decidedly more morbid, but it is the same goal. How do you want to be remembered and what will you accomplish with your life? (Note: This advice comes from Stephen Covey's book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.)
If only some forward-thinking teacher had given me these exercises when I was 16!
[You] can also consider how the particular college and its offerings will fit [your] goals and needs.
Another interesting website that contains short personal essays is "This I Believe." They broadcast these audio essays on NPR and have curriculum for middle and high school students. You can listen to those that spark an interest.
The essays are also available in print form and I find them a good place to hear "voice" in writing. Writing is becoming more personal and informal than even 5 years ago.
Thank you Jennifer for sharing.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, July 15, 2010
SAT & ACT Training Plan; Step II: Practice
Are you an athlete who has been told that the admissions office says you need higher test scores?
Do your SAT and ACT test scores not reflect your academic standing?
Do you want to significantly improve your SAT and ACT test scores?
You CAN improve your scores if you are willing to make a commitment to the following training plan.
Training Plan
Preparing for the SAT and ACT is similar to training for a marathon (I have run two). Training takes a personal commitment to spend the time and energy necessary to reach the finish line under your time goal.
Set a goal score based on the median test scores of the reach schools on your list of colleges.
Set a goal to complete 8 SAT practice tests and 6 ACT tests. Write your goal down and post it in place you will see it first thing in the morning (bathroom mirror).
Schedule a time to train (25 or 50 minutes five days a week).
Memorize the test directions.
Learn strategies and techniques to approach the critical reading and writing questions and math problems.
Practice with the answer book open.
Close the answer book and take practice test sections.
Take timed practice test sections.
You can beat the test!
Plan to win!
SAT & ACT Training Plan; Step I: READ
The best advice that one can give a person who wants to get more enjoyment and value out of their life is to read novels, non-fiction, The N.Y. Times, national, literary, and news magazines like New Yorker, New York Magazine, Discover, The Economist, Harpers, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Newsweek. These magazines can be read on line at: Literary magazines
Reading is the BEST single thing that a student can do to improve their SAT and ACT scores. Two thirds of the SAT score is comprised of the scores of the Critical Reading and Writing sections. The SAT critical reading section tests reading comprehension, and vocabulary. The only way to improve reading comprehension is to READ and reading is the best way to improve vocabulary. In a way the SAT and ACT is a vocabulary test. If you want to do well you need a strong vocabulary. If you don't understand the words in the reading passages you will struggle with comprehension. When you read, you learn vocabulary in context giving your mind a schema or framework for remembering the meaning of the word. We remember things better when they mean something. The SAT tests the secondary and tertiary definitions of words which are learned from seeing words in context.
Vocabulary
Gary Gruber Ph.D is recognized nationally as the leading expert on standardized test. His book, Gruber's Complete SAT Guide 2010 is in its 13th edition. Gruber analyzed 47 SAT tests and published a list of SAT words that appeared more than once over those 47 tests. The list is less than 140 words. Gruber lists 291 words that he, designates as, "frequently used." If you are committed to memorizing vocabulary you will get a better pay off learning Greek and Latin roots, prefixes and suffixes that you can use to decipher words. Sixty percent of all the words in the English language are derived from Greek or Latin.
In addition to reading, listen to quality radio and T.V. and to people who speak well. Playing word games like cross word puzzles, anagrams, and Scrabble will help you increase your vocabulary. (Gruber) When you come across a word that you don't know send your self a text or Facebook message with the word and its definition in it.
READ something every day from the sources mentioned in the first paragraph. When you read note the words that you don't understand and try to define them in context. Send your self a reminder message with the word and the sentence.
Active Reading Approach
Be an active reader and read with a purpose. In other words ask yourself the following questions as you read.
1.What is the main idea?
2.What is the author's opinion?
3.What is the tone or mood (serious, satirical, humorous, critical, mysterious)of the piece of writing?
4.What key information does the author use or imply in defending their thesis?
5.Predict what the author is going to say or the character is going to do?
6.Think of questions that you would like to ask the author and read to find the answers.
7.What do you like and dislike about the characters?
8.Underline and annotate (take notes in the margin) words and phrase that help you answer the questions above.
Be curious when you are reading. Read what interests you. Read what you enjoy.
Saturday, July 10, 2010
"The" College Admissions Essay And Other Admissions Advice
Back by popular demand:
There is "unlimited" advice available on how to write "the" college admissions essay in the blogosphere, on websites, in books, from guidance counselors (private expensive, and very expensive and at your high school), English and history teachers, friends and parents.
There is "unlimited" advice available on how to write "the" college admissions essay in the blogosphere, on websites, in books, from guidance counselors (private expensive, and very expensive and at your high school), English and history teachers, friends and parents.
One of the student's toughest jobs may be to decide which advice to follow. This task may test your critical thinking and analytical skills more than the SAT Reasoning Test.
The essay is the best opportunity for students to differentiate themselves from all the other wonderfully capable, accomplished applicants with comparable grades and test scores. Writing the college essay is an incredible opportunity to let the admissions staff get to know you. I visited with the Stanford University Dean of Admissions at revisit day for the class of 2012 and asked him how they made admissions decisions when they had more than enough highly qualified candidates to fill the freshman class many times over. He said that student's essays and teacher recommendations were the differentiators.
The N.Y. Times started a blog about the college admissions journey named, The Choice. Note I said journey, if you are the parent, your job is to make the journey fun by staying out of the way and by understanding first and foremost that you aren't the one going to college. Read the N.Y. Times article on the college essay and the advice contributed by the Dean of Admissions at Connecticut College
The best tips from The Choice. Write about yourself. Use your own Voice, that means use your own vocabulary and sentence construction. Don't allow anyone to take away your voice. It must be yours, any college admissions staff can easily pick out essays influenced by adults.
The University of Virginia posted an article titled, Writing the Essay: Sound Advice from an Expert. This is the best advice that I am aware of on writing a college admissions essay.
The author advises not to write the McEssay because he knows what is coming next. McEssays are like the Big Mac they all look, smell, and taste the same regardless of where in the world you buy them.
Show, don't tell. Showing appeals to all of the senses. Pick a topic with a sharp focus that provides the room for a lot of descriptive detail. The detail in your essay will differentiate you as an individual.
Most important tips: Be yourself! I'd go beyond that and say reveal yourself. What makes you tick? What makes you stand out? Be yourself, don't try to impress.
Tell the reader something new about you that they won't find somewhere else in your application.
The writing process is laid out in steps for you by the College Board and they must know since the colleges trust their Writing test as a credible measure of student's writing skills.
The 2011/2012 Common Application. The Common Application is widely accepted. Go to the website and register, it's easy and it's free. After registering click on "My Colleges" link and add all the colleges that you are interested in applying to. This gives you access to any supplements that your specific schools of interest require.
The advice that stands out above all else is to write about yourself. In your own voice, show the reader what you want them to know about you. Your personal experiences are what differentiates you from the crowd. You are unique, show them who you are, let them experience you.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
TO THOSE WHO GOT A `NO' FROM ADMISSIONS DEAN
TO THOSE WHO GOT A `NO' FROM ADMISSIONS DEAN
Author: David Nyhan
Date: March 31, 2001 Boston Globe
Page: A15
Section: Op-Ed
David Nyhan was an award winning columnist for the Boston Globe for 32 years. He wrote a version of this column every April for over 10 years. This is the last one he wrote before he retired in 2001.
THE REJECTIONS ARRIVE THIS TIME OF YEAR IN THIN, CHEAP ENVELOPES, SOME WITH
A CRUMMY WINDOW FOR NAME AND ADDRESS, AS IF IT WERE A BILL, AND NONE WITH
THE THICK PACKET YOU'D HOPED FOR.
"Dear So-and-so:
"The admissions committee gave full consideration . . . but I regret to
inform you we will be unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2005."
Lots of applicants, limited number of spaces, blah blah blah, good luck with
your undergraduate career. Very truly yours, Assistant Dean Blowhard,
rejection writer, Old Overshoe U."
This is the season of college acceptance letters. So it's also the time of
rejection. You're in or you're out. Today is the day you learn how life is
not like high school. To the Ins, who got where they wanted to go: Congrats,
great, good luck, have a nice life, see you later. The rest of this is for
the Outs.
You sort of felt it was coming. Your SAT scores weren't the greatest. Your
transcript had some holes in it. You wondered what your teachers'
recommendations would really say, or imply. And you can't help thinking
about that essay you finished at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day you
absolutely had to mail in your application, that essay which was, well, a
little weird.
Maybe you could have pulled that C in sociology up to a B-minus. Maybe you
shouldn't have quit soccer to get a job to pay for your gas. Maybe it was
that down period during sophomore year when you had mono and didn't talk to
your teachers for three months while you vegged out. What difference does it
make what it was? It still hurts.
It hurts where you feel pain most: inside. It's not like the usual heartache
that kids have, the kind other people can't see. An alcoholic parent, a
secret shame, a gaping wound in the family fabric, these are things one can
carry to school and mask with a grin, a wisecrack, a scowl, a
just-don't-mess-with-me-today attitude.
But everybody knows where you got in and where you didn't. Sure, the letter
comes to the house. But eventually you've still got to face your friends.
"Any mail for me?" is like asking for a knuckle sandwich. Thanks a lot for
the kick in the teeth. What a bummer.
How do you tell kids at school? That's the hard part. The squeals in the
corridor from the kids who got in someplace desirable. The supercilious puss
on the ones who got early acceptance, or the girl whose old man has an in at
Old Ivy.
There's the class doofus who suddenly becomes the first nerd accepted at
Princeton, the 125-pound wrestling jock who, surprise, surprise, got into
MIT. But what about you?
You've heard about special treatment for this category or that category,
alumni kids on a legacy ticket or affirmative action luckouts or rebounders
or oboe players. Maybe they were trying to fill certain slots.
But you're not a slot. You're you. They can look at your grades and weigh
your scores and see how many years you were in French Club. But they can't
look into your head, or into your heart. They can't check out the guts
department.
This is the important thing: They didn't reject you. They rejected your
resume. They gave some other kid the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that kid
deserved a break. Don't you deserve a break? Sure. You'll get one. Maybe
this is the reality check you needed. Maybe the school that does take you
will be good. Maybe this is the day you start to grow up.
Look at some people who've accomplished a lot, and see where they started.
Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn't let him play
quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do
you know that the chairmen of both General Motors and General Electric
graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University.
The minority leader of the US Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota
State. Speaker of the US House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert went to
Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the House majority leader, took a
bachelor's degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? So slow a
learner they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our
hands.
I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let's keep
this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also
tested HIV positive? "You've got to have a positive attitude." What happens
when you don't keep a positive attitude? Don't ask.
This college thing? What happened is that you rubbed up against the reality
of big-time, maybe big-name, institutions. Some they pick, some they don't.
You lost. It'll happen again, but let's hope it won't have the awful kick.
You'll get tossed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. You won't get the job or the
promotion you think you deserve. Some disease may pluck you from life's fast
lane and pin you to a bed, a wheelchair, a coffin. That happens.
Bad habits you can change; bad luck is nothing you can do anything about.
Does it mean you're not a good person? People like you, if not your resume.
There's no one else that can be you. Plenty of people think you're special
now, or will think that, once they get to know you. Because you are.
And the admissions department that said no? Screw them. You've got a life to
lead.
Author: David Nyhan
Date: March 31, 2001 Boston Globe
Page: A15
Section: Op-Ed
David Nyhan was an award winning columnist for the Boston Globe for 32 years. He wrote a version of this column every April for over 10 years. This is the last one he wrote before he retired in 2001.
THE REJECTIONS ARRIVE THIS TIME OF YEAR IN THIN, CHEAP ENVELOPES, SOME WITH
A CRUMMY WINDOW FOR NAME AND ADDRESS, AS IF IT WERE A BILL, AND NONE WITH
THE THICK PACKET YOU'D HOPED FOR.
"Dear So-and-so:
"The admissions committee gave full consideration . . . but I regret to
inform you we will be unable to offer you a place in the Class of 2005."
Lots of applicants, limited number of spaces, blah blah blah, good luck with
your undergraduate career. Very truly yours, Assistant Dean Blowhard,
rejection writer, Old Overshoe U."
This is the season of college acceptance letters. So it's also the time of
rejection. You're in or you're out. Today is the day you learn how life is
not like high school. To the Ins, who got where they wanted to go: Congrats,
great, good luck, have a nice life, see you later. The rest of this is for
the Outs.
You sort of felt it was coming. Your SAT scores weren't the greatest. Your
transcript had some holes in it. You wondered what your teachers'
recommendations would really say, or imply. And you can't help thinking
about that essay you finished at 2 o'clock in the morning of the day you
absolutely had to mail in your application, that essay which was, well, a
little weird.
Maybe you could have pulled that C in sociology up to a B-minus. Maybe you
shouldn't have quit soccer to get a job to pay for your gas. Maybe it was
that down period during sophomore year when you had mono and didn't talk to
your teachers for three months while you vegged out. What difference does it
make what it was? It still hurts.
It hurts where you feel pain most: inside. It's not like the usual heartache
that kids have, the kind other people can't see. An alcoholic parent, a
secret shame, a gaping wound in the family fabric, these are things one can
carry to school and mask with a grin, a wisecrack, a scowl, a
just-don't-mess-with-me-today attitude.
But everybody knows where you got in and where you didn't. Sure, the letter
comes to the house. But eventually you've still got to face your friends.
"Any mail for me?" is like asking for a knuckle sandwich. Thanks a lot for
the kick in the teeth. What a bummer.
How do you tell kids at school? That's the hard part. The squeals in the
corridor from the kids who got in someplace desirable. The supercilious puss
on the ones who got early acceptance, or the girl whose old man has an in at
Old Ivy.
There's the class doofus who suddenly becomes the first nerd accepted at
Princeton, the 125-pound wrestling jock who, surprise, surprise, got into
MIT. But what about you?
You've heard about special treatment for this category or that category,
alumni kids on a legacy ticket or affirmative action luckouts or rebounders
or oboe players. Maybe they were trying to fill certain slots.
But you're not a slot. You're you. They can look at your grades and weigh
your scores and see how many years you were in French Club. But they can't
look into your head, or into your heart. They can't check out the guts
department.
This is the important thing: They didn't reject you. They rejected your
resume. They gave some other kid the benefit of the doubt. Maybe that kid
deserved a break. Don't you deserve a break? Sure. You'll get one. Maybe
this is the reality check you needed. Maybe the school that does take you
will be good. Maybe this is the day you start to grow up.
Look at some people who've accomplished a lot, and see where they started.
Ronald Reagan? Eureka College. Jesse Jackson? They wouldn't let him play
quarterback in the Big Ten, so he quit Illinois for North Carolina A & T. Do
you know that the chairmen of both General Motors and General Electric
graduated from UMass? Bob Dole? He went to Washburn Municipal University.
The minority leader of the US Senate, Tom Daschle, went to South Dakota
State. Speaker of the US House of Representatives J. Dennis Hastert went to
Northern Illinois University. Dick Armey, the House majority leader, took a
bachelor's degree from Jamestown College. Winston Churchill? So slow a
learner they used to write to his mother to come take this boy off our
hands.
I know what you think: Spare me the sympathy. It still hurts. But let's keep
this in perspective. What did Magic Johnson say to the little boy who also
tested HIV positive? "You've got to have a positive attitude." What happens
when you don't keep a positive attitude? Don't ask.
This college thing? What happened is that you rubbed up against the reality
of big-time, maybe big-name, institutions. Some they pick, some they don't.
You lost. It'll happen again, but let's hope it won't have the awful kick.
You'll get tossed by a girlfriend or boyfriend. You won't get the job or the
promotion you think you deserve. Some disease may pluck you from life's fast
lane and pin you to a bed, a wheelchair, a coffin. That happens.
Bad habits you can change; bad luck is nothing you can do anything about.
Does it mean you're not a good person? People like you, if not your resume.
There's no one else that can be you. Plenty of people think you're special
now, or will think that, once they get to know you. Because you are.
And the admissions department that said no? Screw them. You've got a life to
lead.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Can Your Child Really Multi Task? Are They Becoming Disconnected from Personal Interaction?
PBS Digital Nation gives a 90 minute quick tour of what is going on with the use of digital technology.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
Most of the first 30 minutes of Digital Nation deals w/ college and high school students and all the electronic multitasking they do. It's really frightening. One thing to read about it, another to see all the laptops and no students focused on anything.
Stanford Professor Clifford Nass studies multitaksing and concludes multitaskers are TERRIBLE at everything and don't realize it. They also interview professors who find the quality of student work and learning has declined over the past 10 years.
There are also segments on the use of Second Life in the business world (IBM uses avatars instead of webcams to host meetings. You think you are watching an episode of The Office, but no, you aren't. Reality is more ridiculous than satire).
Is everyone getting eye strain and carpal tunnel? The documentary shows how humans are becoming very,very separated from "touch" and the "real world" including face-to-face interaction. Many implications (mostly negative) for this. There is even a segment about military air force pilots who fly drone planes across the globe. The pilots are never in any combat danger. They fly their bombing runs, then drive home to suburbia. One commentator jokes there is no need for physical training in the air force -- we just need to recruit people who have big butts and can sit and stare at a screen all day. Science fiction doesn't even come close to what is going on now.
Contributed by Jennifer Tsay
Omega Teaching
www.omegateaching.com
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/digitalnation/
Most of the first 30 minutes of Digital Nation deals w/ college and high school students and all the electronic multitasking they do. It's really frightening. One thing to read about it, another to see all the laptops and no students focused on anything.
Stanford Professor Clifford Nass studies multitaksing and concludes multitaskers are TERRIBLE at everything and don't realize it. They also interview professors who find the quality of student work and learning has declined over the past 10 years.
There are also segments on the use of Second Life in the business world (IBM uses avatars instead of webcams to host meetings. You think you are watching an episode of The Office, but no, you aren't. Reality is more ridiculous than satire).
Is everyone getting eye strain and carpal tunnel? The documentary shows how humans are becoming very,very separated from "touch" and the "real world" including face-to-face interaction. Many implications (mostly negative) for this. There is even a segment about military air force pilots who fly drone planes across the globe. The pilots are never in any combat danger. They fly their bombing runs, then drive home to suburbia. One commentator jokes there is no need for physical training in the air force -- we just need to recruit people who have big butts and can sit and stare at a screen all day. Science fiction doesn't even come close to what is going on now.
Contributed by Jennifer Tsay
Omega Teaching
www.omegateaching.com
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
How to Get the Most from Your New Rolls-Royce-- Your Writing Tutor
Congratulations. You’ve just leased a Rolls-Royce. Your tutor is like a fancy car you’ve got all to yourself.
Now you need to know how to drive.
Classroom education is like a bus—it’s big and everyone has to share. It’s also more expensive than the Rolls-Royce—you couldn’t afford to buy one all by yourself—and even if you did, it wouldn’t be the best use of your money since it’s maneuverability and pickup are lousy. (No offense, classroom education.) But you are sharing it—so, whether you like it or not, everyone in the class is going to the same place and going there in a really big box. And since the teacher's always been the one driving, you've never had to give much thought to these two important questions: Where is it I really want to go? and, What's the best way for me to get there?
With your own personal Rolls-Royce, you get to decide where you drive--and how fast. Most people who hire a tutor don’t even utilize a tenth of the potential benefits a tutor can provide, because they’re only used to riding the bus (with the teacher doing the driving). Driving your personal Rolls Royce is a completely different game, and to get the most benefit, you need to figure out a few things. So I’ve taken the time to write up a description of some of the possibilities, the things you can get out of working with a personal tutor.
While your tutor can’t make you perform better--you ultimately have to do that--your tutor creates the environment in which you’re much more likely to succeed and improve. Whereas your teacher has to create one environment to support 20 different people’s progress all at the same time—plus give out the grades--your personal assistant can focus specifically on creating one environment for you. Virtually all tutors agree that building confidence is the main key to raising performance—and it’s much easier for a person who’s not giving any grades to help you with that.
Your tutor provides much better support for:
--greater ease writing fast and even timed test essays—even if you’re a person who’s always struggled with “not having enough time”
--improved clarity of writing
(Often you get penalized for your lack of clear expression of the ideas you have, not on any lack of quality of the ideas themselves; mostly it’s a communication problem, not a content problem.)
--and improved clarity of thinking too
(Thinking is a skill, not a talent: you can be smart and think unclearly, or you can be dumb and know how to think clearly. Some of the dumbest people in the world are the most successful, and many smart people fall into the “intelligence trap” (see Edward DeBono, Teach Your Child How to Think. New York: Penguin, 1992). [By the way, if your goal is be dumb and highly successful, ask about my secret lead-based formula.]
As with writing clearly, if you have great ideas but you don’t know how to “think around” them to get them into words, you will find them zooming past and disappearing before you can catch them, and it’s completely natural to feel frustrated when your grade doesn’t reflect the quality of the initial idea.)
--and, obviously, better grades
You can also learn/receive:
--two real ways to revise
--tools custom-fitted to your unique working style
--principles of rhetoric and persuasion and of clarity
--ways of getting the words on the page to match what you were thinking
--demystification of the writing process, and removal of common illusions about writing
--a way to write better and with less effort
How to get more from your tutor (a beginning):
--ask for what you want (ask for anything at all--want it to be more fun? ask. more directed? ask. less directed? you may be pleasantly surprised at what you can get)
--give feedback (you don't get to do this in class much--but any tutor will welcome feedback; she/he can't read your mind)
--conduct experiments--and don't believe anything he/she says! (if your tutor suggests that something might work, test it out for yourself and see--this is about your needs, and if it doesn't work for you, then it's not because you're wrong, it's because that particular tool wasn't the right one.)
Ultimately writing can be one of the most meaningful activities you ever participate in, and it may be that if you begin planting seeds now, one day you’ll find yourself looking forward to writing an essay.
Here are the keys.
Article contributed by Joshua Myrvaagnes
Now you need to know how to drive.
Classroom education is like a bus—it’s big and everyone has to share. It’s also more expensive than the Rolls-Royce—you couldn’t afford to buy one all by yourself—and even if you did, it wouldn’t be the best use of your money since it’s maneuverability and pickup are lousy. (No offense, classroom education.) But you are sharing it—so, whether you like it or not, everyone in the class is going to the same place and going there in a really big box. And since the teacher's always been the one driving, you've never had to give much thought to these two important questions: Where is it I really want to go? and, What's the best way for me to get there?
With your own personal Rolls-Royce, you get to decide where you drive--and how fast. Most people who hire a tutor don’t even utilize a tenth of the potential benefits a tutor can provide, because they’re only used to riding the bus (with the teacher doing the driving). Driving your personal Rolls Royce is a completely different game, and to get the most benefit, you need to figure out a few things. So I’ve taken the time to write up a description of some of the possibilities, the things you can get out of working with a personal tutor.
While your tutor can’t make you perform better--you ultimately have to do that--your tutor creates the environment in which you’re much more likely to succeed and improve. Whereas your teacher has to create one environment to support 20 different people’s progress all at the same time—plus give out the grades--your personal assistant can focus specifically on creating one environment for you. Virtually all tutors agree that building confidence is the main key to raising performance—and it’s much easier for a person who’s not giving any grades to help you with that.
Your tutor provides much better support for:
--greater ease writing fast and even timed test essays—even if you’re a person who’s always struggled with “not having enough time”
--improved clarity of writing
(Often you get penalized for your lack of clear expression of the ideas you have, not on any lack of quality of the ideas themselves; mostly it’s a communication problem, not a content problem.)
--and improved clarity of thinking too
(Thinking is a skill, not a talent: you can be smart and think unclearly, or you can be dumb and know how to think clearly. Some of the dumbest people in the world are the most successful, and many smart people fall into the “intelligence trap” (see Edward DeBono, Teach Your Child How to Think. New York: Penguin, 1992). [By the way, if your goal is be dumb and highly successful, ask about my secret lead-based formula.]
As with writing clearly, if you have great ideas but you don’t know how to “think around” them to get them into words, you will find them zooming past and disappearing before you can catch them, and it’s completely natural to feel frustrated when your grade doesn’t reflect the quality of the initial idea.)
--and, obviously, better grades
You can also learn/receive:
--two real ways to revise
--tools custom-fitted to your unique working style
--principles of rhetoric and persuasion and of clarity
--ways of getting the words on the page to match what you were thinking
--demystification of the writing process, and removal of common illusions about writing
--a way to write better and with less effort
How to get more from your tutor (a beginning):
--ask for what you want (ask for anything at all--want it to be more fun? ask. more directed? ask. less directed? you may be pleasantly surprised at what you can get)
--give feedback (you don't get to do this in class much--but any tutor will welcome feedback; she/he can't read your mind)
--conduct experiments--and don't believe anything he/she says! (if your tutor suggests that something might work, test it out for yourself and see--this is about your needs, and if it doesn't work for you, then it's not because you're wrong, it's because that particular tool wasn't the right one.)
Ultimately writing can be one of the most meaningful activities you ever participate in, and it may be that if you begin planting seeds now, one day you’ll find yourself looking forward to writing an essay.
Here are the keys.
Article contributed by Joshua Myrvaagnes
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)