Today
I taught my student the structure of an essay through pictures:
triangles and rectangles. A triangle is the head and it also represents the legs of the essay.
The head starts it and the legs carry the message. The middle is the
body. Those are rectangles. I taught that each paragraph must be a
S E E R.
State the main point. (topic sentence)
Example of main point
Expand on main point Relate to main point. Connect to topic sentence.
Expand on main point Relate to main point. Connect to topic sentence.
She understood this concept perfectly. I was proud. Is she a basic writer? By definition she fits the
idea of a basic writer: non-traditional
learner, works a full time job, single mom, minority, working class,
multilingual, bilingual. She's a Haitian woman of three children. All of
whom are in their 30s and by her account, successful. She put them all
through college. Now it's her turn.
During
our session I was direct, yet firm. I connected Duvalier's
economy--"Can you include the police to the economy within the same paragraph? Good. Why not?
That's right. It doesn't support the main point--" to coherent
paragraphing. She got it. We applied that same example but used terms
from the class: topic sentence and supportive sentences to develop
paragraphs. She did it.
I braided her linguistic world by connecting her home life to the classroom.
Today was a great day!
*What's up in Creole.
*What's up in Creole.
Hi Rasheda, Successful learning and successful teaching are the "highs" that we teachers live for. I'm so glad you saw success in your conferencing today.
ReplyDeleteThe label "nontraditional student" seems to fit your student. Whether or not she is a "basic writer" probably has to do with her experience and expertise as a writer and a reader. That is a tricky term, as you know.
--Barbara Gleason