Write until your hand falls off

Good writers read and good readers write. It’s the practice that makes it all work – just like the actor who rehearses lines a hundred times to get it “just right”.  

And what is a "right-now" practical application of good writing skills? Both the SAT and ACT college admissions tests now have writing components included in their main tests. That's right -- it's writing time!

And in the future workplace, everyone needs to be able to write effectively to communicate. Whether it is a hard copy formal accounting presentation or an e-mail detailing the engineering instructions on how to discern corrosion types inside tank cars, whether you are an accountant, a doctor or an engineer, writing (after oral language) is the basis for all communication. And with e-mail becoming a main mode of communication in the world, concise and clear writing is more vital than ever!

(Click on headings)

TAP

When Writing is Hard

Review

Practice & Help

The Writing Process

What Colleges Want in Your Writing

Grammar

Parents on Writing

TAP

For every writing task, you should use TAP. TAP is asking and answering the following questions about your writing:

            What is the TASK?

            Who is the AUDIENCE?

            What is the PURPOSE of the assignment?

When Writing is Really Hard

So what happens when you really have a hard time reading? Writing is part reading. How are you going to get through this part too? As always, ask for help from your teachers, resource teacher and guidance counselor.

Instead of writing cursive (hand-writing), try printing instead. Sometimes it is easier to write in printing if you are struggling, because it looks a lot like the letters and words you are reading from a printed page.

For those students whose hands are limited by injury or disease, writing is still part of your life – the way you deliver it will just be different. Ask for help in obtaining the physical things it will take for you to be a writer – tape recorder, a computer or specialized technology that makes use of your physical capabilities.

Get that egg timer out again and set it for a couple of minutes and write. Then set it for a longer time and write. Keep working at it until you can write for an extended time period and are able to stay on task.

 Start with writing a story or instructions to something as you would say it -- exactly how you would tell the story to someone else. Then take and change your written story or instructions to a format similar to how you would write for school. Make it something fun and silly – like how to cook an elephant! Ask someone to read your piece. Ask for their comments and then revise. Then keep making up stories and notice the difference between the two styles.

Review 

Always have someone else read your writing assignments with them also using the TAP questions and also looking for writing errors. Consider those suggestions when you revise. Why have someone else read your stuff? Because even the best writers never see their own errors all the time – it always takes another set of eyes.

Practice & Help

Start a daily journal. It doesn’t have to be about anything in particular. What is important is that you are trying to put your feelings and observations down on paper every day. You are practicing writing and reading. If you have a disability that affects your hands, use a tape recorder.

Another way to practice writing, which can be part of your journaling or something more formal, is to observe what’s happening in your neighborhood. Write down family stories and history. Interview your grandmother and then write it all down!

Get a pen pal! Write often. e-mail and the Internet have opened the world to even daily messages instead of weeks between letters due to regular mail. This is fun, but it is also writing practice.

Colleges have remedial (not for credit) courses available for those who have missed some of the steps and skills. You need to be honest with yourself about your deficiencies and ask for help.

High School and college writing labs or centers supply not only remedial work and skills, but also enrichment skills for the more advanced writer. No matter how good you are, everyone needs feedback on his or her writing. Sooner or later everyone suffers from writer’s block. This is where writing centers come in to play for all students.

The Writing Process

·          Pre-write – just get those ideas down and perhaps an outline

·          Write that first draft – don’t worry about the grammar thing here – just get the thoughts down in an organized manner – perfection has no place in a first draft.

·          Revise your work – and it may take more than one draft.

·          Edit – your work is just about done – go through and make it as logical and grammatically correct as you can.

·          Complete your work – Finish it all up and produce your work in the most perfect form you can to present to your teacher.

What Colleges Want in Your Writing

·          Need a thesis statement:

                        a.k.a. What position are you defending?

·          Needs to be well organized.

·          Answer the question in its entirety in a concise manner.

·          Needs to be well written.

·          Use good grammar.

·          Check your spelling.

·          The piece needs to flow.

·          Need a valid conclusion.

Grammar Notes

There are all sorts of books out there to help you through “the grammar thing.” There are also computer drill programs and prep classes to help you through.

  What if you have a learning disability that just makes spelling and grammar almost impossible tasks? Then it becomes vital that you constantly use the spelling and grammar checker in the word processing program you use for your school work.