Is your HS student a good writer?

[Anonymous]

Ivy League law grad as is wife - our kids are awesome writers but their teachers give their great essays/papers B pluses. Its nuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has taken Hon English and is in AP seminar. A grades across the board. DC is not a good writer! This is evident from their college essays. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary are all fine. But sentence organization is off and many sentences don’t say anything. They are fillers. What can we do to help before college?

Both kids are great writers. Their college essays were better than most adults. The aren’t just good at conveying information but they’re writing moves the reader.

It takes work. Yes, reading is vital to learning how to write well, but grit in this area matters. You have to be willing to edit, revise, lose your first draft completely, etc.

Our 1st had college professors in their freshman year comment on what a great writer they were. The thing is, great writing takes effort so they worked to make their papers and essays as good as they possibly could.

Their essays apparently impressed the college admissions folks according to the feedback. That was good to hear because they busted their butt trying to make them as great as possible.

(I lack their ability so no need to point that out.🤣

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:DC has taken Hon English and is in AP seminar. A grades across the board. DC is not a good writer! This is evident from their college essays. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary are all fine. But sentence organization is off and many sentences don’t say anything. They are fillers. What can we do to help before college?

Like any other skill, learning to write well take time - and probably Malcolm Gladwell’s hours.
Most great writer’s have excellent editors. Gently suggest you read but offer advice rather than input changes.
Give your kid some grace.

[Anonymous]

*takes*

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is a great writer- and I can tell when he has tried from a mile away. If he slapped something together, there’s tons of extra sentences. But when he really tries - like his common app essay- it’s near perfect.

I also remind myself I am a 50 year old attorney who writes for a living and what is up to my standard should not be forced on an 18 year old. They’ll get there.

Yes!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivy League law grad as is wife - our kids are awesome writers but their teachers give their great essays/papers B pluses. Its nuts.

Maybe they forget apostrophes sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ivy League law grad as is wife - our kids are awesome writers but their teachers give their great essays/papers B pluses. Its nuts.

You seem to be implying that going to law school makes you a good writer? That's a very specific kind of writing.

At a time with grade inflation, you might want to reconsider your assessment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pulled him out of public after 8th grade and put him in a Jesuit Catholic hs. They transformed his writing. He was an excellent writer by the time he graduated and is getting great comments on his papers in college (Ivy)—excellent, very strong paper!!, etc

This is what we did with our oldest. Made an immense improvement in his writing which was horrible after years of public school (MCPS W cluster) through 8th grade. He got into a top 20 and became quite the thoughtful and skilled writer. We put our daughter into Catholic schools starting in elementary and it was the best decision ever. Now as an AP Lang student, she is killing it in a Catholic high school with extremely high standards.

[Anonymous]

DS is a good writer, but it was something we focused on at home. He said that most of his school uses ChatGPT in some respect for writing- whether it's more benign help with organization or writing prompts to outright cheating. I've heavily discouraged it in any respect because innovation is part of critical thinking and analysis-- it worries me a lot when I think about authentic ideas, creativity, etc.

[Anonymous]

We've had kids in Catholic high school and kids in public. Sad to say -- Catholic school helps!

The Catholic schools kids got relentlessly edited. Their grades on papers were decent -- like, 85s -- but there were a ton of comments and edits.

The public school kids could hand in the same paper (except their assignments tended to be less rigorous) and get a 95 with barely any comments.

I would say all the kids were solid writers, but the ones who went to Catholic school were REALLY good.

[Anonymous]

My best writer is my most voracious reader.

He reads a TON for pleasure: philosophical texts, cognitive science, political science, biographies, and more. Reading has also given him an extensive vocabulary.

While all of ours have had a strong English curriculum, the readers are the best writers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yes and he reads a ton. You can tell because sometimes he’ll pronounce words incorrectly because he’s never heard them articulated, but he’s read them multiple times. It makes me chuckle.

My D is the same. We have so many family jokes about it. But she is a good writer because of it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My daughter is a fantastic writer. She reads a lot (though she was not an early, competent reader by any means!) which has helped grow her vocabulary. She had fantastic elementary school teachers who taught grammar, writing fundamentals, poetry, and critical thinking. Then her high school subjects and college majors were writing-heavy. All combined to make her writing very eloquent, fluid, and correct.

Please refrain from use of the word “eloquent,” because it is inherently racist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DC has taken Hon English and is in AP seminar. A grades across the board. DC is not a good writer! This is evident from their college essays. Spelling, grammar, punctuation, vocabulary are all fine. But sentence organization is off and many sentences don’t say anything. They are fillers. What can we do to help before college?

If it is that bad how do they have A’s? That would not get A’s at our high school

+2 Yes, my son is a good writer. He writes analytical essays in AP Lang every week or so. Reads a ton of books for class. He wouldn’t get an A if he didn’t write well or respond to the comments from his teacher on his thesis, first draft, etc. He gets As and Bs on essays.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes and he reads a ton. You can tell because sometimes he’ll pronounce words incorrectly because he’s never heard them articulated, but he’s read them multiple times. It makes me chuckle.

My D is the same. We have so many family jokes about it. But she is a good writer because of it.

My son does this as well.