The Mission

Develop a website, using my background in teaching composition and establishing a writing center, that gives parents quick and simple tips for tutoring their own children, conferencing with teachers, and determining what support resources will help their children improve their writing skills.

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2010-09-14 13:57

Often, student writers handicap themselves because they create a distorted vision of what it means to be a writer. I try to paint a different picture for them very early on in the class. When asked what they think a writer does, students usually talk of a person who gets an assignment, turns on his computer and is able to start writing. In fact...

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Finding your voice.

Teachers like to write comments about "voice" on students’ writing. “Voice” in writing is very tricky. It is very difficult to define, let alone teach. Because the concept of voice is so slippery, I like to approach it with a more accessible concept called tone. A writer’s tone shows his attitude toward the subject. Academic writing shouldn’t be void of emotion or “just the facts ma’am.” Academic essay writing is editorial by nature; it is analytical which means it is the personal ideas of the writer. Therefore, voice, or tone, is appropriate and wanted.

Mrs. Atkins, I don’t have my essay because…

Making excuses is an epidemic and something people learn at a very young age. In a school, they run rampant. Parents and students should both be aware that teachers, especially the more experienced ones, are suspicious the instant they see a note from home. In his book Teacher Man, veteran teacher Frank McCourt (author of Angela’s Ashes), hilariously recounts his encounters with excuse notes. He acknowledges, as do I, that he has received many a note obviously written by the student but signed blindly by a hurried parent. Too, bad.

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