How to Teach GED Essay Writing
The General Educational Development (GED) test is developed by the American Council on Education. As noted on their site, Part II of the GED Language Arts and Writing Test is where students are given 45 minutes to compose an expository essay; backed by personal observations and experiences. The essay topics are general and the students' writing is evaluated, then scored on a four-point scale (four being the highest and one being the lowest). When teaching GED Essay Writing, it's important to instruct students on how to format an essay, express their ideas clearly and be mindful of sentence structure.
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Instructions
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Essay Writing Lessons for the GED
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Educate your students on the writing process by showing them how to create an outline for their essay to help organize the ideas and points they plan on addressing.
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Explain how an essay is formatted and the different parts/ paragraphs that an effective essay includes within it. Go over the purpose and importance of each paragraph; the thesis statement and/or introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion. For example, the thesis statement introduces the subject of the essay and the points or arguments the author will make in the following paragraphs. The body paragraphs are used to clarify, express or argue the essay's main ideas. Finally, the conclusion unites and sums up all of the previous points in the essay.
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Give the students exercises to help enrich their grammar, punctuation, spelling, vocabulary and sentence structure. Hand out sample essays for them to edit and have the class identify and mark off the different paragraphs within the essay (such as the ones explained above). Ask them to underline the writer's key points and sub points. This will help them get a feel for how an essay should progress and how the author expands upon his topic.
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Discuss the different types of essay prompts and have students chose a topic and create an outline for their essay. Explain how each key concept or idea in their outline can develop into one of the body paragraphs for their essay.
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Give students a list of sample GED essay topics. According to EssayWritingBlog.com, these include: personal essay topics, discussion essay topics, and argumentative or controversial research paper topics on the GED. Some sample essay topics to use are: What are the essential characteristics of a good teacher?
What is the most valuable lesson you've learned in life and why?
Is health care reform a good idea?
If you had to create a new curriculum for your school, what new subjects would you include? -
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Prep students for the GED by giving them a topic and having them compose the essay within the allotted time period (45 minutes). You can use a timer or a watch, so that students are aware of how much time they are spending on each section. Remember, GED essays should be roughly 250 words in length.
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Tips & Warnings
Provide the students with feedback and tips on how their essays can be improved. As emphasized by GEDforFREE.com, essays aren't graded as being right or wrong; they're graded on the student's ability to organize and focus their ideas/ thoughts and effectively and clearly communicate them through their writing.
References
Resources
- Photo Credit isolated blank writing-book and pen image by Nikolay Okhitin from Fotolia.com
