How to Improve High School Writing Skills
According to the ACT's National Curriculum Survey, high school and college professors disagree about what writing skills are most important for students to possess. Grammer and usage skills are ranked the least-important by high school teachers, who focus their teachings on sentence structure, writing strategy and organization. As a result, in 2002, 46 percent of graduating seniors scored below a 19 on the ACT English test. While sentence structure, writing strategy and organization are all important parts of writing, colleges are looking for students who are proficient in grammar as well.
Other People Are Reading
Instructions
-
-
1
Give students daily in-class and take-home assignments which allow them to practice using punctuation to clarify meaning and guide them through grammatical problems. The news release about the ACT survey also suggests that instructors help students in "determining the clearest and most logical way to link clauses."
-
2
Have students study sentence models so they can learn the basic parts of a sentence and how sentences link together with grammar and punctuation. "Writing Next," a strategy pamphlet written by Steve Graham and Dolores Perin about strategies to improve writing in high schools, says, "Teaching adolescents how to write increasingly complex sentences in this way enhances the quality of their writing.
-
-
3
Instruct students to practice writing daily. Like anything, practice makes perfect and consistent writing helps student improve their skills. Have students keep a journal or begin class with a free writing exercise--have them write about anything that comes to mind for 15 minutes. These exercises help students express themselves more easily.
-
4
Delete unnecessary words in high school writing by teaching students some common writing mistakes. Freelance writer Lisa Tuttle says that some of the common mistakes beginning writers make is their use of unnecessary words. Teach students to be concise. In the sentence, "His aunt will be coming back home on Friday," the words "coming back home" are unnecessary. Teach students to delete "lazy words" like that, just, get, over, very and thing.
-
5
Teach your students to write active sentences, not passive sentences. Active, concise sentences are the type of writing colleges will look for in admission essays and exams. Help students learn the difference between passive verbs and "to-be" sentences.
-
1
Tips & Warnings
Keep books about writing and grammar in your classroom for student to access or take home. Make sure you have several copies of "The Elements of Style" on hand to pass out to students. Also keep books like Stephen King's "On Writing" around for students who are interested in writing as a career.
