Regular class: Cell phone/Stress, Homelessness, Pot legal, on college writing, spelling

            The students I put in this class all have a relative idea of what writing should be. Parts of their essay could be better organized and some ideas need to be clarified and expanded upon but they know enough about writing to benefit from the demands of a regular English class. I think they would be able to learn without being overwhelmed. They seem to have a clear (or at least better) understanding of written English. Their vocabulary is decent and they don’t have as many problems with grammar such as verb tenses or subject verb agreement.

            I would focus on the thesis statement, organizing and expanding support/body paragraphs, and review basic grammar. Reverse outlining might be a good strategy as well since the students can produce a short essay’s worth of material. They have enough to go back and pull out the main points in their writing. These students don’t have as many grammar issues and some may even be able to fix their own mistakes through a simple proofread. Their writing is beginning to resemble an academic essay.

Developmental class: Students A-I, students 1-3, writing samples, weird Friday, importance of dance

            These students all have repeating errors that impede the reading process. I think I can piece together what they are trying to say but it takes several reads and careful piecing together to do so. Many of their writing samples seem to suggest that they need help with generating content and basic grammar. Their spelling is okay but it is not main obstacle when it comes to reading their essays.

            These students would greatly benefit from reviewing grammar rules such as subject verb agreement, verb tense, and plural vs. singular. Some of these students need to learn the difference between spoken English and written English. The thesis needs to be introduced and studied early on because several writing samples have a general idea but lack a clear thesis. Additionally, their supporting paragraphs are often vague or unrelated to the topic. I think one issue that hampered many students was that they didn’t or couldn’t produce adequate content. I think the PIE format for expanding/developing paragraphs would be very useful. Outlining will later help them set up the basic framework for an essay.