Teaching Students to Write Well

Teaching Students to Write Well Teaching Students to Write Well To build a foundation for college and career readiness, students need to learn to use writing as a way of offering and supporting opinions, demonstrating understanding of the subjects they are studying, and conveying real and imagined experiences and events. They learn to appreciate that a key purpose of writing is to communicate clearly to an external, sometimes unfamiliar audience, and they begin to adapt the form and content of their writing to accomplish a particular task and purpose. They develop the capacity to build knowledge on a subject through research projects and to respond analytically to literary and informational sources. To meet these goals, students must devote significant time and effort to writing, producing numerous pieces over short and extended time frames throughout the year. Common Core State Standards One of the biggest changes put forth by the Common Core State Standards is an elevated focus on writing and overall literacy. More than ever before, students are now expected to: Write logical arguments based on substantive claims, sound reasoning and relevant evidence. Write arguments and opinion pieces from the earliest grades. Conduct focused and in-depth research for written analyses and presentations. Specifically, the standards state that students must build their writing abilities in three areas: argument/opinion writing, informative/explanatory writing, and narrative writing. Student Achievement Partners, a nonprofit organization founded by three lead writers of the Common Core State Standards, offers a variety of resources for teachers to get familiar with the Common Core State Standards and understand how to put them into action. As you have your students work on more rigorous and in-depth writing assignments, here are a few key points to keep in mind about different types of writing, as derived from writing samples provided on Student Achievement Partners website, www.achievethecore.org: Argument/opinion writing Students are provided (and read) texts and a writing prompt that asks them to form an opinion or claim about a focusing question. For students in the early elementary grades, opinion writing should offer a brief introduction, state the opinion, provide one or a few reasons for the opinion expressed, and provide a simple concluding statement. As students progress through elementary school, their opinion essays should become more robust and should have an introduction, clear statement of an opinion, evidence from the text to support that opinion and explain the students thinking, several paragraphs and a conclusion. Middle school students opinion writing should introduce a claim, acknowledge competing claims and rebut them with credible evidence and reasoning, organize reasoning and evidence logically, support claims with clear reasons and relevant evidence, and provide a concluding section that supports the initial argument presented. In early high school, students argument/opinion writing must introduce a precise claim with context and distinguish that claim from alternate claims, establish a formal style and objective tone, develop the claim with supporting evidence and reasoning, develop counterclaims fairly, and provide a concluding statement. Informative/explanatory writing Students are given a set of texts (or a video and a text, if younger) and a writing prompt that requests them to convey complex ideas and information. For students early in elementary school, informative/explanatory writing should introduce a topic, supply facts about it and end with a reflective concluding sentence. As students approach the later elementary school years, informative/explanatory writing should introduce a topic, provide a general observation and focus, use precise language to explain the topic, develop the topic with details, facts and examples, link ideas using words and phrases, and structure the essay to make it easy to follow. In middle school, informative/explanatory writing must introduce the topic, name the work about which the student is writing (and the synopsis of the story), offer relevant facts and details, give examples from the text, clarify the relationship among the ideas presented, give examples, establish a formal style and use precise language. In high school, students must give context to set the stage for an essay, use precise language to delve into the complexity of the topic, transition smoothly to clarify relationships among ideas and concepts, organize complex ideas and information to make connections, develop the topic with facts and details, establish a formal style and objective tone, and analyze ideas and information to make connections. Narrative writing Students write from a writing prompt and stimulating idea to develop narrative about experiences or events. In early elementary school, students must use temporal words or phrases (once, every week) to signal event order, recount sequenced events and include some details. Later in elementary school, students write narratives by first orienting the reader and introducing a narrator, using a variety of transitional words to maintain sequence, use narrative techniques to develop events and show characters response, use concrete details to convey experiences and provide a conclusion. In middle school, students engage and orient the reader by establishing context for narrative and introducing main characters, use dialogue to develop characters and events, use transitional clauses, use dialogue to develop character, use precise words and phrases and descriptive details, use description and reflection to build toward an outcome, and provide a conclusion.

Pagoda Academy

Pagoda Academy Pagoda Academy Pagoda Academyis at the forefront of foreign language education in Korea. Through the support ofdedicated teachers and motivated adult students, Pagoda has achieved enormous success since its foundation in 1969. Pagoda currently employs over 100 native English-speaking teachers at prime locations in Seoul,Busan and Incheon. We extend our heart-felt gratitude to everyone who, through sincere encouragement and support, has helped us continue advancing towards our bright future. We hope that you too can help us lead the way in helping people from all over the world communicate with one another! Top 10 Reasons to Teach at PAGODA! Location, location, location! Seoul, Incheon, and Busan. Our locations are in major social, educational and business hubs. Conveniently located near subway stations means getting around the city or out of the city on weekends can be done with ease. Use Pagodas well-known curriculum that teachers and students love.We develop and update our books and programs to meet Korean students needs employing the latest methodologies. Our RD team, staffed with native and Korean researchers publishes easy-to-use and engaging textbooks. Pagoda Academy is a stable company. Established in 1969.Never worry about being paid on time, the doors closing on you or suddenly having to teach kids. We are a financially sound company with over 100 native teachers educating over 5,000 learners each month. Realize financial goals, whatever they may be! 2.6-3+million/month.We have a solid minimum amount to support teachers, but with our hourly pay system, higher pay rates for reading, writing, business English, options to teach extra/weekend classes, overtime bonuses, interview hours, and a pay raise every year. You really can make a lot of WON. Comprehensive training and the chance to develop and grow professionally. Our training program is designed to support you before and during your time here at Pagoda. From onsite SLE training, personal observations and feedback, online resources and materials to regular workshops and on-going guidance, we work with you to make you the best teacher possible. Our eager students! University, business people, and professionals. Teaching adults is simply fantastic! For those of you who taught adults and young learners, Im sure you would agree. Our students have many reasons for attending our different programs. Some need English for work, for a promotion, because they are going abroad to work/study or they simply like English and want to watch a movie without subtitles. Sure, as a teacher we have to be motivators and keep classes engaging, but it is infinitely more rewarding to prepare for classes knowing that you have students ready to participate and theres no babysitting. Current teachers and staff make for a wonderful working environment!We have teachers from all backgrounds, ages and experience levels. Not only that you will be working in the same location as our great Korean, Japanese and Chinese teachers so you get an interesting cultural experience. We also have managers, most of who graduated from universities in native speaking countries so communicating with them about simple matters and more complex ones are done with ease. Modern classrooms and a well-equipped teachers room in every branch!We have modern facilities and frequently remodel to make sure students and teachers have clean, bright, safe and pleasant classrooms, prep areas and lounge areas. Some rooms come with beam projectors and laptops and beam projectors are on hand for you to use in your classes. Pay increases every year!We like to reward hardworking and positive team players so we offer pay raises every year. MONTH LONG VACATION + Extra days off + National Holidays. Thats right! A whole month off for our SLE teachers, where you can head home, travel Korea, Asia or do whatever and come back refreshed and ready to teach. We only teach 20 class days a month, which means we usually have an extra day or two off each month, on top of National holidays. Pagoda One teachers receive 15 personal vacation days a year plus national holidays. View our Brochure