Teach Your Child Essay Writing in 6 Steps
A lot of kids are resistant to writing essays. Essays are a tough concept to master, and probably a lot more complicated than the writing your kid has been doing thus far. Nonetheless, essays are important to their future education, and, bright side, they don’t have to be a drag! You can teach your child to write an essay while inspiring creativity and a love of writing.Start with the basics
Before you dive into that essay you’ll want to make sure your child has a good grasp on basic writing concepts. Grammar and spelling are the foundation on which you can help your child build that first essay. Once you’re satisfied with their understanding of these concepts, begin teaching them what a thesis is, and how to write one. “A lot of kids have trouble writing in a focused way, so help guide them and keep them on track. You’ll probably want to reinforce the idea that the thesis guides everything else they write in their essay,” recommends Paul Winston, educator at PaperFellows.
Outlines
An outline is a plan or a description of the essay, showing the most important parts of it. Every essay includes an introduction, exposition, and conclusion. Outlines help people get organized when writing, and this should help your child as well. Write down the topic and their main goal which helps them clearly identify their main idea and their opinions about it. There are plenty of outline types out there, so you can easily find one that best suits your child. Then all you have to do is pull it together – creating a list of all the parts that will be in the essay.
Get them practicing
Kick start your child’s creative process by giving them some examples. It’s a lot easier to show them a concrete example, rather than trying to explain what you want them to do. As they practice they will get closer and closer to where you want them to be. Practicing is where the real improvement will come from, but be sure not to overwork them. Give them breaks and reward them for their hard work.
There are plenty of ways in which they can develop their essay writing skills. You just have to find something that sparks their interest. For instance, if your child likes video games, you can ask him to write a report on that. If they like books or comic books or TV shows, ask them to write reports where they'll compare two similar stories etc.
Encourage reading
Reading is a great way for your child to soak up all kinds of information about vocabulary and how sentences work together. The more you read to your child, or they read on their own, the better their writing will become. If they’re just not showing an interest in reading, explore your child’s favorite things in order find the right material. Once you get them interested and reading on their own, you’ll notice them picking up new words, which can be very exciting and rewarding for a parent.
Harness the power of technology
Technology gets a bad rap for distracting kids (and adults) from reading and writing, but technology can be a useful tool in enhancing your child’s experiences with the written word. Pinterest can be useful for the writing process. Your child will be identifying lots of topics and resources they may want to use for their essay, and Pinterest is a fantastic way of organizing those ideas. Just create a few boards and show your child how to pin sources onto a board. You might even find that the reason your child is struggling with an essay is because they prefer using an iPad to writing on paper or a laptop.
Try out these resources for extra help teaching essay writing
Writing can be tricky, and so can teaching writing to children. Check out these online tools for help teaching your children essay writing:
These are grammar resources you can use to check over your child’s writing for grammatical mistakes.
These are online proofreading tools, listed by Simplegrad, you can use to make sure your child’s essay is polished and error-free.
Check out these academic blogs for ideas and suggestions on how to teach your children essay writing. There are lots of posts here by parents who have successfully helped their children with essay writing.
These are editing tools, recommended in Academized review, you can use to go over your child’s writing for typos and other mistakes.
Check out these essay writing guides for help improving the writing in your child’s essay. If you struggle with writing yourself, these guides can prepare you to help your child with their essay.
Conclusion
Though there might be challenges as you teach your child the methods of essay writing, do your best to make the learning process fun, and eventually your child’s understanding will grow to excelling at essay writing.
about the author...Grace Carter is a teacher at Big Assignments and Assignment Help services. She teaches academic writing and curates edtech processes. Also, Grace tutors at OX Essays writing website.