Free In-Person Writing Class in Cupertino

Many students are using AI to complete take-home writing assignments, but many teachers are replacing take-home assignments with in-class essays. These assignments will be challenging for students who have completed their writing assignments with AI. They will lack practice not only with the technical side of writing but also with the mental challenge of completing difficult tasks.

Facing challenge is central to learning and improving. If kids to use a robot to complete their PE classes, they’ll have difficulty running the mile. If they use AI to complete writing assignments, they’ll struggle to write in-class essays.

Many Cupertino students struggle to write essays because they lack models and practice. Most local school English classes have 20+ students, and the teachers have 100 – 120 students total. With those numbers, grading a single essay assignment takes 20 extra hours of work outside of class, so English teachers can assign only a few essays each semester.

Even when the teachers do assign essays, students often wait weeks to receive comments, leading to frustration. Without detailed explanations on grammar, argument, and analysis, students struggle to improve and continue to receive low grades.

Our free writing class solves these problems:

• Each class has two to eight students.
• Students receive clear essay and paragraph models to follow
• Students receive prompt feedback on their writing
• Students are focused on writing, not distracted by games, social media, or other homework.

Brainstorming Ideas

Many students struggle to come up with ideas because they omit the brainstorming phase of the essay. We teach kids the right way to generate ideas so that they have plenty of material to work with, increasing their confidence and helping them to write faster.

Outlining

Once students have ideas, their essays need structure. An outline helps the student take his disorganized ideas and put them in a organized format. We teach students how to decide what each paragraph will cover and organize their evidence in the correct paragraphs. The clarity of this process helps them write essays faster and more accurately.

Thesis Statement

Essays with weak thesis statements typically score a full grade lower than essays with strong thesis statements. As part of the outlining process, we teach students how to create a thesis statement that 1) responds properly to the prompt, 2) makes a strong, clear claim, and 3) previews the body paragraphs. Quality of argument is often the difference between a B on an essay and an A.

Intro Paragraph

Many students receive low essay grades because their intro paragraphs are only 1-3 sentences long. We teach students how to write a full five-sentence intro paragraph by using the model of Topic – Background – Transition – Thesis. By drawing on this model, students can write a paragraph for any thesis-driven essay, helping them finish essays faster and with less frustration.

Topic Sentences

Some students struggle to write clear topic sentences, making their argument hard to follow. We teach students to write topic sentences that 1) connect to the thesis and 2) concisely introduce the material in the body paragraph. Strong topic sentences lead to much better essay grades.

Body Paragraphs: Evidence and Argument

Thanks to the brainstorming phrase, students have their evidence, but they need to understand how to use it in an argument. We teach students to produce arguments that flow logically from the topic sentence so that the teacher clearly understands their points and appreciates their argument.

Wrap-Up Sentences

A body paragraph can’t just end; it should end elegantly. A wrap-up sentence expands on the ideas of the body paragraph and provides a transition to the next paragraph. Good wrap-up sentences are often the difference between an essay grade of A- and one of A or A+.

Conclusions

The 1-hour class does not have enough time for students to write out a full conclusion paragraph, but we do give students models to follow. If they write the conclusion as homework and then email us what they have written, we will reply with comments.

Here is our fundamental approach to teaching essay writing:

• Introduce the writing model to students.
• Show students why the writing model matters.
• Ask for comments or questions.
• Have the students write their own paragraphs by following the model.
• When a student has finished a paragraph, comment promptly.
• In comments, emphasize organization of essay and grammatical correctness.
• Continue to encourage discussion throughout the class.

Expert tutors are the foundation of our program and the reason we have had so much success teaching students. The tutor for our free writing class is Dr. Mary Lynn Wilson. She has a PhD from UCLA and over 20 years of experience teaching writing to kids in Cupertino.

Please include:

• Parent name
• Student name
• Student grade level

We’ll reply with class details and confirm your child’s spot.

Frequently Asked Questions