How to Think Critically - The Key to The Five Paragraph Essay
The most common question I hear from my middle and high school students about the daunting 5-paragraph essay is, “where do I start?”
How does a young student, who is just learning to form their own opinions, go from questioning “is homework important?” to crafting a thoughtful, clear, and compelling thesis supported by evidence?
Enter critical thinking. While it's a term that's getting a lot of attention these days, critical thinking is not just important for essays; it's a vital skill for life! Our one-on-one academic writing tutoring sessions go beyond meeting word count requirements and citing sources correctly. Through engaging prompts, brainstorming, asking the right questions, and finding relevant and credible evidence, your child will be encouraged to form their own opinions and learn how to articulate them into clear, interesting, and meaningful thesis statements.
With these skills in place, writing the three body paragraphs, using transitional words effectively, and crafting a satisfying conclusion will become a natural progression, leading to improved grades from now through college.
The most common question I hear from my middle and high school students about the daunting 5-paragraph essay is, “where do I start?”
How does a young student, who is just learning to form their own opinions, go from questioning “is homework important?” to crafting a thoughtful, clear, and compelling thesis supported by evidence?
Enter critical thinking. While it's a term that's getting a lot of attention these days, critical thinking is not just important for essays; it's a vital skill for life! Our one-on-one academic writing tutoring sessions go beyond meeting word count requirements and citing sources correctly. Through engaging prompts, brainstorming, asking the right questions, and finding relevant and credible evidence, your child will be encouraged to form their own opinions and learn how to articulate them into clear, interesting, and meaningful thesis statements.
With these skills in place, writing the three body paragraphs, using transitional words effectively, and crafting a satisfying conclusion will become a natural progression, leading to improved grades from now through college.
EVERYONE HAS A STORY TO TELL
While seeking extra help for your child in Math, Science, and Foreign Languages is pretty commonplace, what about writing? Today’s middle and high school curriculum may cover the writing basics, but often the student is left to figure out the rest on their own. For struggling students, and even for the competent students, this causes stress and average grades.
Writing is a lifelong skill and also a creative outlet that is rewarding and fun! In our writing sessions, students cover the basics of narrative writing, developing a point-of-view, using dialogue, inventing characters, creating a plot with conflict and drama, and using descriptive language to enhance the story - all useful techniques that will help the student with all writing assignments in high school, college, and beyond. In the small workshop environment, students in group classes also learn to give and receive feedback, brainstorm, and inspire each other.
We offer private writing coaching or we can plan multi-week group sessions for your small group. Please note that small group sessions are available only if the students create the group themselves.
Writing is a lifelong skill and also a creative outlet that is rewarding and fun! In our writing sessions, students cover the basics of narrative writing, developing a point-of-view, using dialogue, inventing characters, creating a plot with conflict and drama, and using descriptive language to enhance the story - all useful techniques that will help the student with all writing assignments in high school, college, and beyond. In the small workshop environment, students in group classes also learn to give and receive feedback, brainstorm, and inspire each other.
We offer private writing coaching or we can plan multi-week group sessions for your small group. Please note that small group sessions are available only if the students create the group themselves.
Writing workshops
The following workshops can be tailored to your small groups schedules. All classes are remote only, via Zoom.
Observe and Write for Seventh & Eighth Graders
$300.00
This writing workshop will provide students with an escape from peer pressure and challenging middle school work by using their imaginations through observation. Each week, Ginny will use fun prompts from art, nature, and everyday objects to get students to look closely, then translate into words using similes, metaphors, the senses, and dialog. This exercise will enrich their writing with beautiful descriptions—a skill that can be used for both creative and academic writing through high school, college, and beyond.
Four Sundays: January 7, 14, 28, February 4, 5:30-7 pm
Instructor: Ginny Poleman
Classes will meet on Zoom
Limited to three - six students
The Five Paragraph Essay for 8th - 12th Graders
$225.00
This three-week class with 90-minute sessions, will demystify the Five Paragraph Essay for middle and high schoolers. By breaking down and building back up the writing process, students will learn how to develop a thoughtful thesis, structure three paragraphs of evidence, properly use transitional words, and then pull it all together with a satisfying conclusion—skills that will help every student through high school and beyond. During class time, students will have time to do quick online research, share ideas, and brainstorm with other students on what does and doesn’t work.
Three Sundays: December 3, 10, 17, 5:30-7 pm
Instructor: Ginny Poleman
Classes will meet on Zoom for 90 minutes each week for 3 weeks.
Space is Limited
Kick-Starting the College Essay
$75.00
SUMMER 2024 DATES COMING SOON
Start the College Application Process - The 90-Minute Workshop Guaranteed not to Ruin Your Summer!
Come with Questions, Leave with Answers! Together with their coach, David Seigerman, students will explore potential topics and choose the one that helps them tell their unique story. Students who arrive with no idea how to begin will leave with a great topic and a game plan for creating a winning personal essay.
Teacher: David Seigerman
David serves as a writing coach for high school students creating their college application essays and a writing tutor for high school and middle school students. He is a veteran sports journalist and storyteller who has spent the last 30 years writing and producing content for a variety of print, digital and broadcast outlets. He has been an instructor at the Gotham Writers Workshop since 2001, teaching courses in Memoir, Non-Fiction, Creative Writing, Business Writing and Writing for Documentary Films. A resident of Larchmont for the last 14 years, David holds a B.A. in English from Ithaca College.
WRITING RESOURCES
| HOW TO WRITE: AP Rhetorical Analysis Paragraphs and Essays |
| AP English Language and Composition Rhetorical Terms |
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Work with UsGinny Poleman - Ginny is a graduate of Cornell University and a contributing writer for several online websites including BetterAfter50.com and Sartle.com. She has a written a young adult novel that is presently being shopped to agents. In addition to being a trained docent for the Municipal Arts Society, she is a trained educational tour guide for a major metropolitan art museum in Manhattan covering ancient art history through modern art for fourth to twelfth graders.
Ginny Poleman, can help your child accomplish academic writing assignments with the confidence needed to carry them through high school and on to college. Ginny can also nurture your child’s creative writing, which will in-turn, help improve their academic writing as well. |
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David Seigerman - David is a veteran sports journalist and author, a professional storyteller who has written for magazines, newspapers, documentaries, digital platforms and podcasts. Since 2001, he has taught a variety of non-fiction writing classes (Memoir, Essay and Opinion, Creative Non-Fiction, Writing for Documentary Films) as well as serving as a personal writing coach and mentor.
David also coaches students on their College Essays. His students have been accepted to a variety of schools, including Amherst, Cornell, Michigan, Richmond, Syracuse, Tufts, Vanderbilt and WPI. |
