Don't Get Stuck - Get Started: Writing Without Over-Thinking

This tutoring class will help your learner eliminate the habit of overthinking each word, sentence or paragraph. Instead of stalling, students will begin writing with much less hesitation and the pressure to be perfect.

This course is for students needing more confidence to begin and complete nonfiction writing: essays, articles, opinion pieces, and school assignments. (We will not focus on creative writing, poetry, or journaling.) Rather than treating issues like writer’s block or brainstorming as separate topics, we will tackle them naturally as part of the writing process.

TUTORING APPROACH - These are the elements of how I tutor and what I like to include in my lessons:

• Flipped Classroom Model – I ask students to complete a short writing assignment before each meeting. Then we discuss the homework and analyze the writing process in class. This is different than the regular classroom where students first explore topics in class and then write at home afterwards.

• Real-life Writing Assignments – Assignments and discussion will be directly applicable to real-life writing tasks. Your learner can work on a current school assignment or practice for upcoming projects.

• Choice - Learners can choose between writing a different "section" each week or adding onto their original piece of writing, leading to a finished project.

• Stress-Reduction Writing - I will help students discover what kind of atmosphere helps them the most when facing their writing challenges, i.e., working in noisy or quiet places. During several sessions, students will choose a two or three-minute video (none on writing) that will relax or entertain them.

TOPICS (suggested):

✅  THE SIMPLE OUTLINE - Learn to break ideas into quick bits that simplify structuring the written piece.

✅  INTERVIEW YOURSELF  – How to use simple Q&A techniques to generate content for your writing.

✅  GET THROUGH THAT FIRST PARAGRAPH – Get the first paragraph down. Whether or not it's actually the first paragraph - or the last, you'll feel relieved once you do!

✅  Only write ONE DRAFT - not two or three, which can unnecessarily overwhelm you.  Learn that you can do everything you need to by revising one draft.

✅  EDIT, NOT REWRITE– Master the art of "fixing" your writing without starting over.

✅  REVIEW the new strategies you've learned to write faster.



Copyright ©, Ilene Springer, 2024
All rights reserved. No part of this lesson may be reproduced without the written permission of the author.