Writing

Our Approach

It’s important to start by pinpointing what your child is having trouble with so that we can teach specific skills to address it. Is it composing complete sentences? Providing evidence to support an argument? Freezing up at the sight of the cursor blinking on the blank screen? Our writing diagnostic assessment and consultation will tease it out.

Once we’ve got a handle on what’s challenging, we break it down to basics so that your child has a firm grasp on how to start pulling it all together. They'll learn how to approach various types of writing so that they’re prepared for any kind of assignment—from a personal narrative to a lab report.

Elementary Students

For the younger set, we want to set up a strong foundation that they can build on later. We start with parts of a sentence, punctuation, and basic grammar. Then we can expand on that by writing more complex sentences, and eventually move on to paragraphs. Throughout the lessons we want students to focus on structure and clarity, whether they’re answering a reading comprehension question or writing a story.

Middle School and Early High School Students

This is the age when students tend to lose interest in writing. It’s just not as fun, it’s more work, and it’s often confusing. They don’t understand exactly what’s being asked of them. It’s hard to get started. They don’t have any ideas. Or they repeat the same idea eight slightly different ways!

Tutors will revisit basic skills if necessary; this goes a long way in taking the mystery out of writing. Once the foundation is solid, kids can start doing more with word choice, sentence structure, and transitions. Tutoring will also help them include supporting evidence via paraphrasing and direct quotations. Not only does this make their text more engaging, it also makes the process more engaging! (We cover the boring stuff like citing sources, too.) With these skills, they're ready for multi-paragraph assignments.

At this age, it’s also important to incorporate executive functioning skills. This includes learning to use graphic organizers, transitioning from paper to computer, editing, and planning longer assignments (e.g. breaking it up into chunks, time management, and getting feedback).

Later High School and College Students

When students reach junior year, they’re expected to have the basics down and utilize writing to explore new ideas, compose in-depth analyses, and set forth arguments. This requires a more sophisticated level of writing, and, often, more time. Cue panic.

Tutors teach students more advanced writing and executive functioning skills: identifying purpose, establishing a voice, integrating research, boosting editing proficiency, creating a writing calendar, employing note-taking, etc.

Summer Tutoring

The summer is a great time to improve writing skills! In our summer programs, we have the freedom to individualize to an even greater degree than we do during the school year. We can have fun with creative writing, take a deep dive into a particular interest, or craft essays that any college admissions officer will enjoy reading!

Online Tutoring

If you’re not in Chicagoland, no problem! Writing tutoring transfers especially well to online sessions. We use Google Docs, which allows the tutor and student to see their edits in real-time, as well as leave comments between sessions. Learn more about online tutoring—and see it in action—here!

Getting Started

If you’d like to help your child become a stronger and more confident writer, contact us today!