From: May Sarmac
Submit: Post Message
Date: 06 Dec 1996
Time: 18:34:46
Christie, Your paper sounds really great. I tutor Freshman who have failed the UC Subject A exam and are preparing for their next Subject A exam. Well, when I tutor those students, I noticed that if they don't understand what the topic is or don't like the topic that their teachers assign to them, their papers do not seem to have much effort put into it. During tutorials, I would assign topics for them to write on. These topics are usually of interest to them (ie: who is your hero and why? or describe the differences between high school and college life for yourself.). When my students write on these topics their essays have so much more effort put into it and they have so much more enthusiasm when they do write on topics that they can relate to and understand. I think when my students have the choice on what topic to write on, that topic means more to them because they are writing about something that makes sense to them or something they like. I think it's great that students are enthusiastic with their own work when they choose what to work on. Maybe if classroom teachers can try to relate the material they're teaching their students in a way that those students can relate to the topic, then learning can be more meaningful to them. I hope this helps. May