I Don't Understand the Essay!

Description of Learner:
Theo is a 37-year old Caucasian man born in the U.S. He came to the learning center wanting help with the essay portion of the General Educational Development Test (GED). Theo scored a 6.2 on the TABE (Tests of Adult Basic Education: CTB/McGraw-Hill) in reading. He is quiet and shy and does not want others in the class to see that he has a problem. He prefers to work individually or with the teacher rather than in a group. Theo wants to take each part of the GED Tests and work on them one at a time, and at this time, he wants to focus on essay writing.

Challenge Faced:
Theo was given an essay to write, and it took him a long time to get started. He wrote only a few sentences on the topic, and when I asked if he had answered the question asked in the essay, he said, "I think so, but I'm not sure." I asked him what the essay question asked him to do. He mumbled a few thoughts, and finally said, "I didn't understand what it wanted me to write about. I read the question, but I didn't know where to start. Can you tell me what the question wanted me to write about?"

What We Did:
I asked Theo to read the essay question to me, and said we would break the question into parts. First, after a quick review of verb functions, we looked for verbs in the essay question and he highlighted them in pink. Next, we repeated this process with nouns and he highlighted them in blue. Then, he looked at the highlighted verbs and told me what they wanted him to do. Next, he looked at the nouns to determine what he thought the topic of the essay question was. Finally, Theo verbally put what was wanted together with the topic and told me what he was to write. He pointed to the highlighted words during this process. Then he wrote what the essay question was asking him to do in his own words. This information was transferred to his planning blueprint giving Theo a plan for understanding essay topics.

Analysis:
Color-coding was a key to Theo's success, because highlighting verbs and nouns gave him a road map to follow. He not only read the words, but knew how they interacted with one another. He had bite-sized pieces he could handle, and he had a starting point. His confidence improved; because he could understand what the essay question wanted him to do.

What I Learned:
With Theo I realized I had to do more than say, "Read the question and tell me the topic and what you have to do." Also, I had to refrain from interpreting the question for him. He needed to see the pieces that built up to the whole. He had to become involved and pay attention to the specifics. He came to realize this process takes time, but it is much more productive than someone interpreting the question for him. This would be the easy way out, and he wanted to do it himself.

Theo, Group Discussion:

How much time did you spend on the verb and noun reviews and did this time interfere with the writing process?
I spent about 10 or 15 minutes with the student. The review was quick and concise. If problems had occurred I would have given him some drill and practice worksheets to do at home, but for Theo, the quick review was adequate.

What is a planning blueprint and how does it help him?
Just as the word blueprint indicates, it is a visual plan or organizer of how to get to the finished product. There are a number of different styles of blueprints. The one I used with Theo is a sheet with a large box at the top and bottom with three smaller boxes in between. He writes the topic sentence in the first large box and three reasons supporting or detailing the topic in the three smaller boxes. Finally, he has a box for his concluding or summary sentence. This organizer or blueprint helps keep him on track and gives him a system for composing an essay.

Is there a way to make a connection between teaching the essay question and the main idea in reading?
Absolutely! Theo had to find the main idea of the question. Once he had the main idea of the question he had to decide what the main idea of his essay was going to be. Then each paragraph needed to have a main idea as well. Reading reinforced his writing and his writing reinforced his reading.

Summary:

Director's Comments:

Color-coding, manipulation of learning materials, structure, and routine can be as effective with adults as they are with children. You demonstrated this well.