Student Mentoring - March 2, 2015

 After what seemed like ages, I was finally reunited with my original student.  At this point we had only spent about 20 minutes together actually working on writing skills.  She had been starting a history essay, and I came prepared with my essay writing resource link and some fresh ideas to help move things along.  Unfortunately, she did not have her computer with her and therefore, no essay draft to work on.  She did however, have a new assignment that she wanted dire help with.  For one of her classes she had been assigned the task of writing a cover letter.  This could not have come at a better time, as I too have been working on my cover letter and it just so happened that I had all kinds of resources!

http://schoolworkhelper.net/the-cover-letter-guide-and-format/

This was one of the links we visited, and which I encouraged her to write down for future use.  It gives a very straightforward list of guidelines to follow, as well as a sample cover letter format.  We discussed some critical things to think about when writing a cover letter: Who are we addressing?  What kind of tone do we want to use (i.e. personal, professional)?  How do we want to convey to the reader that we are the most qualified candidates without simply listing off our skills?
As we worked, I realized that this kind of writing is great practice for students to get familiar with writing for different audiences and purposes, a skill that does not always develop that easily.  Most student writing, especially before high school, is directed at the teacher and simply conveys content knowledge.  This exercise had the students adopting a different tone and vocabulary, and communicating information for a whole new purpose.

http://www.wordhelper.com/blog/2012/07/1725/cover-your-assets-or-how-to-write-a-cover-letter

This was another link we looked at.  It is actually a blog but it gives very detailed step-by-step instructions on not only what to include but why.  I find it to be a fabulously helpful site.

We were able to almost complete a rough draft of the cover letter in our allotted time.  I gave the suggestion of creating a google docs so that I could have a look at the final product before it was handed in.

I also asked my student what she would like to see happen in our next period together.  I said I could bring material to help her work on any specific areas of writing she was struggling with, but she said she preferred it if I just helped her with the assignments she was working on at that time.  This was fine by me, though it is always a bit of a surprise to me what we might be doing, but that is ok too.  Part of the process of teaching, I think.  We will see what happens going forward!