An Education Major College Student Tried Teaching Essay Writing to a Struggling Elementary Student! (Training Report)
I'm Machika-sensei, the organizer of the Third Place essay writing class in Fukuoka and Kumamoto. During the annual summer vacation book report workshop in 2024, I also tried a new initiative, so I'm reporting on it here♡
On August 24th, all sessions for this summer's book report workshop were completed. Everyone really worked so hard! Every child was straightforward, interesting, cute, and earnest, and I, Machika-sensei, was kept so busy every day—getting excited with them, laughing until my stomach hurt, and being amazed at how incredible they were!!!
Since this is such an exciting job, I hope more people will become "teachers" and more children will be able to write. That is my wish, Machika-sensei's wish!!!!!
(Please forgive my high spirits after finishing the workshop schedule...)
Who should teach essay writing?
"Parents," "school teachers," "tutors (cram school teachers, etc.)"... there are many cases where different people teach it. As an essay writing teacher, I believe there are points to be careful about in each case. And I truly hope that we can collaborate. (But that is another story. Let's talk about that another time.)
Now, let me return to the title.
An Education Major College Student Tried Teaching Essay Writing to a Struggling Elementary Student!
Elementary students and college students are both students, but the college students are a bit like older brothers and sisters. I, Machika-sensei, wondered what it would be like if such college students taught elementary students. If I think of it, I do it. That is who I am, Machika-sensei.
I tried running a book report workshop with two college students from the prefecture!
Everyone has their own way of teaching.
You can choose how to write based on your own preferences.
But if you want to work with me, I will give you everything I have.
Before the workshop day, we held a training session.
What I want to value is, before they start writing, talking a lot and drawing out words from the child, and not correcting what they have written. These are the two points.
These are the two points that I absolutely, absolutely want to value.
A male college student proceeded by enjoying the conversation, chiming in with things like, "It's hard to answer immediately when asked for a reason, right?" While laughing together and talking through everything they were thinking, they said, "That's good, that's really good, let's write that," "Yeah!"
A female college student laid out the handouts and let the person writing (the elementary student) choose, letting them write from where they could. "There's nowhere to write here," "Oh, you don't have to write that! Just skip it. So, what should we write next?" "This one." "Alright, let's do our best!"
Watching the interactions between the two college students and the elementary students made me think a lot about what kind of process is necessary to write an essay.
That's when I remembered this. ↓
As part of inter-school collaboration, student volunteers majoring in Japanese linguistics at the Faculty of Letters are providing guidance on how to write book reports to junior high school students. In 2023, a total of 18 students visited the Prefectural Yatsushiro Junior High School on Monday, August 21st, during summer vacation, and conducted a total of 6 hours of instruction (3 hours per class) for 70 first-year students (35 students per class) at Kumamoto Prefectural Yatsushiro Junior High School. This project serves as a valuable educational experience for the college students and an opportunity for the junior high students to improve their writing skills. It is also an opportunity for interaction between college and junior high students, which helps improve their communication skills.
This is an initiative by students majoring in Japanese linguistics in the Department of Japanese Language and Literature.
Teaching doesn't always have to be done by a "teacher." Yeah, that's right. It's also wonderful that it helps improve mutual communication.
Thinking about the future of essay education
I gave it a grand heading. Sorry about that.
Essay writing still primarily focuses on approaches to "what has already been written," such as correcting and evaluating. While there are many that are conscious of "how to write," I think that if children can grasp "how to perceive" or "how they felt" within themselves even before that, the mental hurdle for essay writing will drop significantly.
At the post-lecture reflection meeting (a.k.a. dinner), we talked about things like, "With that handout, any child could learn to write," "However, there isn't enough manpower. In a group setting, you can't look after everyone that much," and "Could we adapt Machika-sensei's essay handout materials from individual use to group use?"
I am truly, truly learning a lot.
I see. I still have to keep improving!
I'm happy to receive feedback while working together.
I'm looking forward to seeing these two in the educational field in a few years.
Afterword
Since I started on note on 6/29, I've been uploading essay articles at lightning speed, holding book report lectures every other day, and today I've finally reached a milestone.
Looking back on these two months, I feel like every day was like a storm. And in return, I gained a lot.
It's been two months on note where I've had various thoughts about the state of essay education for children, changes in the awareness of note users, and skills and content.
This was a diary entry about how glad I am that I started note. The end.
To those who "like" this, thank you. I'll go read your articles too!
To those who follow me, thank you. I will follow you back☆
To those who introduce this article with an embedded link, thank you. I would love to introduce that article from my side as well♡
いいなと思ったら応援しよう！
サポートは作文教室を広げる活動に使わせていただきますね。「作文大好き！自分大好き！」な子どもがどんどん増えますように♡