Teaching
 My writing and teaching skills make me a good coach for students who need pointers on their college essays. I love to teach any level of writer, not just kids on their way to college. Contact me for rates and more information about how I can help.
Below are a couple of examples of my writing assistance, teaching strategy and students' work.
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Teaching Strategies for Young Writers
Here are some ideas to help third-graders in sentence fluency, writing and working with prompts. The ideas are matched to the state requirements for third-grade language arts proficiency. Other grades can use some version of these ideas. I teach through Wordstock, Right Brain Initiative and Writers in the Schools, sponsored by Literary Arts in Portland, Ore.
What they’ll learn: Sentence fluency; new words and how to fit them into sentences and deduce meanings; writing a small story with a point and understanding the point (thesis); descriptive writing; synonyms and antonyms; imagery; nouns and verbs and how they work together freshly.
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GOOFHEAD
I hate the people who play their music loud.
What really gets me is they look so proud.
Some people think it’s really cool
But you play it at school.
And what’s with the tattoo?
It looks like a kangaroo.
Or is it supposed to look like that
Or is it just that you hate your hat?
And what’s with the baggy pants?
If I were you, I wouldn’t try to dance.
And that gold nose ring
Is that all you got for bling?
That sleeveless muscle shirt?
You look like you came from a pile of dirt
Come to think, I just lit on the matter
That explains all the tatter.
By Corbin Hammond, 13, Frenchglen School, 2009
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Changing my mind the day after high school
This is a sample of a well-written college entry essay. At the end of the essay, look at why it’s good. The college asked the student to write about:
If you’re not a musician, what will you be in 10 years?
So this is what he wrote:
To tell the truth, I don’t know what I’ll be doing 10 years from now. This feels strange to say.
From the time I was 13 until this past summer, I was sure that I would become a professional jazz guitarist. I was prepared to devote my life to the priesthood of jazz. |
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Kind Words for the Writer! |
Take a look at remarks from evaluations written by teachers, students and administrators during Angela’s 2009 stints as the Eastern Oregon Writer in Residence and as a teacher for Wordstock (formerly known as Community of Writers) in the Portland Public schools.
Here’s what the school students said …
“Ms. Allen is very talented and I have enjoyed being taught by her.”
Claire Jean Hammond, 4th grade, French Glen School, Harney County |
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