| Dear laserbrother - If there is one area where you really need to stand 10 feet away, this is it!
What you can do:
-- Buy DD a good college essay book - Harry Bauld's is great. Let her read and absorb.
-- Since her English is better than yours, suggest that she show her essay to a teacher or counselor for proofreading and general comments.
-- Encourage her to speak from the heart. After reading some successful essays, she will understand what this means. She needs to show her personality through the writing and write about something meaningful to her.
--Suggest that she put whatever essays she writes away for several days and to come back to them later. Usually kids know when they have "the one" that really speaks for them, but putting them away and then taking a second look often helps them refine the work.
-- Don't suggest topics! MAKE HER come up with them. This is hard for some kids, but I really think that the best essays are about things that only they could write about. If you or anyone else suggests a topic, right off the bat, it's no longer their own, and it usually shows.
Encourage her to have fun with it. This also usually shows, and makes for fun reading. Fun reading is good! |