Susanne M. Barrett
This blog will be removed by July 31, 2010. Please use the new website from this point onward!
Thanks so much,
Thursday, July 8, 2010
New Web Site!
You may check out more about my grading services and co-op classes by clicking here:
Susanne M. Barrett
This blog will be removed by July 31, 2010. Please use the new website from this point onward!
Thanks so much,
Susanne M. Barrett
This blog will be removed by July 31, 2010. Please use the new website from this point onward!
Thanks so much,
Friday, January 8, 2010
Welcome to Online Grading, Tutoring, Proofreading, Editing, and Writing Services of Susanne M. Barrett!
Paper grading is the bane of most homeschooling parents. In the midst of our twelfth year of home education, my grading basket is always overflowing each Friday, patiently waiting for me to tackle its contents before Monday rolls around and our school resumes. And I'm someone who loves to grade. But if grading isn't your thing, that ever-leaning pile can seem taller than Kilimanjaro ... and much more dangerous to conquer.
It's one thing to mark spelling tests, to grade math quizzes, to correct Spanish exams, to check history and science homework. Tedious, yes, but that lovely key provided by the publisher makes the job do-able, if not the high point of the day. But what do you do when there is NO KEY?
Grading our children's writing is like that: there is NO KEY to grading a personal essay or a five-paragraph paper or an MLA research report.
Panic sets in. What if something important gets missed? Is that a comma splice or a fragment? Does an apostrophe belong here? Was this idea developed adequately or is one more example necessary? What should an effective introduction do, and how does one write a narrative hook?
Sometimes a sentence just doesn't seem right but figuring out precisely what isn't working is difficult for you to pinpoint, much less explain to a student already in tears over red pen corrections. Your child is wounded, and you are frustrated. "This is not the way to encourage his love of writing," you think. "This isn't working."
So what is good writing?
We know it when we see it. We can admire a beautiful turn of phrase, value an excellent example, and appreciate a strong conclusion. But how are you to get the scrambled sentences your eighth grader insists are "All I can do, Mom" from "eh" writing to clear, concise, even powerful writing is a task very difficult for many homeschooling parents.
I can help.
I have been happily grading papers since seventh grade when I volunteered in a fourth grade class. Grading essays requires years of "getting the feel" for what works in writing and what doesn't, and I started seriously working with student essays during my college years and my Master's program. After graduate school, I was back at my former university, teaching my first freshman composition courses with the assistance of a seasoned professor who took me under his wing and helped me in giving accurate and helpful feedback to students.
In the eighteen years since I taught my first university class, I have worked on several books--proofreading, editing, revising--including the book I co-published with Dr. Elizabeth Walsh at USD, Light of Learning, a book that was published my first year of teaching at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU).
Currently I proofread for several organizations and recently proofread a Master's thesis in the MLA format. While teaching at PLNU, I instructed many classes in the Modern Language Association (MLA) format for research papers, and in the years since then I have taught the MLA format to a dozen co-op classes. This fall I taught my first online MLA course through Brave Writer, using the new Seventh Edition (2009) of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, so I am completely current with the latest citation formats.
Speaking of Brave Writer, I have worked for Julie Bogart, founder and owner of Brave Writer since 2002, teaching online courses and composing some of her various monthly subscriptions. If you are looking for online writing classes, I can't think of a more complete language arts resource or a more positive, helpful experience in developing assured, competent writers than Brave Writer.
So here's the thing:
If you assign essays to your junior high or high school students and aren't sure how to encourage your children in what they have done well and how to help them improve in what doesn't work well, I can help.
You can simply e-mail your children's papers to me, and I will e-mail them back within a set time with comments, corrections, and suggestions.
If you aren't sure how to approach a writing assignment in your curriculum, I can tutor either you and/or your children via e-mail, helping to clarify the assignment and determine the strongest approach to gain a successful piece of writing.
If you or someone you know needs a document proofread, we can discuss the parameters of the project and go from there. I have proofread books, theses, and dissertations, along with various correspondence.
My editing and writing skills are also at your disposal.
And PayPal is available right here on this site for your convenience.
So please contact me via the E-mail button in the sidebar, and let's work together to make writing a positive and wonderful experience!
On the journey with you,
It's one thing to mark spelling tests, to grade math quizzes, to correct Spanish exams, to check history and science homework. Tedious, yes, but that lovely key provided by the publisher makes the job do-able, if not the high point of the day. But what do you do when there is NO KEY?
Grading our children's writing is like that: there is NO KEY to grading a personal essay or a five-paragraph paper or an MLA research report.
Panic sets in. What if something important gets missed? Is that a comma splice or a fragment? Does an apostrophe belong here? Was this idea developed adequately or is one more example necessary? What should an effective introduction do, and how does one write a narrative hook?
Sometimes a sentence just doesn't seem right but figuring out precisely what isn't working is difficult for you to pinpoint, much less explain to a student already in tears over red pen corrections. Your child is wounded, and you are frustrated. "This is not the way to encourage his love of writing," you think. "This isn't working."
So what is good writing?
We know it when we see it. We can admire a beautiful turn of phrase, value an excellent example, and appreciate a strong conclusion. But how are you to get the scrambled sentences your eighth grader insists are "All I can do, Mom" from "eh" writing to clear, concise, even powerful writing is a task very difficult for many homeschooling parents.
I can help.
I have been happily grading papers since seventh grade when I volunteered in a fourth grade class. Grading essays requires years of "getting the feel" for what works in writing and what doesn't, and I started seriously working with student essays during my college years and my Master's program. After graduate school, I was back at my former university, teaching my first freshman composition courses with the assistance of a seasoned professor who took me under his wing and helped me in giving accurate and helpful feedback to students.
In the eighteen years since I taught my first university class, I have worked on several books--proofreading, editing, revising--including the book I co-published with Dr. Elizabeth Walsh at USD, Light of Learning, a book that was published my first year of teaching at Point Loma Nazarene University (PLNU).
Currently I proofread for several organizations and recently proofread a Master's thesis in the MLA format. While teaching at PLNU, I instructed many classes in the Modern Language Association (MLA) format for research papers, and in the years since then I have taught the MLA format to a dozen co-op classes. This fall I taught my first online MLA course through Brave Writer, using the new Seventh Edition (2009) of the MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, so I am completely current with the latest citation formats.
Speaking of Brave Writer, I have worked for Julie Bogart, founder and owner of Brave Writer since 2002, teaching online courses and composing some of her various monthly subscriptions. If you are looking for online writing classes, I can't think of a more complete language arts resource or a more positive, helpful experience in developing assured, competent writers than Brave Writer.
So here's the thing:
If you assign essays to your junior high or high school students and aren't sure how to encourage your children in what they have done well and how to help them improve in what doesn't work well, I can help.
You can simply e-mail your children's papers to me, and I will e-mail them back within a set time with comments, corrections, and suggestions.
If you aren't sure how to approach a writing assignment in your curriculum, I can tutor either you and/or your children via e-mail, helping to clarify the assignment and determine the strongest approach to gain a successful piece of writing.
If you or someone you know needs a document proofread, we can discuss the parameters of the project and go from there. I have proofread books, theses, and dissertations, along with various correspondence.
My editing and writing skills are also at your disposal.
And PayPal is available right here on this site for your convenience.
So please contact me via the E-mail button in the sidebar, and let's work together to make writing a positive and wonderful experience!
On the journey with you,
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