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Success!
The ThinK workshop was conceived by the founders to educate and interest students in the field of writing. We created a relationship with Oak Hill Elementary School and sent out an invitation, looking for students who would be interested in joining. To our surprise and delight, we got twenty-seven replies. At TJ, we recruited twelve students who would be like to be involved in the education of these bright young minds. They were designated as the instructors. Working as pairs, the instructors were paired up with a group of students whom they would attend to solely.
After ten weeks of training, the improvement in writing was astounding. Numerous of our students went from having large grammatical errors and relatively plain writing to fascinating, suspenseful pieces that included all sorts of writing techniques. Everybody from the instructors to the parents of the students to the students themselves were amazed at the amount of progress that was made. A mother of a student commented,
“This is just to let you know that my son Chinmay Kedar, attended the 6th grade workshop and had a wonderful experience. It has definitely made a difference in his writing ability. It was directed well and the interaction between all was immensely beneficial. Thank you very much. Hope you have it again soon!”
Many other parents also contacted us to thank us. Due to the very positive feedback that we received, the THinK club is planning to also set up another workshop, this time for essay writing.
Stay tuned for more updates!
-Ellen Huang
How It All Works
THinK is an extracurricular activity designed for elementary school students by high schoolers. Every other week, there is a lecture given by the mentors through an online network conference application (we have used GoToWebinar and GoToMeeting as our primary conferences programs) to the elementary school students.
The lectures start with a brief biography of a famous writer, to get the students familiar with and interested in a wider range of authors
Afterwards, the lecture focuses on a specific aspect of writing (such as onomatopoeia, or varying sentence length). The newly introduced concept is internalized through a series of creative writing exercises, which allow the students to incorporate their imaginative ideas in an interesting way. Specific word games emphasizing the concept of the week are suggested for family play, again contributing to the fun factor.
After the lecture and exercises, there is a question and answer session, where students can freely ask questions to the instructors about anything they’ve learned. When every last question is answered, the session ends. Shortly following the session, a homework assignment is posted. This homework assignment requires the students to write a creative story, using the creative technique learned in the corresponding session and any others learned in previous sessions.
This story is submitted by a deadline (usually a few days before the next session) and graded by the instructors. The instructors make constructive comments and edits with regard to grammar, word choice, and appropriate use of creative techniques. The student receives this feedback immediately.
The process behind THinK is a very interactive one, which gets all parties involved (parents, students, instructors) in the process to work towards the common goal of improving the students’ writing.
-David Kim
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Testimonials
"We found your course incredibly useful to Maran and he enjoyed it very much. Maran is very good in Maths and Science, but not very strong in English Comprehension and Writing. We appreciate one of you helping him on this. "
"I've never seen a workshop quite like it. Samuel was able to see and hear the presentations straight on our home computers. It's fantastic and easy to use, and his writing improved immensely!"