My last class meeting with Kailin was nice because we were able to see just how far her writing has come. All the attention we’ve paid to strong thesis statements and paragraph structure showed through, as Kailin distinctly had these elements in her first draft.
While there were a couple of gaps (an introductory sentence too wordy, a missing concluding sentence, a misplaced example), it is evident that Kailin has the pieces of what makes a strong essay in her mind and can apply them to her writing.
We first discussed how the writing process went for her. Thankfully Kailin didn’t find it too difficult as she already had an outline in place. She told me she finds outlining very helpful, as it keeps her focused and provides her with a road map of where she’s going to go over the course of the essay. It is a strategy that she will continue to use in the future.
We then went on to fix the gaps earlier mentioned, as well as a few others, such as improving the smoothness of citations. I am sad it was my last class with Kailin, as I really enjoyed working with her. She will submit a rough draft of her portfolio on Saturday, as the final draft is due Monday.