Congratulations Editor on choosing to help NYC students improve on their writing skills especially during the COVID-19 pandemic!

Good to Know paragraphs are written by students and edited by college students who have already been through rigorous writing classes and are experienced at writing college-level papers. By participating in this you are "paying forward" your writing skills to students who are in much need of learning proper writing skills.

In this internship, you will receive 5 elementary or middle school students who will be your student-writers. Daily, you will check their pages and correct any aspects/errors that you find to be wrong with their article summaries. Edits should focus on grammar, spelling, punctuation, sentence structure, paragraph structure, fluidity, thus, making it into a paragraph for an English class: concise, precise, and fact-filled. Lastly, check to see if the student plagiarized any part of the article by using the sentences verbatim. The must use phrases such as "The story says,", "According to the article,", or "The article stated,..."

Grammar is pretty easy. The students must follow the rules of correct grammar and if you find errors in their grammar, you should point out which areas they need to improve on; eg, pronoun usage, possessive nouns, subject-object agreement, comparative adjectives, etc... Sentence structure should follow an active rather than a passive structure and follow the structure that conforms to proper English. Punctuation is something that is standard and should be pointed out to the student. paragraph structure should be as follows:



3rd and 4th graders will write using RACE only.

R-Restate the question
A-Answer the question
C-Cite evidence ( Use an opening statement to as written above)
E- Explain the cited evidence in simple ideas starting with: In conclusion, Therefore, Basically, As a result,

The students will be instructed to write based off of daily prompts that students have to write a paragraph about using the RACE paragraph writing method which is:



5-8th graders will write a paragraph using 2 details. Because the paragraph needs 2 details, the students must use another ACE at the end thereby making the structure: In order to do this, they will have to follow the RACE paragraph writing structure:

R
A
C
E (Basically, This means..., The basic idea is)
A
C
E (In conclusion, Therefore, As a result,)





The fluidity of the article pertains to how it sounds. An example of a sentence that has poor fluidity would be:
In conclusion, the machine was very helpful to the building of a tunnel.
A sentence that shows better fluidity would be:
As can be seen, by the usage of the tunnel boring machine (TBM), completion of the tunnel was efficient and expeditious.
or
Completion of the tunnel was efficient and expeditious with the usage of the tunnel boring machine (TBM).




Below are the three aspects of correcting a paragraph: Original text, Corrections (the edits), the Final edit
Original Text Mrs. Bhaer said, “Teddy is right: there's something in the child.” This means there is something different about this child. The text states,"This poor lad is an orphan now, sick and friendless. He has been a street-musician; and I found him in a cellar, mourning for his dead father, and his lost violin. I think there is something in him, and have a fancy that between us we may give this little man a lift. You cure his overtasked body, Fritz helps his neglected mind, and when he is ready I'll see if he is a genius or only a boy with a talent that may earn his bread for him. Give him a trial, for the sake of your own boy, “TEDDY.”According to the text it states, “My child, you have got a father and a mother now, and this is home. Don't think of those sad times anymore, but get well and happy; and be sure you shall never suffer again if we can help it. This place is made for all sorts of boys to have a good time in, and to learn how to help themselves and be useful men, I hope. You shall have as much music as you want, only you must get strong first. Now come up to Nursey and have a bath, and then go to bed, and to-morrow we will lay some nice little plans together.” This is what Mrs. Bhaer said, “Teddy is right: there's something in the child.



Corrections Mrs. Bhaer said, “Teddy is right: there's something in the child.”

        • "' Just like with the paragraph before this one, I changed the quotes (scroll down to the last paragraph to see). I also made sure that I separated the comma after 'said' from the quote so that they aren't touching. Usually, I would write an introduction sentence here since you don't have one, but I would like you to start working on those yourself, and then I can help."'

Mrs. Bhaer said, "'Teddy is right: there's something in the child.'"

This means there is something different about this child.

        • "' I just slightly changed this sentence to clarify that the child here is Nat."'

This means that there is something special about Nat.

The text states, "This poor lad is an orphan now, sick and friendless. He has been a street-musician; and I found him in a cellar, mourning for his dead father, and his lost violin. I think there is something in him, and have a fancy that between us we may give this little man a lift. You cure his overtasked body, Fritz helps his neglected mind, and when he is ready I'll see if he is a genius or only a boy with a talent that may earn his bread for him. Give him a trial, for the sake of your own boy, “TEDDY.”

        • "'For this part, I removed "TEDDY" because that was just the signature to the letter. I wrote an extra sentence in order to show the reader that this was Uncle Laurence's (Teddy) letter to Mrs. Bhaer. I also did the same thing I did in the above sentence with the quotes since the letter is also quoted in the text."'

The text states, "'This poor lad is an orphan now, sick and friendless. He has been a street-musician; and I found him in a cellar, mourning for his dead father, and his lost violin. I think there is something in him, and have a fancy that between us we may give this little man a lift. You cure his overtasked body, Fritz helps his neglected mind, and when he is ready I'll see if he is a genius or only a boy with a talent which may earn his bread for him. Give him a trial, for the sake of your own boy,'" This is Uncle Laurence's letter to Mrs. Bhaer talking about how Nat was a street musician with a talent for playing the violin.
According to the text it states, “My child, you have got a father and a mother now, and this is home. Don't think of those sad times anymore, but get well and happy; and be sure you shall never suffer again if we can help it. This place is made for all sorts of boys to have a good time in, and to learn how to help themselves and be useful men, I hope. You shall have as much music as you want, only you must get strong first. Now come up to Nursey and have a bath, and then go to bed, and to-morrow we will lay some nice little plans together.”

        • "' Before this quote, I added some extra context so that it didn't seem so random. I also edited the quotes the same way as before."'

After they all listened to Nat play his violin, he was emotional from how supportive his new family was of him and Mrs. Bhaer comforted him. The text states, "'My child, you have got a father and a mother now, and this is home. Don't think of those sad times anymore, but get well and happy; and be sure you shall never suffer again if we can help it. This place is made for all sorts of boys to have a good time in, and to learn how to help themselves and be useful men, I hope. You shall have as much music as you want, only you must get strong first. Now come up to Nursey and have a bath, and then go to bed, and to-morrow we will lay some nice little plans together.'"
This is what Mrs. Bhaer said, “Teddy is right: there's something in the child.

        • "'I added the context of how this is what Mrs. Bhaer said to her husband and I added context after about how everyone was impressed with Nat's playing. I didn't write a conclusion sentence again for the same reasons as last time."'

Mrs. Bhaer even told her husband, "'Teddy is right: there's something in the child.'" Everyone was very impressed with Nat's talent and Mrs. Bhaer agreed with what Uncle Laurence said in his letter.

Final Draft Mrs. Bhaer said, "'Teddy is right: there's something in the child.'" This means that there is something special about Nat. The text states, "'This poor lad is an orphan now, sick and friendless. He has been a street-musician; and I found him in a cellar, mourning for his dead father, and his lost violin. I think there is something in him, and have a fancy that between us we may give this little man a lift. You cure his overtasked body, Fritz help his neglected mind, and when he is ready I'll see if he is a genius or only a boy with a talent which may earn his bread for him. Give him a trial, for the sake of your own boy,'" This is Uncle Laurence's letter to Mrs. Bhaer talking about how Nat was a street musician with a talent for playing the violin. After they all listened to Nat play his violin, he was emotional from how supportive his new family was of him and Mrs. Bhaer comforted him. The text states, "'My child, you have got a father and a mother now, and this is home. Don't think of those sad times anymore, but get well and happy; and be sure you shall never suffer again, if we can help it. This place is made for all sorts of boys to have a good time in, and to learn how to help themselves and be useful men, I hope. You shall have as much music as you want, only you must get strong first. Now come up to Nursey and have a bath, and then go to bed, and to-morrow we will lay some nice little plans together.'" Mrs. Bhaer even told her husband, "'Teddy is right: there's something in the child.'" Everyone was very impressed with Nat's talent and Mrs. Bhaer agreed with what Uncle Laurence said in his letter.

I mainly want you to focus on the same things that I mentioned last time (scroll down to see) and then we can work on other things from there. You've got this!



View the students' article summary tutorial page for more information on how they must write their article summaries here: http://theworldforfreedom.com/Article_Tutorial