Level 2: Writing Sample Lesson

Let's write a scary story!

Level: 2
Class: Writing
Instructor: Aubrey Adrianson

Students are often scared the first time they are asked to write an essay, especially international students. What makes a good academic essay in English includes more than your ability to write sentences and used good English grammar. This creates a high amount of stress for the IEP student. To help ease that stress, students are often asked to write a narrative essay as their first essay. A narrative essay is a story, but it is a story that has a point. In other words, the author needs to express a reason for telling the story to his or her audience.

In order to make this essay assignment less scary and even fun, I have students write scary, ghost stories. Students are welcome to make up their own stories or retell one they already know. For this essay, we focus on ordering ideas, thesis statements, and conclusions. Students follow the steps in the writing process which include brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and revising before turning in a final copy to be graded.

Here are some essays that students have written for this assignment. All of the essays received a grade of B or higher and have not been edited by the teacher. So you will see mistakes with grammar, spelling, punctuation, and vocabulary.

Student Sample 1 | Student Sample 2 | Student Sample 3