For being able to form a coherent thesis, I show them how I do it
myself, using the literature we are reading. I model coming up
with a general topic (or being provided with a topic question),
then looking for passages from the text on this topic, then
brainstorming about what these passages, put together, may or may
not prove about the text, and finally forming a thesis statement
that I can prove by quoting these passages. I have found this
method pretty successful, with most of my high school sophomores
able to form a unique thesis statement that is fairly specific.

For logic, coherence, etc. at the sentence level, I have to defer
to others. At my small school, I am able to sit down one-on-one
with students and work with them on their individual writing
difficulties. But in general, as we all know, THE STUDENT WHO
READS is the student who can write clearly. Every year I tell
students that this is the "big secret" of writing well. It's not
having a great teacher, or studying grammar (though both of these
can help). It's being a reader. In all my years of teaching at
both the college and high school level, every time a student
showed a natural ability to write well, it was because that
student was an independent reader. With students who don't read,
I've come to terms with the fact that there is only so much I can
do. They can't tell when a sentence doesn't sound right, or when
writing flows, because they don't read enough to absorb the feel
of a well-formed sentence.

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