How I Teach Essay Planning for Neurodivergent and Home Educated Learners
Why Essay Writing Is Not Just for Exams
Flaubert said, “The art of writing is the art of discovering what you believe.”
It’s a lovely quote. But what does it actually mean in practice—especially if you’re 15, staring at a blank page in an English exam?
One of the first things I tell my students is this:
“I don’t want you to think in the exam.”
Which sounds… counterintuitive. Surely the point of an exam is to think—furiously, fast, full pelt?
That’s how I saw it as a teenager. Even during my undergraduate degree, exams felt like an all-cylinders sprint: know it all, write it all, prove how hard you’ve worked, how many books you’ve read, how many quotes you’ve memorised.
The classic essay structure? Mostly taken for granted. You were either good at essays or you weren’t. If you were lucky, you might be told to “say what you’re going to say, say it, and say what you said.” Which is about as helpful as being told to “just ride the bike.”
I muddled through by loving the subject and reading widely—probably too widely. I had masses of context and a chaotic approach. My essays were passionate and undisciplined. I was once told they were like a machine gun: “You just spray the page with information and hope it hits the target.” I remember that feedback vividly.
What I don’t remember is anyone showing me how to take proper aim.
🎯 From Information Dump to Bullseye
It wasn’t until much later—years after graduating—that things clicked into place. Between university and my M.A., I worked as a trained expert witness in fraud investigations. I wrote prosecutor’s statements, which had to stand up in court. And this taught me one of the most valuable lessons of my writing life:
Never say something you can’t back up.
You could make an excellent supposition. But unless you had the evidence to support it, you didn’t include it. A brilliant solicitor once asked me:
“Can you put your finger on the proof? Could you stand by this in cross-examination?”
That question shaped how I thought about writing. It wasn’t just about what I believed—it was about what I could show was believable.
So when I returned to academic writing for my M.A., I wasn’t just better—I was sharper. More accurate. My essays were still driven by ideas and context, but now they had structure. I no longer sprayed. I selected. I argued.
Exams, unbelievably, became fun. They felt like puzzles. Tactical. Strategic. A challenge of wits, not endurance.
🛠️ So How Do I Teach Essay Writing?
First, we let the brain do its thing. This approach works beautifully for neurodivergent learners.
That means: question the question, pick out key words, and brainstorm freely—even wildly—before shaping anything into a final structure. I often say:
“Be a machine gun first. Get your ideas down. Then choose what to keep.”
From there, we move into selection and structure. We use models like the hamburger paragraph. We practise making claims and backing them with quotes, references, and evidence. We work on paragraph flow, introductions, and essay plans—tools that can be relied on under pressure.
This process works beautifully for neurodivergent learners, too.
Why? Because it shows that essays aren’t pre-formed—they’re built.
You don’t need to be neat and tidy from the start. You get to explore first. Then choose what to back. Then build it into something solid.
That’s what I mean when I say I don’t want my students to “think” in the exam. I want them to have already done the thinking, the testing, the sifting. So that when they sit down to write, they’re not scrambling—they’re aiming.
💡 Writing as Discovery—for All Learners
I often work with students in home education who struggle with rigid essay structures.
This is the heart of how I teach:
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Give students a way to gather their thoughts
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Help them sort and select
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Then show them how to structure and deliver
Because writing isn’t about throwing everything at the page.
It’s about discovering what you believe—and showing that it holds up. With the bonus that this method suits GCSE students with ADHD, dyslexia, or different processing styles.
🧭 Want to explore this approach?
If you're supporting a student preparing for English, Literature or Film—especially in a home ed setting or with a neurodiverse learner—I run small, supportive online courses that make writing feel clear, do-able, and even enjoyable. If you're supporting a student preparing for English, Literature or Film—especially in a home ed setting you could
👉 View my current courses here
And if you’d like a gentle introduction to how I break things down:
📥 Download my free Essay Builder Planning Sheet – it’s perfect for helping students go from “brain dump” to structured argument.
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