Middle School 3A, Semester
This sixteen-week class gives middle school students an opportunity to write across the spectrum of forms and purposes while introducing them to basic concepts in sound writing skills and reviewing conventions such as punctuation and capitalization. After a quick review of paragraph composition, students will be asked to write multi-paragraph, multi-draft papers of a variety of purposes. The lesson content of this course is varied, covering topics like the writing process, connotation, wordiness, and clichés before ending with a series of lessons on writing mechanics. The course is designed with the average 8th-grader in mind, but is also appropriate for advanced younger students.
This course is offered twice per year: in the spring semester and the fall semester.
Course Objectives
Students who complete the course will be able to…
write for a variety of purposes, including narration, description, exposition, and persuasion.
respond to coach feedback on their writing through revising and proofreading.
avoid common writing errors, including over-reliance on the passive voice, clichés, wordiness, and double negatives.
employ positive characteristics such as appropriate word choice, parallelism, and effective transition.
demonstrate a basic grasp of writing conventions such as punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviation.
engage the writing process by employing the following five steps in composing every paper: prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, publishing.
demonstrate proficiency at writing under time constraints.
improve their writing across a wide range of broad evaluative areas, including content, style and form.
Middle School 3B, Semester
This sixteen-week class continues the process of giving middle school students an opportunity to practice different forms and purposes while continuing to improve basic concepts in sound writing skills. After an introductory, diagnostic essay, students will be asked to write multi-paragraph, multi-draft papers of a variety of purposes. The lesson content of this course is varied, covering topics like the writing process, connotation, wordiness, and clichés before ending with a series of lessons on writing mechanics. The course is designed with the average 8th-grader in mind, but is also appropriate for advanced younger students. Both A and B semesters are offered twice per year and do not need to be taken in order.
Course Objectives:
Students who complete the course will be able to...
write for a variety of purposes, including narration, description, exposition, and persuasion.
respond to coach feedback on their writing through revising and proofreading.
avoid common writing errors, including over- reliance on the passive voice, clichés, wordiness, and double negatives.
employ positive characteristics such as appropriate word choice, parallelism, and effective transition.
demonstrate a basic grasp of writing conventions such as punctuation, capitalization, and abbreviation.
engage the writing process by employing the following five steps in composing every paper: prewriting, drafting, revising, proofreading, publishing.
demonstrate proficiency at writing under time constraints.
improve their writing across a wide range of broad evaluative areas, including content, style and form.