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English Writing 2 In this class, students will be given fun and focused opportunities to become independent and confident writers. Through the collaborative reading of an exciting non-fiction story, activities that help to generate ideas, and projects that teach organization, students will be led to create stories and develop them into understandable narratives. English Writing 3 In this class, students will study the following writing styles: personal narratives, response to literature, and persuasive writing. Students will read a novel that will provide interest and fun in helping to teach them new vocabulary, reading comprehension skills, how to think about the story and what it may mean, and in expressing themselves confidently in writing! English Writing 4 This writing class is designed to help the child develop confidence and fluency in writing. Students will participate in activities designed to strengthen brainstorming and organizational skills, as well as foster clear written expression in sentence, paragraph, and essay form. Students completing this 12-hour course will perform in their regular classes and CAT tests with more confidence in their abilities to express their ideas. Organization, development, word choice and sentence variety, as well as mechanics, will be emphasized. Summary, persuasion, and response to literature are several of the writing domains taught. STAR Preparatory Writing 3/4 Each year as part of the STAR testing program, California Writing Standards Tests are administered at the elementary and middle school levels. This course is designed to prepare third and fourth grade students to effectively produce three specific types of writing, one of which will be addressed on the CST. During this 12 -week course, students will learn about how to organize, plan, write, and edit narratives, summaries, and responses to literature within the 60-minute time limit of the test. In order to prepare for this particular type of test, students will be given the opportunity to analyze the released rubrics from previous years and work through the process of using those rubrics to score sample student responses, as well as to evaluate their own. Extensive teacher commentary, instruction on organization, and practice with editing their own writing pieces, will serve to support their achievement on the STAR test. English Writing 5 In this class, students will learn about the Six Traits of Writing: ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, and conventions. Using this framework, they will practice writing, self-evaluation, and revision. They will begin by examining the elements of well-written descriptive and narrative paragraphs. Then they will write descriptive essays, autobiographical pieces, responses to literature, or persuasive essays. Some areas of focus include: writing inviting leads, introductions, combining sentences, "showing, not telling," and organization. Vocabulary lists will be provided. Students will be tested on the words and encouraged to incorporate them into their stories. Through weekly practice and peer and teacher feedback, students have the opportunity to greatly improve their writing skills and improve their standardized test scores. English Writing 6 The
Sixth Grade writing class is a fast paced program with a differentiated and
advanced curriculum. Students will study the following writing styles: personal
narratives, biographical sketches, descriptive and persuasive writing, and the
inductive and deductive essay styles. The topics for these writing samples cause
the students to think critically about using their own unique "voice" and all
six "senses" to develop writing, which is on a higher level than many of their
peers. Students will review and practice basic grammatical rules in order to
ensure success. This class also utilizes novels or examples of various writing
so that students are able to see how other authors and writers successfully put
words on paper. An advanced writing class such as this is a challenge that is
sure to result in increased confidence and higher grades, as well as bolster
their standardized test scores. English Writing 7/8 Students enrolled in the 7/8 English writing will concentrate on expanding and organizing their ideas. Additionally, they will learn how to choose precise vocabulary and use advanced new sentence patterns, which will enhance their written expression. These skills will be demonstrated in the writing of a process analysis paper and a definition paper. After the completion of this Fall course, students will be more sensitive to their own writing and be able to make many pertinent grammatical and mechanical corrections themselves. This class is fast paced, content rich, and applicable to the course work in the local junior high school English program. English Writing 9 Students enrolled in Grade 9 Writing classes will learn and practice how to organize and develop their writing. The main focus of this class will be to perfect the literary analysis paragraph and essay. Students will learn how to more deeply analyze literature, which is what often determines their grades in their regular school English classes. During the Fall Session, students will analyze and write about short stories and other literary selections. The instructors will assign and correct writing weekly. English Writing 10-12 This new course will offer high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors the opportunity to improve their in-class essay writing ability. They will also practice the essay for the new SAT, as well as begin to discuss and plan their college essays. The emphasis will be on organization, style, content, and mechanics. For the student who would like to have weekly paper correction and feedback, this class is perfect. Grammar 7-9 This course will focus on the essential components of English grammar for students in grades 7-9. Students will have the opportunity to dramatically improve their writing and communication skills by mastering the fundamental grammatical skills that all great writers possess. Areas of concentration include basic parts of speech, subject/verb agreement, pronoun usage, verb tense/form, and modification. Students will be challenged in this course to break old bad habits and replace them with new good ones. Upon completion of this course, students will be armed with the critical skills needed to be successful at both the high school and university levels. It will also complement the Fall English Writing 7/8 course nicely, as it will build on techniques designed to enhance written expression. |
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