annabanana1992 Posted October 1, 2010 Share Posted October 1, 2010 I am looking into having DS take Advanced Academic Writing I with MCT at Northwestern. I talked to a lovely lady at Northwestern today, but I am still a bit unclear as to how the classes are run. Has anybody used this? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabanana1992 Posted October 2, 2010 Author Share Posted October 2, 2010 hmmm... I guess not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 I'd try posting on the HS board and the accelerated board, and see if anyone there can answer. This might be a newer class? I know MCT has been doing the Honors Vocab classes (WWtW) through Northwestern for a while, but I'm afraid I haven't read anything about the writing classes, and I only know a little about the Vocab courses. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
radiobrain Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 I am pretty sure they are back and forth through email. I know that the kids submit work to MCT and he replies and evaluates individually, but I am not sure how the actual "class" part works. So, I am not really any help, and should not have posted! :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NoPlaceLikeHome Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corraleno Posted October 2, 2010 Share Posted October 2, 2010 I am pretty sure they are back and forth through email. I know that the kids submit work to MCT and he replies and evaluates individually, but I am not sure how the actual "class" part works. :iagree: That's how the Honors Vocab courses work: students just do the assignments in the WWtW book and email them to MCT, who corrects/responds to the work. Students also read 2 novels with challenging vocab (need to be approved by MCT) and write a short "response essay" on each book. That's all there is to the course (no interaction with other students or video lectures or anything), but I don't know if the writing course is the same format. Jackie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jlth Posted October 5, 2010 Share Posted October 5, 2010 Yes, my DC used it last spring for Sentence Island and I have to say we were sorely disappointed. Mr. T (as he has the kids call him) was very nice and encouraging, but there was very little writing instruction and poor grammar was often not corrected. I think he viewed it as an entry level class and did not make many comments. What disappointed us the most however was that he does not use his own teachers exercises for Sentence Island and Paragraph Town. Rather the assignments were all questions like "Why is it important to have a subject and a predicate?" "What did you like best on p. x?" "What was the most important thing you learned?" etc. There was a final "essay" but that, too, was on what they learned. It was more of a reading course about writing than a writing course on writing. Essay Voyage looks better b/c he gives the assignments in the book, which are more engaging. He comes across as a truly nice man and is funny and encouraging. We liked him a lot. We were just disappointed with the questions the kids were supposed to answer. (I think they had to choose 3/5 each week.) There wasn't much feedback, but it was worth it for us to do a third party writing course as it taught scheduling and responsibility. Glad we did it, but wouldn't recommend the lower levels. I had actually thought Sentence Island would be all about writing fabulous sentences. As I recall, the kids email their essays to him and he emails comments back. Then CTD posts the grades on their Blackboard site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabanana1992 Posted October 6, 2010 Author Share Posted October 6, 2010 Thank you for sharing your experience. As I was thinking about a class for older students, I wonder if that would make a difference??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TKDmom Posted October 6, 2010 Share Posted October 6, 2010 :lurk5: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest jlth Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Our packet included the assignments for Sentence Island, Paragraph Town and Essay Voyage. All three courses were the same format - email only, no interaction with other students, answer 2 or 3 questions a week. Also, the CTD materials say Mr. T would call each student to introduce himself, but that didn't happen. I have no idea what the course is like with the Advanced Academic Writing books, but I imagine it's similar, as that's what someone posted above with regard to WWW. I've heard from other parents that MCT did not give a lot of comments, as he's a busy man and travels for speaking engagements and conferences. The comments he did give, however, were always done in a positive, encouraging way. That said, for us the course wasn't worth the money in an academic sense (no improvement in writing, but there was improvement in the willingness to write and to make minor revisions), but the deadlines were helpful with regard to strengthening the ability to work independently and to hand in assignments on time. The course was helpful to us, but I'm not sure I would recommend it. We'll work through Paragraph Town on our own and then maybe consider trying Essay Voyage or Advanced Academic Writing with him again. Maybe. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annabanana1992 Posted October 7, 2010 Author Share Posted October 7, 2010 Bummer - I was really hoping that this class would be "the answer." We are working through Essay Voyage right now, and at the end of every week, I invariably say to myself that I have not done it justice..... I really want DS to get all that the MCT writing programs have to offer, but we are falling victim to time crunches! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Capt_Uhura Posted October 7, 2010 Share Posted October 7, 2010 Sigh, I was hoping to have DS take the course on Essay Voyage to really do it justice. Have you all given this feedback to MCT? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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