Rosy Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 Have you taught a writing class for middle/high school (mostly middle school) students? What did you teach? and/or If you were to enroll your 12+ year old in a writing class, what would you expect would be covered? Our co-op is all over the place in terms of homeschooling philosophies (we have a few rigorous classical families and quite a few A Beka families and everything in between) and I would imagine I'd be teaching a wide range of writing abilities. I'm guessing that what most of the parents have in mind is a composition class. I think most of the kids can write a 5-paragraph essay and know basic grammar. Thanks for your feedback! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted February 21, 2011 Share Posted February 21, 2011 If you were to enroll your 12+ year old in a writing class, what would you expect would be covered? When my DD was 12, she was taking a coop writing class which was OK, but not quite what we had hoped. We are more on the side of rigorous. I would have liked the class to cover formal essay writing thoroughly and particularly cover the 5 paragraph format they will need on the SAT (I am surprised you say that your students already know how to do that.). I would not expect a class for that age group to have to deal with grammar (although college instructors tell horror stories about lacking subject verb agreement and other basic things) I liked about our class that the kids got writing assignments as homework. DD learned more form those assignments than from the actual class time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Actually, I really don't know what their abilities are. The lady who is teaching writing this year has been working them pretty hard, I think. I'll have to find out from her what they're doing now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 My ds 13 took a Paragraph Writing class at our co-op last year. It was for 7th-9th graders. Their teacher really focused on perfecting the paragraph and being able to write them using the different writing styles. Towards the end, they were able to write beautiful 5 paragraph essays. She also included daily skills worksheets covering basic grammar for the kids to be done each week prior to class. This year, the co-op is offering a Composition class for those that have completed the Paragraph Writing class last year and is for 8th-10th graders. My son is not participating in that class, so I'm not familiar with what is being covered. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I wouldn't EXPECT anything :-) "Writing" is such a vague term that means such differnt things to different people. More than worrying about what LEVEL the students are on. I'd be more worried about what TYPE of writing parents are expecting to be taught. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FaithManor Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 12 year olds typically fall between the grades of 6-8 grade depending on their birthdays, if their parents chose to do K work at 4 years of age, etc. I've seen a lot of English/Grammar programs for homeschooling that do not address the five paragraph essay at the 6th or 7th grade level. So, I would assume that in a mixed-philosophy co-op, the range of abilities will be all over the board! Also, kids should really be getting into basic research writing at that age and yet have the joy of doing some creative stuff. So, I guess, without being able to ascertain the writing abilities of the individuals of the class before planning the schedule, I'd be likely to spend a class period having them write for me and then evaluate the writing to see where my extremes are and then go from there. Some may be able to write an essay in terms of form, but not with good style and decent content. Writing wonderful paragraphs is always a great place to start and if you think they'll be bored, throw in some poetry or creative writing while working on the basics. I'd be inclined by the end of the semester, to have addressed the five paragraph essay if the bulk of the students are ready; if this is a two semester class, I'd be doing research writing by the middle of the second semester. But, that is just me. We've found kids, public, private, and homeschooled as we've dealt with 4-H science fairs, to be decidedly lacking in paper writing skills and so we've made sure we've nailed those skills here. We've encountered far too many high schoolers that do not know what a bibliography is, what plagiarism is and why it's bad, can not take notes or write an outline, etc. and therefore, don't have a clue how to write a paper. Faith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 My ds 13 took a Paragraph Writing class at our co-op last year. It was for 7th-9th graders. Their teacher really focused on perfecting the paragraph and being able to write them using the different writing styles. Towards the end, they were able to write beautiful 5 paragraph essays. She also included daily skills worksheets covering basic grammar for the kids to be done each week prior to class. This year, the co-op is offering a Composition class for those that have completed the Paragraph Writing class last year and is for 8th-10th graders. My son is not participating in that class, so I'm not familiar with what is being covered. Yannah, were there particular materials the teacher used? Or was it something she created herself? This sounds like a very nice course! As the others said, I would be very surprised if a generic group of homeschoolers all had their 12 yo's writing decent 5 paragraph essays. If they did, the moms wouldn't be looking for a writing co-op class, kwim? LOL You probably need to assume nothing and start at the beginning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hunter Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 Some moms might not be thinking 5 paragraph essay when you advertise "writing". They might be thinking progym or story writing or.... As I said "writing" is a vague term and it is as vague as the word "talking". Forget levels until everyone is on the same page as to TYPE of writing that will be covered. You can't measure a level of something that has not been defined yet :-0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harriet Vane Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 A biggie that should be self-evident, but often isn't: LOTS OF WRITING I have a degree in English and Rhetoric (writing). The only way to achieve proficiency in a skill is through practice and use, and writing is no different. For expository writing, I would expect everyone to be writing weekly. Assignments would include detailed outlines, rough drafts, and corrected final drafts. On lighter writing weeks I might ask the students to journal in an ad hoc, ungraded fashion, simply to keep them writing and to help them get used to communicating their thoughts through the medium of writing. My dd did actually take an eight-week course wherein she was expected to do ONE contribution to a group newspaper project. Eight weeks, to do one piece, is not an effective way to learn writing. :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
angela in ohio Posted February 22, 2011 Share Posted February 22, 2011 I have taught several such courses, and I am teaching one this year. Most have been based on IEW, and this year's course is a combination of SAT writing prep and IEW's Elegant Essay. Next year will be continued essay writing and working on longer research papers. I agree with pp that frequency is the key. There are local writing classes offered that seem to be trying to impress with the loonnnggg papers they write; but I think it is far better to write more frequent, but shorter, papers. I have had to cover grammar in every writing (and Latin) class I've ever taught. That's not a real strong point for most homeschoolers. ;) Most parents will likely expect more work on essays, review of style and grammar, etc. Some may be thinking of creative writing, but usually by junior high and high school, homeschool parents are thinking of working toward SAT and college writing skills. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mereminerals Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 Yannah, were there particular materials the teacher used? Or was it something she created herself? This sounds like a very nice course! As the others said, I would be very surprised if a generic group of homeschoolers all had their 12 yo's writing decent 5 paragraph essays. If they did, the moms wouldn't be looking for a writing co-op class, kwim? LOL You probably need to assume nothing and start at the beginning. The instructor used a variety of curriculums with Writing for 100 Days by Arquilevich and Writeshop serving as the framework for the assignments. I will try to get my hands on ds's notebook and see if there are any references on the Skills sheets she used for the grammar. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momofeat Posted February 23, 2011 Share Posted February 23, 2011 I think I would begin by asking the parents of potential students what they would like their students to learn in the upcoming year. Then, when opening enrollment, I would include a specific description of my plans for the upcoming year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rosy Posted February 23, 2011 Author Share Posted February 23, 2011 Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I've heard from the lady that is currently teaching, and she says the kids need basic grammar more than anything. My 4th grader was in a class where she learned to write a 5-paragraph essay, so I just assumed the older kids would be able to do that. The paragraph class sounds perfect--if I end up doing it I'll have to look into those books! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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