Please tell me how helpful...

[ChildofGrace]

...you feel online writing courses are.

 

I am looking at either Write@Home, WriteGuide, or WriteOn! for my oldest ds (16 yo rising junior). On the whole, he writes very well, but I would love to see him step things up a level and approach his work with a little more intensity. Do those of you who have used any of the above courses feel that you saw significant improvement in your students' work? Are they worth the money and time?

 

Please share your experiences and opinions, both positive and negative.

 

Thanks!

[Chris in VA]

We did Write@Home's Essay 1 last Spring. They use The Lively Art of Writing as their text. Had I known the problems I would have in teaching hs writing, I would've used them from 9th grade on.

 

That particular course wasn't incredibly detailed--but it taught ds more about writing an essay and strengthening his essay during editing than Wordsmith Craftsman, Writing the 5 Paragraph Essay, and Jensen's Format ever did--mostly because we didn't finish any of those books, and I just ran away and hid when it came to editing! So WAH showed me more of the process, too.

 

I don't know what the year-long or semester-long courses are like, although the syllabi look great. For the Essay 1 class, ds worked on two essays, one every other week. He would read the assignment in Lively, write his assignment (first week's assignment was simply writing his thesis statement, and 3 pros and 2 cons, if I remember correctly), then upload it. It would come back corrected the next week, and he'd upload the next assignment that day, which would come back a week later. So the essays switched each week.

The instructor would comment on his "paper," and gave very valuable comments. By the end of the course, ds had two good essays, and was pretty confident in the process.

 

I'm going to have him take Essay 2 or The Research Paper, I'm not sure which. I think he should take a one semester course, too--he's graduating in Dec, so there isn't a lot of time. Sure wish we'd started in 9th grade!

Anyway, I like Write@Home very much. Is it worth the $? Well, I think it's high, but since I can't teach writing very well at this point, I'm willing to foot the bill.

[Michelle in MO]

was with Julie Bogart of Bravewriter. I signed up my eldest for the SAT/ACT Essay Writing class. The class was conducted in a very positive, professional manner. Once the student is registered, they are given access to a public forum in which only other students registered for the same class are also allowed to view. The students are taught to write standard five-paragraph essays to various SAT/ACT essay writing prompts. Julie has a very positive and gradual way in which to teach this. I highly recommend the course and also her book, The Writer's Jungle.

 

We've done several online progymnasmata tutorials with Cindy Marsch of Writing Assessment Services. I can't say enough good things about Cindy! Her editing skills are superb, but her comments are always kind and full of good humor, as well. I also used her services to help me prepare for the two timed GRE essays. If you want a sample of her editing style, you could send me an e-mail or PM. I don't have a sample of Julie's, since the forum is now closed (dd took the class in January/February).

 

I would say you couldn't go wrong with either one of these classes! Even though I still had to "keep after" the girls to get their writing done, it was such a relief to have a professional evaluate their work!

[teachmom3]

 

I am looking at either Write@Home, WriteGuide, or WriteOn! for my oldest ds (16 yo rising junior). On the whole, he writes very well, but I would love to see him step things up a level and approach his work with a little more intensity.

 

I used Write@Home's "The Research Paper" with a senior who was a good writer, but who just wanted to do creative writing. (She's currently a creative writing major in college.) Trying to get her to do more formal writing was like pulling teeth. Also, my area of expertise is not composition. For both of these reasons, I wilted at the prospect of trying to get her to do a research paper. She would have done it, but we both would have been frayed at the end.

 

 

Do those of you who have used any of the above courses feel that you saw significant improvement in your students' work?

My objective in signing dd up wasn't so much to improve her writing, but to have her at least once have to write a longer, formal, paper, with less wear-and-tear on me. Also, the course we used was one of the brief workshops, not a full course, so the likelihood of noticeable improvement, given that she was already a good writer, would be less than in one of the longer full courses.

 

 

 

Are they worth the money and time?

For us it was. Dd finished the paper, got experience taking notes, learned topics such as MLA formatting, and was accountable to someone besides me.

 

:lol:

[ChildofGrace]

Ah. Thank you so much for sharing your experience.

 

It is the "strengthening [his] essay through editing" that I think I am looking for.

 

Thanks again.

[ChildofGrace]

Argh! Now I have more options to consider!:eek: LOL.

 

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll be sure to check them out.

[ChildofGrace]

LOL.

 

Yes. That accountability to someone other than myself may be what we are needing. Although my son writes well, he hates the entire process. Hopefully, an online instructor will be able to encourage him in such a way that he will expend a little more effort on his work.

 

Thank you for sharing your experience!