How would you handle this course description?

[klmama]

My dc attended several outside classes this year. All met once a week for 10-12 weeks and required work at home. The instructors graded their work and gave suggested grades. However, rather than list them separately, I'd prefer to include the work in our other courses (i.e. science lab in the overall science grade, writing workshop in the lit and composition grade, etc.). Do I need to recognize the instructors, names of outside courses, etc. in the course descriptions I write? If you've done this, could you please give an example of how you worded it?

[Gwen in VA]

nm

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Are you trying to meet NCAA requirements? I ask because they are getting very specific.

 

If not I'd say you can choose to if it seves you and exclude it if it doesn't. I think in many cases it won't matter much to a college that you used a coop. I doubt that will be seen as more authoritative. If the instructor has some credentials or experience that seem meaningful you might include that. "Lab experiments were conducted with the supervision of a tutor with a chemistry degree. " or something similar.

 

You might also want to cite the outside course if they are writing a letter of recommendation.

[klmama]

My main concerns are the need for letters of recommendation and that writing samples may be requested. The dc's best papers this year were done for the writing workshop and have that instructor's name and course title on them.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

How about something like:

 

English 9

Read examples of literature in a variety of genres and forms, including short story, novel, poetry and drama. Explored concepts of literary analysis including allusions, plot, suspense, characterization, symbolism, theme, setting, imagery, point of view, irony and tone. Used annotation, close reading and graphic organizers to write compositions including response paragraphs and several literary analysis essays. Participated in local writer's workshop group to improve composition skills.

[klmama]

That's perfect! Thank you!

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I tweeked the last sentence a little to emphasize what she was working on with the group. I decided using the verb "to improve" made it sound too much like the writing was deficient. (I also changed the possessive on writers'.) If there were essays or research papers as part of the year, you might mention that. I wrote a similar course description for the coop class I taught. I also included the works read (books, short stories and essays). I included ISBN numbers where appropriate, only because I wanted to have them down the road if I have to navigate NCAA eligibility review.

 

English 9

Read examples of literature in a variety of genres and forms, including short story, novel, poetry and drama. Explored concepts of literary analysis including allusions, plot, suspense, characterization, symbolism, theme, setting, imagery, point of view, irony and tone. Used annotation, close reading and graphic organizers to write compositions including response paragraphs and several literary analysis essays. Participated in weekly local writers' workshop group focused on composition skills.