I need some English advice for a rising 9th grader

[AFwife Claire]

First of all, we're not a particularly writing-centric family.  My degrees are in biology and math, and dh is an astronautical engineer.  Writing is something I dislike, both doing and teaching, and so it's always been more of a git-r-done sort of subject, where I'm happy if they're turning out something  They also did a little bit of writing in a co-op for a few years.

 

So for this current year, I signed up ds#3 and ds#4 for Potter's English 1.  Ds#3 (who is currently in 9th grade) probably could have gone into Eng. 2, but I knew his writing skills were not super strong, and it is not an area he likes at all, so I figured Eng. 1 would be a safer bet.  He is also doing a lit class through our co-op, so he is reading and discussing more than in just the Eng. 1 class anyway, so I figured it would be okay all together for 9th grade.  He's doing fine in the class.

 

My ds#4 (in 8th grade this current year) is also in that same Eng 1 class.  He enjoys writing, but honestly, just isn't very good at it, at least at really structured writing.  He loves to ramble on and have a good time with it instead of paying attention to details and structure (which describes his personality all around, actually--he's a ton of fun, but not detail-oriented at all!).  All this year, he has only rarely asked me for any help with any of his compositions, unlike his older brother, who always wants to talk things through with me, have me proof-read, etc.  And since I was busy with college applications for ds#2, teaching high school and junior high science classes for our co-op, and dealing with all 6 of the younger kids, I just assumed ds#4 was doing fine.  

 

Of course, it is bad to assume, and as it turns out his grade has dipped under the 80% needed to be placed automatically in Eng. 2, which I found out when I enrolled him this week.  I had put the boys with a different teacher (class timing was better) for next year, and she emailed, asking for a placement test for ds#4.  I asked her what she would recommend if he didn't place into Eng. 2, and she must have passed on my email to his current teacher, who apologized for not emailing us earlier, but said it was recently that ds#4 had gone under the line, and she just hadn't caught it before.  I knew he was in the lower 80's at Christmas--but then I never thought to check his grade the past 2 months, which is completely my fault.  Dropping balls here!

 

So one thing she said might be an option would be to put ds#4 in the Journey to Narnia class at Potters.  I have no experience with any of these writing classes, and so I'm hoping someone could give feedback on if that would be a good plan for a 9th grader?  I know he will be older than everyone else, but he's not a particularly mature boy, and obviously he doesn't have mature writing skills.  Is there something else that would be better that you could recommend?  He will also still be taking a lit class in our co-op, so again, more reading (of high school level books) and discussion (and some writing, but the teacher doesn't want to be responsible for grading their papers/doesn't feel comfortable critiquing their papers, which is why we have outsourced the writing to Potters).  

 

Thanks for any advice you can give.  Each year I think I've got it all figured out--and then something happens to throw a wrench in the plans for the next year!  Sigh . . .

[historymatters]

For writing instruction only, have you looked at Writing ER at Big River Academy, with Wendi Reed?http://www.bigriveracademy.com/course-catalog

You could take Center for Lit for the reading and analysis (discussion only option) and the ER for composition.

That's what I'm doing this year.

There's also some one semester writing courses at Excelsior and Bright Ideas Press.

 

Also, complete English courses, which include novels and writing together at those mentioned above (Center for Lit.; Excelsior; Big River Academy; Bright Ideas;) and others I forgot about like Classical Learning Resource Center-http://clrconline.com/lit-comp/ 

 

 

 

HTH

 

Edited March 16, 2017 by historymatters

[AFwife Claire]

For writing instruction only, have you looked at Writing ER at Big River Academy, with Wendi Reed?http://www.bigriveracademy.com/course-catalog

 

You could take Center for Lit for the reading and analysis (discussion only option) and the ER for composition.

 

That's what I'm doing this year.

 

There's also some one semester writing courses at Excelsior and Bright Ideas Press.

 

Also, complete English courses, which include novels and writing together at those mentioned above (Center for Lit.; Excelsior; Big River Academy; Bright Ideas;) and others I forgot about like Classical Learning Resource Center-http://clrconline.com/lit-comp/ 

 

 

 

HTH

Wow, the Writing ER course looks like it may be exactly what I am looking for!  I know I have seen Big River Academy mentioned on here, but I have never looked into it.  Thank you so much for mentioning it!

[historymatters]

You're very welcome! I'm so glad it may be a fit, alongside the co-op lit course.

[bibsandmegs]

Historymatters, would you be willing to tell more about your experience with Writing ER?  What is the workload like?  Could you pair this with another full English class and not overwhelm the student?  Do they read as well or is it just focused on writing?  I'd love any feedback you'd be willing to share, including about the teacher.

 

Thank you so much!!

[Mom22ns]

Another option would be Write at Home. Their High School Composition 1 along with the lit at coop would be a solid year.

 

They way they do papers would give your ds the opportunity to really improve his writing. They do 3 versions of each paper:

Rough draft - then get feed back

2nd draft - more feedback

Final - more feedback!

 

This process really helped dd to see what she needed to improve and exactly how to do it. They assign one draft of one paper each week, so the pace gives them plenty of time to really work on things. I dismissed it two years in a row, thinking it wasn't enough, but other classes moved too fast and didn't really give the level of feedback dd needed. WAH was a really great move for us.

[historymatters]

Historymatters, would you be willing to tell more about your experience with Writing ER?  What is the workload like?  Could you pair this with another full English class and not overwhelm the student?  Do they read as well or is it just focused on writing?  I'd love any feedback you'd be willing to share, including about the teacher.

 

Thank you so much!!

 

My young people haven't taken her class yet, but hers is the one I've decided on. Here are parts of her email to me and I attached her syllabus she sent to me.

 

I won't be adding in a full-fledged English class to this; that would be extreme overkill. This will be 1 full credit of comp. One of mine will be taking Center for Lit's American Lit. course for reading and analysis, with additional titles from me to hopefully make 1 credit in English. No writing. I'll require him to annotate his CfL books, including circling/researching vocab. He's finishing up Growing with Grammar 8 next year. CfL only meets 1x a month, so as not to overwhelm him with both reading and writing.

 

The other, I will be putting into a year-long Jane Austin "book club" at Excelsior (I will require a story chart from her on each of these books), along with my teaching her literary analysis in the Teaching the Classics style in our co-op using Lord of the Rings; for her, those two together will make about 3/4 credit, I think (the LotR class is .5). Only writing is what is required within the Walking to Wisdom lit. guide for LotR. She'll be learning to annotate and will be expected to practice it in the Austin books, and LotR (Includes vocab). She will be using/finishing Growing with Grammar 7 and hopefully, begin 8. Her Austin "club" also meets 1x month and our LotR Lit. Analysis is more demanding at 1x/wk., and I have much material to cover. She can handle more writing and reading before becoming overwhelmed.

 

 

My question about detailed feedback:

 

We will be going over various methods for brainstorming and outlining information. We will practice the skills in class in order to have a variety of options and writing experiences before they are doing it on their own. For the first half of the course most of the papers require an outline to be submitted for feedback, a draft to be submitted for feedback, and finally, the final draft to be submitted for feedback as well. Therefore, a number of the papers take at approx. three weeks to complete. We will work on the importance of starting off with hooks to grab the readers attention. We will also practice creating strong thesis statements that will guide the entire paper. Although some assignments will be only be paragraphs, the majority of the papers will be five paragraph essays once they are complete. I have found that my students usually end up being very proud of their work once they have gone through the entire writing process. As the course progresses, I do not require each part of the paper to be submitted, but I want to give students plenty of practice with the entire writing process as the course begins. 

 

Response to question about a checklist (I asked if it was similar to IEW's which, to me, is overkill. She said she wasn't familiar with theirs, but teaches Writeshop to the middle grades instead)

 

I do strive to push students to grow in their writing, but I want them to do so in a way that is natural and unique to them. I will have writers in different places in their writing skills, and I want each of them to be able to strengthen the areas where they need that most. I do that through giving feedback and challenging students to take time to think through and really engage in the writing process.  I have a rubric for each writing assignment that students will be able to see as they begin the assignment. Each rubric will be a little different depending on which type of writing they are doing. Still, I am always reminding students to focus on a hook, three prong thesis statement, three body paragraphs with evidence, and a conclusion that brings the paper to a close and restates the thesis statement. In getting to this point, we do journal writing, in-class writing, group writing, discussion pods for sharing writing, and many other activities. I am not sure I have answered this question very well, but I hope that this explanation gives you a better idea of our class. 

 

My question:  How deeply do you delve into teaching the construction of a Literary Analysis Essay?

 

We just finished up our literary analysis writing a couple of weeks ago. We took about 3-4 weeks on this particular assignment, because I felt it was important to experience enough literary analysis together in class to prepare them for writing a literary analysis paper. We read an intriguing short story together in class. We had group work, whole class work. discussion groups, and journals on topics involving literary analysis in order to give students many options and experiences to pull from as they began their own papers. We read examples of literary analysis in class, and we took class time to work on creating possible thesis statements and plans for literary analysis. Students seemed to do quite well with it. We also took time to go over MLA citation with this paper since they were using a source. We spent a good amount of time going over verb tense and point of view in writing this paper in order to prepare them to write about literature. 

 

My question:  How much instruction/reinforcement in grammar, sentence structure, proper use of punctuation, etc. do you include in your course as part of the writing process?

 

As far as grammar and punctuation instruction go, my desire is that much of that takes place in authentic ways through their writing. Still, we do have some direct instruction in grammar and punctuation. I cover a variety of grammar topics during the first semester. As we cover new topics, students complete an on-going Wikiproject that is due at the end of the semester. I will attach a copy of that rubric, so that you can get an idea of what was covered during the first half of the course. The Wikiproject ends up being a really great resource for students to have. It's a great record of really important grammar topics. We also use the book Editor in Chief where students get practice in editing and correcting articles to reinforce their grammar usage. For the first semester, these EIC assignments are all participation grades. In the second semester, we have covered a great deal of grammar and punctuation, so I do begin grading the assignments for accuracy. Still, they are classwork grades rather than quiz grades. There are some grammar quizzes throughout the year. I will also watch students' writing carefully to see what areas of grammar need the most work. I will often plan instruction specific to where I am seeing that students need the most growth. I cover grammar in my individual feedback to students as well. I hope I am not rambling too much! I want to give you the information that you need, but I end up with so much to explain. 

 

About style:

 

Finally, my teaching style is very interactive. As I mentioned before, I love to get to know my students. We spend the first 5 minutes or so of each class with a prayer and an ice breaker question or activity to just get everyone talking. I really enjoy the fact that we tend to become a little family in our courses. Students become friends, and I end up feeling like I know students through our chat times in class and through their writing assignments. For each class I try to have at least three ways to engage students. For instance, I might have direct instruction, group work, and group chats. There are other times where I might show a video, have student presentations, or have students answering questions on the whiteboard. I actually have three of my course recordings posted on the Big River Academy web page. If you would like to view those courses or sections of those courses please feel free to do to. 

 

 

 

I hope this helps,

Rachel

 

Writing ER.pdf

Writing ER.pdf

Edited March 17, 2017 by historymatters

[bibsandmegs]

Historymatters, thank you for the reply and all the information.  I really appreciate it!

[historymatters]

Historymatters, thank you for the reply and all the information. I really appreciate it!

You're very welcome

Hope you find a good fit for your family.