Informative Writing Workshop is a 12-week online class for students ages 10-14 (grades 4-8) with the support of parents. This course is more than just a writing course. Beyond building proficient writing skills in basic paragraphs, it's a writing course in the biblical worldview of writing and proper development of language and communication, which includes reading, listening, thinking, speaking, and writing. It's a simple course that teaches basic skills that can be practiced and mastered over time. The lessons are not complicated and each skill taught builds upon the previous skill. There are no skipping lessons. If you purchase this course after the start date, simply start with the first lesson and go at your own pace. Teacher support will be available for the life of the live online sessions (see those details below).
The methods of teaching I will use every week are to impart the week's goals, review the biblical principles of writing, teach the week's content and skills, and help students begin their weekly assignment. I will teach students the 3 Day Writing Process that they can practice every week. Students will be required to complete one paragraph or essay per week. If students are absent, a recording of the weekly session will be recorded and can be accessed anytime.
There are several end results we will focus on in this course. First, students will develop a biblical purpose for writing. They will 1) know how biblical principles apply to writing, 2) see how important good communication is as a form of redemption, restoring what was lost in sin's curse, and 3) understand its necessity for successful and intelligent living. Second, students will understand how coherence works to write clearly and effectively. They will know how to develop their ideas and write proficiently. They will learn to research and list ideas, organize and plan their ideas, and find the best expression of those ideas. Lastly, students will master basic English skills. They will know the building blocks of a basic paragraph and a basic essay and apply it to any informative topic. They will know how to find words, use words, and organize sentences to create an interesting and compelling paragraph, which will be the foundation they need to write multi-page reports.
This course meets weekly for 40 minutes via Zoom on Thursdays at 9 AM Pacific standard time. Classes start Jan 12th and go through Apr 13th. We meet 4 weeks in a row and take 1 week off, which means we take off Feb 9th and Mar 16th. Weekly assignments will be provided at no additional charge and all assignments will be on Google Classroom. Students will need to use a google account for this course. Access to our classroom in Google Classroom will be given upon registration. No grades will be given, but I will keep track of where students are and whether they need to revise their assignment, require additional practice, or benefit from re-teaching, which I will provide weekly. Practice is the key in this course. Students need adequate time, effort, and practice to reach the end results. If students require more time beyond the live online sessions, I will provide additional practice at the end. A brief Course Overview is attached for preview of content for each week.
