Level: Form III (7th–9th grades), Form IV (10th–12th grades)
Subject(s): English
Description:
This class is designed to help students who have mastered the basics take their writing to the next level. In addition to reviewing sentence structure and stylistic elements, returning students will read essays by master writers, analyzing and imitating their respective styles in a series of response essays of their own. Studying an array of the best American essays from the past century, students will gain exposure to different essay structures and themes ranging from opinion piece to social appeal, from personal essay to literary theodicy. The skill and insight of great authors serves as inspiration for students who are finding their own individual voices. By imitating the sentence structures and essay organization of great authors, students can be empowered to compose their own beautiful, powerful work as they join the larger conversation. This advanced essay course makes a direct bridge for the student between imitating great writing and composing beautiful writing in their own words. Students will also gain practice with timed, in-class writing as well as with the revision and critique process. We will also make time for some creative writing projects as well.
In addition to weekly class sessions, students should plan to spend another one to three hours each week completing assignments at home.
Materials:
Families purchase the following required supplies: (Except for text/workbooks, linked brands for items are suggestions.)
- Composition notebook
- Pens, black ink, 2 or more
- Pencils, 3 or more, pre-sharpened and ready to use
- Colored pencils, erasable, including red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, pink, and brown
- Erasers
- Dictionary & Thesaurus—for home use. Consider apps such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the English Thesaurus.
- Recommended: Editor in Chief Level 2 ISBN: 9781601447661—or—Jensen’s Punctuation ISBN: 9780890519943
- Recommended/Optional: Reinforcing stickers for strengthening/repairing holes in notebook paper and handouts
Students must also have a public library card and access to the library as they may be required to secure and read library books and research articles.
Finally, students will need to be able to type, print, and email assignments using a sharable word processing program compatible with Microsoft Word.
