Courses

Group Writing Seminars – A Case Study

It all started Summer 2020 when a group of savvy New York moms asked me to help supercharge their kids’ writing skills. They were unhappy with the depth and breadth of their middle school’s offerings— their 7th grade ELA teacher had assigned only one essay in the entire second semester! They knew their kids needed more “at bats” to improve. They also saw the dialogue emerging in our country and wanted to engage their young scholars in works that draw from across our rich cultural landscape and center diverse voices.

So I got to work designing a course that would achieve all of their goals. Here’s what I came up with:

First 4 Weeks – The Basics (what they MUST be able to do in 8th grade & beyond):

• Analyzing Rubrics – What makes an essay go from “good” to “great?”

• Expository/Informative Writing – Peer evaluation and giving/applying feedback

• Argumentative/Persuasive Writing – Peer evaluation and giving/applying feedback

• Narrative/Descriptive Writing – Peer evaluation and giving/applying feedback

Last 4 Weeks – Enrichment (fostering a love for writing):

• Speeches – MLK “I Have A Dream,” Malala Yousafzai, Sojourner Truth, Oprah @ Harvard, Greta Thunberg @ The UN, Frederick Douglass “Fourth of July,” and more

• Letters – James Baldwin “Letter from a Region in My Mind,” “Open Letter to the Kansas School Board,” Letters of Ursula Nordstrom, Steinbeck, and more

• Poetry – Maya Angelou, Nikki Giovanni, Langston Hughes, and more

• Special Feature – High School/College Admissions Essays Workshop

This “syllabus” was developed with direct input and suggestions from parents and shifted to meet their needs as the weeks went by. Ultimately, we ran a program for 2 groups — 4 boys and 4 girls, with high levels of student and parent satisfaction!

Click below to set-up a custom Group Writing Seminar for your students!