THIS IS A FOUR-SESSION COURSE.

Designed for students in their middle school years, this course introduces young writers to the art of essay writing, guided by the award-winning Michael Clay Thompson language arts curriculum’s Essay Voyage text.

In this course, students will:

• Learn the basics of thesis statements and essay structure
• Get a gentle introduction to MLA formatting
• Improve grammar and mechanics within the context of composition
• Practice writing essays on classic children’s novels
• Receive extensive feedback on each essay, allowing them to improve relative to their own strengths and weaknesses

Because this course is writing-intensive, in-person meetings will occur every other week, with exchanges of feedback by email between each meeting. Students are not required to attend the class meetings, and recordings will be available.

Class Meetings: Tuesdays, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time
Dates: June 2, June 16, June 30, July 14
Note that this course meets every other week.

Student Expectations: Students will complete one book report, two short essays, and an essay revision. All work must be typed and submitted in one of the following file formats so that the instructor can add comments and tracked changes: doc, docx, odf, or rtf.

Student Support: The instructor is available via email. Struggling students can request up to two one-on-one meetings with the instructor during the term.

Feedback/Assessment: The instructor will provide extensive feedback on all writing assignments.

Materials/Supplies: Students will need to purchase Essay Voyage from the MCT language arts curriculum.

Prerequisites: Students should have a basic grasp of English grammar and mechanics.