Description
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We have a number of offerings that are good for learners with different needs! To see a comparison chart of our middle school English language arts offerings, click the link: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1C4kPDI-gpxZD1Lap7vwqW9QwWsqQSwZ0/view?usp=sharing
???? ??????: Essays, Essays, Essays!
In all our time meeting students and hearing about what they like to do for fun, no single student has said, “I just love writing essays.” ? We get it. However, essay writing is a must-have skill that you will need through high school and college and even into the workplace. Further, writing builds brain power and makes you smarter. We promise!
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In this class, students learn to pound out quality essays quickly! ? In our live class, students practice sentence writing with immediate teacher feedback to improve their grammar and sophistication. Afterward, the instructor directly teaches a skill (e.g. writing a thesis statement) or concept (e.g. the difference between evidence and analysis). We give students graphic organizers and writing guides to help them through the process. As students practice the skill during in-class workshop time, the instructor gives feedback on the spot in real-time. They complete their writing after class. Throughout the following week, the instructor gives detailed feedback and suggestions when students turn in work. The student can go back and forth with the teacher on revisions as long as they are enrolled. Students need the repetition of week-to-week learning along with explicit teaching and guided practice to become proficient writers. These weeks are packed with instruction, workshop time, writing, practice, feedback, and revision, and students become effective at churning out all types of essays. ?
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We focus on a different type of essay each month. As the month progresses, each class builds on the previous one, but students can join at any time. We have ways to help them jump in and start learning right away! This general plan is subject to change based on each section’s meeting schedule and holidays.
? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?????: ???-??????? & ???????? – Brainstorming, researching, generating ideas, planning, organizing, outlining) AND writing the body paragraphs
?️ ??? ?????? ???? ?? ??? ?????: ???????????. Using four techniques, writers improve the body paragraphs with elaboration (this is hard!)
? ??? ????? ???? ?? ??? ?????: ??? ????? & ??????????
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**If there’s a fifth week, we work on grammar and improving sentence sophistication.**
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? The month of Aug: Argument Writing (the GOAT)
? The month of Sept: Literary Analysis (film)
? The month of Oct: Literary Analysis (short story)
? The month of Nov & Dec: Literary Analysis of Music & Poetry (compare/contrast)
? The month of Jan: Writing About Issues (argumentative writing–understanding: claim, reasons, evidence, analysis)
❤️ The month of Feb: The Research Essay (historical figures)
? The month of Mar: The Research Essay (historical events)
? The month of Apr: The Analytical Essay (advanced argumentative writing)
? The month of May: Persuasive Writing (persuasion & rhetoric)
? The month of June: Informative Writing (offering information on a well-known topic)
?♀️ The month of July: Research-Based Informative Writing (the how-to essay)
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??????? ?????????? & ??????????????–We use “workshop time” in class so students will write while the teacher “visits” them on their Google Document. The immediacy of the feedback/revision cycle with the instructor helps writers improve rapidly. Additionally, once we started using this method, we saw nearly a ???% ?????????? ???? ?? ??????? ??????!
????????–Students can expect to have homework after each live class. They will work 45-60 minutes weekly, depending on the assignment and how quickly they work. Students receive authentic and constructive feedback from the instructor that helps students correct their mistakes and fine-tune their skills. We integrate grammar in all aspects of instruction, and we hold students to a high standard of academic writing. We achieve this through daily mini-lessons and practice with sentence writing and using various sentence starters.
??????? ??????????–Students need graphic organizers to help them see the structure of a paragraph or essay and the writing process. This is how they learn to develop coherent ideas and logical arguments. They don’t figure out how to do this magically; the graphic organizers and the intentional, explicit teaching help them learn the skills!
??????? ???????–Each class includes explicit, direct instruction with teacher modeling. Students are guided toward mastery of multiple writing skills and understandings so that they grasp the concepts and become independent. Students are held to a high standard of academic writing, including the use of grammar and the construction of sophisticated sentences. We have high expectations for student learning and output.
??????? ????????–The back-and-forth work between a student and teacher significantly benefits a student if done well. We follow best practices in designing class time, assignments, and routines. According to Pennington Publishing, effective writing feedback (or grading) is:
• Specific, not general
• Immediate, not postponed
• Routine with a revision / feedback cycle
• Explanatory
• The right amount
• Targeted to the most critical issues
• Varied (written, audio, and video comments)
• Holding students accountable
???????? ????????–Students desperately need this method of instruction, but it is tragically missing in schools across the country! Instead of leaving students to magically figure out how to write an essay, we teach explicitly, a method backed by decades of scientific evidence for its effectiveness. It’s how Mrs. Lemons teaches her undergraduate and graduate teacher candidates in college to teach! We do it this way because it’s how kids learn. Explicit instruction is “a structured, systematic, and effective methodology for teaching academic skills. It is called explicit because it is an unambiguous and direct approach to teaching that includes both instructional design and delivery procedures. Explicit instruction is characterized by a series of supports or scaffolds, whereby students are guided through the learning process with clear statements about the purpose and rationale for learning the new skill, clear explanations and demonstrations of the instructional target, and supported practice with feedback until independent mastery has been achieved.”
-???????? ???????????: ????????? ??? ????????? ???????? by Anita L. Archer and Charles A. Hughes.
Anita Archer trained Mrs. Lemons in workshops, and it changed her teaching. All Lemons-Aid courses follow this philosophy in the form of I DO, WE DO, YOU DO. We move students forward toward mastery of skills.
