Scheduling:

Academic year (September to May): 75-minutee one-on-one classes, once a week for 14-18 weeks

Summer (June to August): 75-minute one-on-one classes, four days per week for three-six weeks.

Reading & Writing About Literature (Grades 4-10)

This workshop teaches students how to read/analyze novels and short stories actively and methodically, organize their thoughts in outline form, and master thesis-writing skills. They also:

• Read, write about, annotate & discuss text passages
• Summarize & analyze in journal form is emphasized.
• Create a literary analysis essay from annotations and journal entries

Students complete the workshop with a portfolio of journal entries, an outline, and a completed analytical piece that they can use as a model for future papers.

Offered: Fall, spring and summer. Expect approximately 30 minutes – 1 hour of homework per day in the summer.

Reading & Writing About Research/Non-Fiction (Grades 4-10)

In this workshop, students write about a variety of topics (i.e. arts & culture, politics & current events, history and science) while honing their research skills via Internet search engines, periodicals, and other reference materials. Students also learn to:

• Analyze & base positions on factual, objective, high-level summations about their chosen topic
• Organize index cards and outlines from their research
• Form their positions into thesis statements
• Compose position papers complete with citations and bibliographical references

Students complete the workshop with a portfolio that includes their research, an outline, and their finished piece.

Offered: Fall, spring and summer. Expect approximately 30 minutes – 1 hour of homework per day in the summer.

Personal Story/Essay Writing (Grades 4-10)

In this workshop (which is similar to our College Essay workshop), students read the personal essays of published authors and study structure elements such as plot, exposition, rising action, crisis, climax, fallout, resolution, sensory images, figurative language, dialogue, and reflection.

After the reading portion of the workshop, they learn the process of idea development (often the most difficult area of personal essay writing) and organize their own personal essays by these principles.

Students complete the workshop with a portfolio that includes outlines, drafts, and a finished, original essay. Well-written pieces will be submitted to writing contests, and we will attempt to publish certain pieces in popular youth writing magazines.

Offered: Fall, spring and summer. Expect approximately 30 minutes – 1 hour of homework per day in the summer.

Poetry Analysis and Writing (Grades 6-10)

In this workshop, students study the following:

• The language, form, and meaning of free-verse poetry selections
• The eight elements of poetry (personal voice, beginnings, line & stanza breaks, endings, effective repetition & use of modifiers, word economy and figurative language)
• How poetic device lends to each piece’s overall meaning
• Traditional formed and rhymed poetry (sestinas, sonnets, villanelles and odes)

Students keep journals throughout the workshop and create/revise/edit their own pieces following the poetic principles they’ve learned. Students complete the workshop with a portfolio that includes a portfolio of student analyses, drafts, and original poems. Well-written pieces will be submitted to writing contests, and we will attempt to publish certain pieces in popular youth writing magazines.

Offered: Fall, spring and summer. Expect approximately 30 minutes – 1 hour of homework per day in the summer.