If you have a middle schooler who is new to academic writing or who would benefit from a foundational approach to breaking down specific elements before taking a more advanced writing class, this series is a great place to start!
The Middle School Writing Foundation series began when families told me that they had learners who weren’t quite ready for a full integrated reading and writing class but wanted to gain the skills to be more confident and prepared for them.
Since then, it has grown into one of my most popular offerings and has become the start for hundreds of writers’ successful shifts into academic writing.
Now this series is available in Self-Paced format (if you’re looking for the Live version, check the Classes page). While you can take an individual class, if you’re going to take all four, it is HIGHLY recommended you take them in order.
Middle School Writing Foundations 1: Note-Taking and Summary
Note-taking is one of the most foundational and crucial skills writers can develop. A strong note-taking system makes every step of future writing easier. Building a note-taking system that works provides the following:
- Stronger reading comprehension
- Higher information recall
- Attention to detail
- Identification of key quotes and stats
Over 8 weeks (suggested schedule), learners will learn about and practice the following note-taking methods:
- Cornell Notes
- Sketchnotes
- Guided Notes
- Annotation
They’ll put these into use on a range of texts:
- Informative Article
- Informative Video
- Narrative Fiction
- Visual Advertisement
Finally, learners will use their notes to craft a summary of a text of their choice.
Middle School Writing Foundations 2: Narratives
Narrative writing is a key academic writing component that comes up again and again throughout learners’ academic writing experiences.
This class will dive deep into the following narrative elements:
- Dialogue
- Setting
- Narrative Perspective
- Attention-Grabbing Introductions
- Pacing
- Meaningful Conclusions
In addition to giving learners the tools to write their own creative pieces, narrative writing helps them understand narrative components as readers as well.
Middle School Writing Foundations 3: Informative
Informative writing is a key academic writing component that comes up again and again throughout learners’ academic writing experiences.
This class will dive deep into the following informative writing elements:
- Adjusting texts for different audiences
- Organizing ideas for clarity
- Choosing which information to include and leave out
- Selecting and integrating direct quotes
- Writing meaningful, plagiarism-free paraphrases
- Basic citation conventions (MLA)
Middle School Writing Foundations 4: Intro to Research
Research writing is a foundational academic writing skill.
This class will dive deep into the following research writing elements:
- Determining whether a source is credible and relevant or not
- Incorporating sources through paraphrase, summary, and direct quote
- Citing sources (basic MLA format with an emphasis on avoiding plagiarism)
At the end of this class, learners will be ready for classes that require independent research and short research papers and projects using the resulting sources.
