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$15

weekly
Class

Get Ready for High School! Advanced Reading Skills, Vocabulary, & Writing!

Completed by 35 learners
Ages 12-14
Live Group Class
In this ongoing class, students in 8th grade will work on reading, analysis, vocab, grammar, & writing skills. Major topics include textual evidence, active reading, word study, clear writing, annotation, & critical thinking. Pdfs provided.
Average rating:
4.9
Number of reviews:
(366 reviews)
Popular

Live video meetings
1x per week
3-8 learners per class
55 min

What's included

1 live meeting
55 mins in-class hours per week
Homework
1-2 hours per week. Most weeks have writing/reading and/or a quick grammar quiz. I do not give "busy work." All assignments are meaningful and are designed to reinforce topics taught in class. Most students will spend 30-40 minutes per week on writing/reading 🚩 The use of ChatGPT Open AI or any other artificial intelligence programs to answer questions is strictly PROHIBITED!
Progress Report
included
Grading
Please contact me if you wish to have a grade. All assignments must be complete if you wish to have a semester grade. All essays are graded with a rubric and include feedback.

Class Experience

US Grade 7 - 9
Intermediate - Advanced Level
WELCOME

Welcome to my course designed to prep students wanting to get ready for high school (including PSAT). The course provides full curriculum instruction on reading, writing, vocab and grammar to get ready for high school. Please read the below information carefully to determine if this is is the correct course for your learner. In my course, I combine teaching and reading/writing instruction from my experience and professional developments with The National Writing Project and Harkness Socratic Seminar Methods. Here are the pillars of writing instruction that I follow: 

1. I work to foster and celebrate the authentic voices of students.

2. I encourage students to write, share, and reflect together through fostering a sense of community and comfort. I will never publicly read a student's writing without their permission, nor will I ever for a student to publicly share their writing. However, it is my hope that they volunteer to do so as they gain confidence in the course.

3. Above all, I seek to foster critical thinking through reading and writing. Good writers read often and write about what they read. My class may often include readings to model good writing or to serve as catalysts for ideas/writing topics.

ABOUT THE COURSE

The weekly cost of this course covers the live video meetings as well as personalized and detailed feedback on all assignment. I'm also committed to responding to both student and parent private messages within 24 hours seven days a week. Graded assignments receive feedback within 48 hours. If you do not hear a response from me within this time, please send me another message; it may have gotten lost in my inbox!

STUDENT REQUIREMENTS
⌛ This class requires strong time management skills and self-motivation. Students will be expected to complete reading and writing assignments outside of class on their own time. The amount of time students spend on these assignments may vary among students, but on average students will spend 30-40 minutes per week outside of class on course work. While students work on their assignments, I'm always available through private messages to answer questions and check work. 

My Refund Policy: Classes are billed each Sunday. If you need to pause/withdraw, please do so before Sunday morning. Refunds are not typically provided (all learners have access to slides, video recordings, and assignments). However, I may refund for certain emergency circumstances.

Please be aware that if there are no students after the first 10 minutes of the live online class, that day's class will be canceled. Our live meetings are scheduled for 45 minutes, but the duration may vary SLIGHTLY based on the number of students and their participation. 

TOPICS/ASSIGNMENTS

Reading Texts:
• Various Nonfiction Articles
• Various Poems
• Various Speeches (Douglass, Anthony, Paine, Franklin, etc.)
• Oliver Twist excerpt
• The Book Thief (novel)
• "The Medicine Bag"
• Mythology stories
• "Unusual Normality"
• Excerpts of Persepolis 
• Excerpts of Shakespeare
• Excerpts from The Odyssey
• "The Red Batch of Courage"
• "The Most Dangerous Game"
• Short Story "Flowers for Algernon"
•Short Story "Once Upon a Time"
• Excerpts from Dystopia (1984, F451, Bradbury, Orwell, etc.)
• Etc


Formal writing projects may include…
• Independent Essay
• Multiple Intelligences Essay
• Sales Pitch Essay
• Business Proposal Essay
• A Picture in a Paragraph Essay
• Narrative Essay
• Guided Research Paper
• Memoir Writing
• Conspiracy Theory/Urban Legend Research
• Fear-mongering Writing
• PSA (Public Service Announcement)
• Character Sweater
• Procedural Writing
• Register in Writing
• Writing Figuratively
• Writing Critiques and Reviews
• Modern Biographies
• The Best Solution
• Fairy Tales & Retellings
• Other Creative Pieces
• Paragraph Writing Skills: Paragraph Types, Summarizing, Paraphrasing, Topic Sentences, Supporting Details, Concluding/Closing Sentences, Main Idea, Hooks, Transition Words and Phrases to Use in Writing, Evidence and Citing, Avoiding Plagiarism, Writing a Rebuttal, Strong Verbs, Show Don't Tell Strategies, Paragraph Structures

GRAMMAR/MECHANICS:
• Faulty Idioms
• Fragments & Run Ons
• Compound Sentences
• Subject Verb Agreement
• Appositives
• Apostrophes
• Dangling/Misplaced Modifiers
• Adjectives v. Adverbs
• Comparatives & Superlatives
• Punctuation Marks
• Parallel Structure
• Semi-Colons & Colons
• Commas & Coordination
• Ellipses
• Dashes
• Punctuating Titles
• Homophones
• Pronoun Agreement
• Parts of Speech
• Singular Plural Irregularities
• Capitalization
• Parts of Speech

Test prep for PSAT


READING SCHEDULE:

Week of Jan 16: Active Reading Strategies, Figurative Language Review, Genres of Literature

Week of Jan 23: "Once Upon a Time" short story, plot chart

Week of Jan 30: "Super-Toys Last All Summer Long" short story, inference

Week of Feb 6: "The Medicine Bag" - elements of fiction

Week of Feb 13: Valentine's Critical Thinking Activity

Week of Feb 20:  Claim, Evidence, Explanations

Week of Feb 27: Intro to Oliver Twist: Victorian Era,  article on Victorian poverty, baby farming

Week of March 6: Excerpt from "Long Way Gone" 

Week of March 12: Intro to the Book Thief (PDF provided)

Week of March 19: Parts 1-2 of the Book Thief

Week of March 26: Parts 3-4 of the Book Thief

Week of April 2: Parts 5-6 of the Book Thief

Week of April 9: Parts 7-8 of the Book Thief

Week of April 16: Parts 9-10 of the Book Thief

April 23: Essay, presentation, and wrap-up of novel

Learning Goals

✨️Independently produce organized, clear and unique personal writing of a variety of genres (including timed writing for standardized tests)
✨️Explore technical writing
✨️Use evidence in their writing to support arguments
✨️Evaluate good writing for common elements
✨️Collaborate with peers and/or teacher to improve writing
✨️Choose from a variety of planning styles to draft their writing
✨️Envision writing as a process with steps in a flexible order
✨️Take pride and ownership of their writing
✨️Use technology to enhance the presentation of their writing
✨️Publish and share their writing in meaningful contexts
✨️Improve grammar/mechanics within writing

Other Details

Learning Needs
Please contact me if you have special needs for your learner. I am happy to work with all learners and will happily provide any accommodations as needed.
Parental Guidance
3rd Party Sites: Google Docs (writing assignments), Google Forms (quizzes). Students will not be providing emails. I will send students a Form link and they will take the quiz (no emails required). Students will send me the link to their writings via Google Doc links.
Pre-Requisites
Students should be reading and writing at least at a 7th grade level. Students should be able to dedicate time to reading and writing independently outside of class, roughly 30 min per week.
Supply List
Please see the classroom page for printouts.
Language of Instruction
English (Level: B2+)
External Resources
In addition to the Outschool classroom, this class uses:
Sources
3rd Party Sites: Google Docs (writing assignments), Google Forms (quizzes). Students will not be providing emails. I will send students a Form link and they will take the quiz (no emails required). Students will send me the link to their writings via Google Doc links.

Meet the teacher

Joined April, 2020
4.9
366reviews
Popular
Profile
Teacher expertise and credentials
Indiana Teaching Certificate in English/Language Arts
Master's Degree in English from University of Southern Indiana
Experience/Education:
-BS in Education (Reading/English 3-12, Special Education 5-12, Gifted Education 5-12)
-Masters of Arts In English Teaching
-IEW certified
-National Writing Project Trained
-Harkness Method Trained
I am a secondary English teacher with certifications in gifted education and special education. I have been professionally teaching for 7 years at all levels (dual credit, inclusion, and general education) and have a masters of arts in English education. I enjoy using discussion-based learning to help students think deeply about the texts that they read.

Reviews



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