Junior Writers - Learn and Practice Writing Short Response Essays (Small Group)

This club will help students learn how to write an essay in response to a question in a well constructed and concise manner. As students get older it becomes increasingly important to know how to be pointed, concise, and mechanically sound when writing assignments and exams. Those who possess this valuable skill will benefit from it in and out of school for the rest of their lives. Becoming a confident, capable writer begins with mastering the skills to compose evidence-based short-response writing. Fortunately, when it comes to developing proficient short-response writers, simplicity leads to success.

The structure of the class is as follows: 
- Reading of the short text and covering related materials.
- Having a discussion on the details of the topic.
- Going over the question presented.
- Practice structuring the response essay using the strategy of restating the question, answering the question by making a claim, supporting the claim with evidence and finally writing a conclusion.

For the final few minutes of class we will have a discussion on the plan we came up with for the essay and I will respond to any further questions students may have. 
 
After going over the plan and structure of the essay, students will begin writing their essay independently which should be completed throughout the week. After completing the 4 or 5 paragraph essay, students send me their work via Outschool and I provide them with some written feedback before the beginning of the upcoming class.  

Topics for the first 5 classes:
Week of January 2nd: The Mystery of Bird Migration
Week of January 9th: The History of Surfing
Week of January 16th: Animal Eyesight
Week of January 23rd: The International Space Station
Week of January 30th: The Story of Gold

I encourage all students who would like to improve their writing skills to join this club and I look forward to seeing everyone in class. 

Thank you for your consideration. 

Yours truly,
Rob Ellsworth