Middle School English Language Arts (ELA): Ongoing Style

Students will learn new PSAT vocabulary.
Students will learn and practice reading comprehension skills.
Students will learn to analyze texts for conclusions and inferences, predictions, cause and effect, and other literary techniques or story elements.
Students will learn to answer reading comprehension questions with short essays.
Students will broaden their writing styles with a variety of nonfiction and creative writing prompts.
Students will practice class discussion and collaboration skills.
Students will review and learn grammar, spelling, capitalization and punctuation skills.
Students will learn to incorporate their skills in real-world applications such as editing texts and writing short pieces.
Students will practice standardized test style exercises in reading and English skills.

As the author of the "Emotebook" and a freelance writer for over 20 years, I have relied on language arts skills as the building blocks of a happy career. For three of those years, I also worked full-time as an associate editor, which helped me gain real-world expertise in the nuances of English language arts and experience guiding authors of all levels. I am walking the language arts journey with my three children while homeschooling them, as well as with several other students in various grades. I also bridged the gap between cultures by teaching English as a second language to hundreds of students online. I look forward to helping you strengthen your language arts style!

All exercises and activities are given and completed in class. However, some learners opt to complete the writing assignment after class. All writing projects that are submitted for review will be given feedback.

Additionally, learners can use this weekly class as the basis of a full curriculum (please ask me for workbook recommendations to use as extension exercises for non-class school days; all workbook pages that are turned in through the classroom will receive teacher feedback).

Learners who demonstrate consistent language competence, through their ability to explain aloud or write their thought processes related the various thinking skills, will be invited to level up to my more advanced class. Additionally, parents can request feedback on learner output during class to track progress according to individual learning goals.

50 minutes per week in class, and no time outside of class.

Learners will not need to use any outside websites or apps. All activities are contained in the zoom classroom, and use the chatbox and annotation tools on a screen-shared presentation for classwork.