Middle School Essay Writing Made Easy CAMP

The 5-paragraph academic is a fundamental skill for academic success. It is also a formula that can be recognized, understood, and then replicated for success in any subject area. Learners in this class will learn the essential ingredients in an essay, and then work together to identify them and deconstruct a sample essay to see how its parts all fit together. We'll work together to build a class essay from scratch, and then everyone will have the chance to produce their own, original essay to be marked and gain feedback.

Class One:
We will look at the essential ingredients in a proper 5-paragraph essay and then see how they are used by deconstructing a sample essay together.  We will focus on the most important ingredient of all - the THESIS.  Students will have to develop arguments for our class essay, and choose a thesis for their own, ORIGINAL essay.

Class Two:
We will collect the class brainstorm of arguments for our class essay, use strategies to determine the three best for our body paragraphs, and then focus on the second most important ingredient of all - the OUTLINE.  As a class, we will develop our outline for the class essay, and then start writing.  Students will then have to apply what they have learned to develop the outline for their own, ORIGINAL essay.

Class Three:
Class essays are due in class today. We will examine individual learners version of the class essay and mark it together using my "Essential Essay Ingredient Checklist".  The class will also have the opportunity to share their plan for their final essay and start writing the final product.

Class Four:
Final essays are due in class today, submitted using a shared Google Doc.  Using our "Essential Essay Ingredient Checklist" and a marking sheet, we will mark student essays as a class.  Any essays not examined during class time (or if students would rather not share their work with the class) will be graded and returned to students within a week of the completion of our last class together.   

*Note: The price for the class is a little higher than my standard $15 / class so that I can provide extra time to mark and give quality feedback on student's essays.