In this course, students will write in various styles, using their knowledge of the Harry Potter series. Each day will assign a new topic, and students will complete a writing piece for each topic. On the final day, students will assemble all of their writing into a single newspaper, complete with pictures and other features of a newspaper. Students will be given time in class to write, but will need to finish outside of class. 

I recommend students use Google Docs to do their writing--this allows them a private avenue to share their work with me and get instant feedback and support in class. 

All writing will follow the writing process of brainstorming, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing (publishing will be done on the last day)

Week 1: Interview--much as Rita Skeeter interviewed Harry Potter in The Goblet of Fire, students will write an interview with any character of the Harry Potter series. They will write a series of questions to ask about any event from the books, and then write the answers that the character would give. 

Week 2: Expository--similar to the story published in the Quibbler about Harry's escape from You-Know-Who (his interview was given in the Order of the Phoenix), students will write telling about what happened. We will discuss bias in writing and strategies to keep our personal bias out of our writing. 

Week 3: Book Review (Entertainment Column)--Students will write a short book review on their favorite Harry Potter book. This will be formatted somewhat like the report on Rita Skeeter's The Life and Lies of Albus Dumbledore, from the 7th book. 

Week 4: Letter to the Editor--this class is focused on opinion and persuasive writing. Students will choose an issue from the books and write about their opinion to the editor. An example of a topic would be "Dumbledore should not hire werewolves to teach at Hogwarts". Students will also discuss proper letter-writing technique. 

Week 5: Using Google Slides or Google Docs, students will accumulate all of their writing pieces from this class into a single Newspaper. Using a template I will provide, they will format their pieces into a cohesive whole.