Writing Workshop for High School: Personal, Research, Argument Essays, & Poetry

In this ongoing writing workshop class, students will explore different kinds of writing and work towards original finished pieces.  With lots of individual attention, specific suggestions for revising and editing their work, and fun inspiration, this class will benefit reluctant writers and eager writers and anyone in between.

Just like the majority of writing that is published today, students will often combine different kinds of writing in their work—a research paper that starts off with a personal story, a how-to essay that includes a mini poem, an argument essay with some personal details—there isn’t a limit to what they might want to try.

While we will focus on different elements and kinds of writing, students will be encouraged to write on topics that matter to them and to mix up forms of writing depending on their interests.

Most professional writing doesn’t fall neatly into one category and so neither will ours!

While most of the work will be done in class, students have the option to work outside of class as well including submitting drafts for feedback.  If a grade is desired for the class, we will go over a rubric and expectations beforehand.  If students would like to count the class towards high school credit, we can also set up a schedule for outside work in order to have enough hours.

We’ll follow this format for the most classes:

5-Minute Opening Freewrite.  No matter what projects students are working on, it’s always a great idea to do some low-key writing on compelling prompts.  These freewrites might serve as the basis for longer works or simply be a chance to become more fluent writers.

5-Minute Checkin.  We’ll do a quick go-around to report on current projects, issues, questions, or ideas for new writing pieces.

20-Minute Reading and Discussion of a Mentor Text.  Looking at the kind of writing that students will do as a class is a great way for them to be encouraged to try new things. It’s also a fun way to explore different kinds of writing.  We’ll read everything from published essays, op-ed pieces, contemporary poems, and excerpts from short stories--all to get inspiration and ideas for improving writing.

10-Minute Focused Mini Lesson Based on the Mentor Text.  After reading the mentor text, we’ll try out a specific technique inspired by that text.  From writing figurative language to citing evidence to grabbing a reader with a compelling opening line, we’ll have lots of things to learn from the mentor texts to apply to our own writing.

30-Minutes Sustained Quiet Writing.  The thing about writing is, you just gotta do it!  We’ll spend 30 minutes each class working on drafts, revising based on the mini lesson, or working through whatever stage of the writing process students are at.  

15-Minute Peer Conferences.  Students will work with a structured handout and process in breakout rooms.  Learning how to conduct a peer conference is a great tool to help others improve their writing, but more importantly, when you learn how to talk about the elements of effective writing, you’re more able to incorporate those elements into your own writing.   

5-Minute Closing Creative Writing Exercise. As a fun way to close out the class as well as a sneaky way to learn more skills, we'll end the class with a fun creative writing exercise focused on setting, figurative language, point of view, description, word choice, or other elements of writing.

Homework: Students will have the option to submit drafts for review and I will give them focused and concrete suggestions for improving their ideas, writing style, organization, or whatever else they need.

This is the tentative schedule for the class; however, if the current students want to try different kinds of writing, we might alter some of the focuses.  (I'll update here when needed)

January 18th personal essay

January 25th personal essay

February 1st personal essay

February 8th personal essay

February 15 op ed/argument essay

February 22 op ed/argument essay

February 29th op ed/argument essay

March 7th op ed/argument essay

March 14th ironic how-to or process essay

March 21st ironic how-to or process essay

March 28th ironic how-to or process essay

April 4th ironic how-to or process essay

April 11th poetry

April 18th poetry

April 25th poetry

May 2nd (no class)

May 9th research-based essay

May 16th research-based essay

May 23rd research-based essay

May 30th research-based essay

June 6th research-based essay