In this class students will learn about different skills they will need in order to be successful writers in eighth grade and beyond. They will fully be engaged in the six steps of the writing process (prewrite, draft, revise, proofread, and publish). Along the way, students will learn how to write for an audience, writing a well-formed, paragraph, staying on topic and writing an essay which also includes how to use direct quotes.  The students will study the following. 

Week 1: The Writing Process - Students will learn the writing process from brainstorming to publishing (or final draft)

Week 2: Audience - Students will learn about how to consider the audience when writing and write on one topic for two different audiences.

Week 3: Students will work on writing a paragraph with a strong topic sentence, supporting the thesis and using details. Then students will learn about how to edit their writing using the ARMS method. 

Week 4: Students will write a short opinion essay.

Week 5: Students will use the ARMS method (Add, Remove, Move and Substitute) and the CUPS method (Capitalization, Usage, Punctuation and Spelling) in order to edit their work. 

A final draft will be due within a week after the class in order to receive a grade.