Students are welcome to join this on-going class at any time. 
Note: Students should feel comfortable writing basic sentences before taking this class and some experience with horses is beneficial.

This small group class pairs students' interest in horses with developing formal and informal paragraph writing skills. 

Students are more successful writers when they are interested in the topic (horses!), can see samples (exemplars) so that they fully understand what they are aiming to write, plan before they write, and have guidance from an experienced teacher. Therefore, this class includes all of these elements. I have combined my nearly 20 years of teaching experience in a classroom with my experience as a former riding coach and horse owner to design this engaging class.

Students will write a paragraph by the end of each class. While they may need a lot of guidance in the beginning, the goal is to create confident writers who can produce a variety of paragraph types (including informational, narrative and persuasive paragraphs).  Note: Students are encouraged to produce quality writing (not quantity) and will be encouraged to use the complete planning, writing and revision process. 

This class teaches students to:
-write different types of paragraphs (including descriptive/informational, narrative and persuasive)
-write using different points of view and tense
-learn to use varied wording and transitional (linking) words
-understand formal vs. informal style and write appropriate topic/conclusion sentences for those styles
-enjoy writing!

The agenda for each class is:
1. Greetings and introductions
2. Focusing activity OR learn horse information for paragraph (depending on the format for the week)
3. Learn about (or review) the paragraph format and style for the week
4. Examine a paragraph sample
5. Plan own paragraph
6. Write paragraph
7. Share written paragraph for feedback and to celebrate success 

I am a very positive and encouraging teacher, and I use a variety of methods that appeal to both visual and linguistic learners. This class will use many approaches for learning, including discussion, slides, video clips, and audio clips. Students will receive lots of verbal feedback, and there are many opportunities for students to participate throughout the class. I love talking about horses and watching students achieve success in their writing.

Students taking this class are strongly encouraged to have their cameras on as it develops students' intrapersonal skills and I can more effectively teach and respond to students' non-verbal cues. Students can either type or handwrite their work.

You are welcome to request another time or day for this class or you may request a private one-on-one class.

Paragraph topics will change every week and paragraph formats (types) change bi-weekly.

Schedule for Paragraph Types:

Week of July 23 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of July 30 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of August 6 – Persuasive Paragraph
Week of August 13 – Persuasive Paragraph
Week of August 20 – Informational Paragraph
Week of August 27 – Informational Paragraph
Week of September 3 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of September 10 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of September 17 – Persuasive Paragraph
Week of September 24 – Persuasive Paragraph
Week of October 1 – Informational Paragraph
Week of October 8 – Informational Paragraph
Week of October 15 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of October 22 – Narrative Paragraph
Week of October 29 – Persuasive Paragraph