Write YOUR Way! Literary Listicles, Terrific Timelines, Candid Captions, and Newsy Narratives.
This introductory series of 6-week writing workshops is designed for beginning writers and students who are looking to master the building blocks of English grammar, vocabulary, and writing. These four modular workshops establish foundational language skills while allowing students to write on topics of personal interest in modern expository styles.
Each workshop will integrate the learning of sentence structure, grammar, and word root vocabulary. Weekly classes build upon the concepts learned in the previous weeks, creating a comprehensive understanding of writing fundamentals through relevant, authentic, “real-world” exercises that encourage young writers to apply what they’ve learned.
Workshops may be taken in any order, although we recommend that students who are unfamiliar with the basic parts of speech begin with the Listicle workshop.
All workshops include instruction on various elements of sentence structure, including verb tenses, subject-verb agreement, pronoun-antecedent agreement, misplaced modifiers, clause formation, and punctuation. Throughout this process, we will also cover common prefixes, suffixes, and root words to expand vocabulary and reinforce understanding of grammar and writing.
To enhance learning and offer students immediate feedback, this course incorporates multiple components of web technology. These programs employ a mastery-based approach, enabling students to practice until they are comfortable with the material. Additionally, a range of interactive activities and games are utilized to sustain students’ interest and involvement in the learning process.
Workshop Topics:
Literary Listicles Workshop
– writing strong sentences
– creating a top ten list or listicle-style article
– requirements of complete sentences
– word roots relating to numbers
– parts of speech
– subjects and predicates
– subject-verb agreement
Terrific Timelines Workshop
– writing strong sentences with appropriate verb tenses
– building a timeline of the student’s life from birth to future goals
– chronological sentence arrangement
– word roots relating to family and animals
– word roots for common actions
– verb forms and tenses
– action verbs vs. linking verbs
– avoiding run-on sentences
Candid Captions Workshop
– writing concise, descriptive sentences
– designing image captions for web accessibility
– word roots for shapes and colors
– word roots relating to location and direction
– SVO word order patterns
– prepositional and appositive phrases
– avoiding misplaced modifiers
Newsy Narratives Workshop
– brainstorming writing topics
– constructing a descriptive paragraph, sentence by sentence
– word roots for the 5 senses
– word roots for verbs and movement
– writing sentences of varying length and clause structure
– clause components and avoiding comma splices
– phrases vs. clauses
– transition words
Required Materials:
- All required materials will be provided online.
Learning activities include regular writing to communicate ideas via the discussion forum, videos and multimedia materials to support learning, anonymous peer editing workshops, and weekly participation in live webinars. Weekly webinars are 50 minutes long. Recordings are available for students who must miss a session.
