CLASSROOM MATTERS
Summer Writing Intensive Program 2008Classroom Matters is proud to present our summer writing intensive program. This writing program promises to prepare students ages 13-17 to write better, more cohesive essays in just two short weeks. Please note: Space is limited!
Morning Class Sessions from 10am to 1pm
Afternoon Class Sessions from 2pm to 5pm
Taught by experienced writing teachers Molly Gales and Lisa Miller.
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
This is our sixth summer session of the Classroom Matters Intensive Writing Workshop. Last summer was a fantastic success and we are excited to bring you our program again. Through interactive workshops and seminars, our students strengthen their aptitude for writing clear and convincing expository essays, as well as develop a keen understanding of what makes good writing. In-house writing sessions eliminate the need for too much summer homework, while ensuring that students engage in the practice necessary for sharpening their abilities. Our goals in teaching how to write will focus on a variety of components essential to a strong expository essay. We provide a comprehensive manual, which participants and their families will find to be a useful tool well beyond the summer.
Working together, our students strengthen their skills in developing evocative and persuasive arguments and analyses. We will help them acquire strategies to broaden sentence variety and word choice. Our students will learn ways to organize their ideas into a cogent and coherent essay, while appropriating the right voice to their work. We accomplish much of this through examining short stories and engaging in literary analysis.
Workshops and seminars will not only focus on developing expository writing skills; we will also focus on how to read as writers. To read as a writer is to use a keen eye in recognizing the elements of style from one written work to the next. By teaching our students how to be effective peer editors, they will be better prepared to aid their fellow classmates during the school year, as many teachers hold in-class peer revision sessions. Students will learn how to spot more grammatical errors; they will also be prepared to critique an essay's clarity and cogence. Through reading several short stories, we will discuss the basics of literary analysis, as well as ways to appreciate a writer's artistic style, strategy, mechanics, and aesthetics. All components of our Summer Writing Program aim to strengthen the whole teen, as well as the whole writer.
The Art of Storytelling: Graphic Novels, Zines, and more!
June 23rd - July 3rd or August 11th - 21st
Morning Session from 10 AM to 1 PM
PROGRAM DESCRIPTION
In this class students will learn the basics of storytelling: how stories work and how to write them. The stories that we will read and write will be accompanied by, and sometimes told completely in pictures. We will experiment with different kinds of visual storytelling - illustrations, collage, panel drawings - using images to help us develop characters and plot, render specific detail and entertain our readers. We'll look at Manga and DC comics' use of myths and legends; read autobiographical comics, historical and literature-based comics, comics in journalistic form, and zines that defy categorization.
Each day we will explore an element of storytelling and spend some time developing our own stories through storyboarding, acting, in class writing exercises and workshops. We will also spend part of each class learning illustration techniques - hand drawn, old-fashioned art! Students should leave the class with a collection of illustrated stories or short comics, and inspiration to keep writing, drawing and reading!