Course info

Help your middle school student gain writing confidence and become a skilled writer with an introduction to informative, expressive, and persuasive writing, including choosing strong and clear words, crafting strong sentences and paragraphs, and understanding how to write the parts of an essay with personal help and feedback on your work. Take the 7/8-2 course with this course to gain a full semester’s credit of writing.

 Instructor Access (Optional grading support) is available for this course! See the sidebar to the right for signup information. 

There are two Instructor Access (IA) grading instructors for the 7/8 Series of courses. Teaching assignments alternate for the IA instructors, and the instructor you see now is the instructor who is "open" for working with you. Click on the yellow button to sign up now!

  

Note: This course is the first course of four (4) in the 7/8-Series of Simplified Writing courses for middle school students. Take all four 7/8-Series courses for one full year of credit (28 weeks total).   How to get the most out of the Simplified Writing for Middle School 1: Foundations of Composition course with Professor Erin M. Brown (AKA Erin Brown Conroy/E.B. Conroy), MFA, MFA  Carefully read the course details in this course introduction area (below). Prepare a notebook for notetaking and homework. Students -- be sure to take notes during class! Students, begin the course by: -- LIVE CLASS Students - Coming to the first live Class session on the scheduled date and time. -- Unlimited Access / Recorded Students - Clicking on the "Recording" and watching Professor Brown’s lecture for Class One. Each week, complete the activities in order, including readings and assignment(s), starting at the top of the week’s activities and moving downward. Review any supplemental materials (e.g. videos or readings). Complete any Quiz(zes) after completing all other materials. The computer will automatically grade your quiz, and the quiz will reset if someone else in the family takes the quiz, so please record your grade immediately after taking the quiz. Be sure to turn in your assignments before moving onto the next week's materials. If you need review or are struggling with any of the materials, then please watch the recording and/or go over the PowerPoint again.  If after watching the recording and reviewing the PowerPoint again and you still have questions… -- Recorded Course Students – speak with your parent and ask questions -- Instructor Access Students – email your one-on-one instructor with your questions -- LIVE Course Students – email questions to your instructor at the instructor email provided on this page Complete all eight (8) classes in order. Once the course is completed to the parent's satisfaction, there is a Certificate of Completion at the end of this page (to be filled in for your records). Homeschool Connections does not provide record keeping.

 

Total Classes: 8

Prerequisite: The writing courses build upon one another and 7/8 students are responsible for previously-learned content in the 6/7-series of courses. Therefore, 6/7-1, 6/7-2, 6/7-3, and 6/7-4 are required. If your student is unable to take the previous courses LIVE, then at a minimum, he or she can watch the recordings on Unlimited Access before taking this course. An alternative to the prerequisite: a passing assessment from the Aquinas Writing Advantage Assessment service. Please contact homeschoolconnections@gmail.com for any questions on permissions.

Suggested Grade Level: 8th or accelerated 7th grade

Suggested Credit: ½ semester Writing or English. Follow with MS 7/8-2 for a full semester's credit for writing.

Instructor: Erin M Brown (AKA Erin Brown Conroy/E.B. Conroy), M.A, M.F.A.
Instructor Email: ebconroy@homeschoolconnections.com

Course Description: In this course, your student will learn the skills and habits of strong and clear writing — and gain the critical foundations of essay writing needed for excellent high school writing. Learn the purposes of writing (expressing, informing, and persuading); the effect of your audience on your writing (key considerations for different audiences); and how to sculpt a piece of writing with direction (the characteristics of an effective introduction, body, and conclusion). You'll learn how to strengthen your linear writing, add transitions for excellent paragraph writing, and get specific writing feedback from the instructor, to make your writing stronger.

Course Outline:

• Class 1: Writing for a purpose and audience: the “why” of writing
• Class 2: Great word choice: how to choose the “right” word
• Class 3: Strong sentences: how to write a great sentence
• Class 4: Clear paragraphs: what makes a great paragraph/linear writing that makes sense to the reader
• Class 5: Writing with direction: great introductions and the hook
• Class 6: Writing with direction: great introductions and the thesis
• Class 7: Writing with direction: the body (of your paper) and how to make it “shapely”
• Class 8: Writing with direction: the conclusion

   

Course Materials: Course materials are included free. Microsoft Word or the ability to convert a document to a Word-compatible document is required, as all assignments are submitted in Word. If you do not own Microsoft Word, you can use a system such as Google Docs that converts to Word documents FREE.

Homework: Weekly writing assignments, with grading and direct feedback from the instructor. Estimated three to four hours per week for homework outside of class time, depending on the student's ability.