Writeshop: An Incremental Writing Program (Grades 6-10)

Description

Designed for those who want a comprehensive program for foundational writing, WriteShop offers an easy-to-use, teacher-student interactive course. Not sure of your ability to teach writing? WriteShop provides detailed daily lesson plans and instructions for teachers plus student workbooks with instructional content, worksheets, and forms. Teacher prep is minimal since the program materials are so well constructed and organized.

Lessons build incrementally, covering sentence and paragraph construction skills and style in Part I before the longer essay assignments in Part II. Lessons build on each other and should be done in order without any skipping. The writing process is taught throughout the program with Part I focused on descriptive, informative, and narrative writing. Part II continues with persuasive writing. Program components include the Teacher Manual (for Parts I & II) and a Student Workbook for each Part.

Detailed lessons are provided along with weekly schedules – but there is flexibility. Assuming a target audience of 7th to 9th grades, lessons are covered with eight days of activities (two weeks with Fridays off). But an alternative one-week schedule is also provided – possibly for high school students who need a quicker pace. The program could be used with motivated younger students as well. The thing to remember is that the skills covered are what would typically be considered foundational writing skills that prepare a student for the more demanding academic writing of high school. Also, not all types of writing (for instance, poetry) are covered.

The Teacher Manual covers all 30 lessons of both Parts I & II and provides lesson plans and schedules plus a wealth of resource material as indicated by tabbed sections such as editing/evaluating, writing samples, answer keys, and common problems of mechanics. There's even a section that lists "positive & encouraging comments." Lessons include pre-writing, copying brainstorming (mind-maps), skill-builders (usually grammatical concepts), sloppy copy (rough drafts), dictation, revising (lots of helps for this), and crafting the final draft.

The Student Workbook - Parts I & II now come as softcover, paperback books. Each lesson includes instructional content, student writing samples, and writing process helps which vary with the lesson but might pertain to any part of the writing process. Also included are planning and skill-builder worksheets. Checklists and an evaluation form aid in that process.

Copying and Dictation Exercises are incorporated into each lesson in Part I. These are strongly encouraged and tend to strengthen both writing and listening skills when done consistently. A book with these exercises is available as a separate purchase.

Written by Christians, previous editions did include some biblical references but this latest 2020 edition no longer includes biblical/Christian content.

Overall, this is an excellent writing program and a wonderful, comprehensive resource for parents teaching one or more children at home or teachers in a co-op or class setting. ~ Janice

Teaching Method
Traditional
Teacher-centered curriculum commonly used in classrooms that may include a text, teacher manual, tests, etc.
Charlotte Mason
A methodology based on the work of a 19th century educator who maintained that children learn best from literature (Living Books), not textbooks.
Classical
A methodology based on the Latin Trivium (three stages of learning), including the grammar stage (memorization and facts), logic stage (critical thinking), and rhetoric stage (developing/defending ideas).
Unit Study
A thematic or topical approach centered around one topic that integrates multiple subject areas.
Montessori (Discovery)
A methodology based on the work of a 20th century educator that emphasizes student and sensory-driven discovery learning and real-life applications.
Other
Other methodologies
Religious Content
Secular
Contains content contrary to common Christian beliefs (i.e. evolution).
Neutral
Avoids religious or theoretical topics or presents multiple viewpoints without preference.
Christian/Religious
Faith-based or including instructional religious content.
Learning Modality
Auditory
Learns through listening, talking out loud or reading out loud.
Visual
Learns through seeing, prefers written instructions and visual materials.
Kinesthetic/Tactile (Hands-On)
Learns through moving, doing and touching.
Multi-Sensory
Curriculum that employ a variety of activities/components.
Presentation
Sequential
Curriculum progresses through well-defined learning objectives. Emphasizes mastery before moving to the next topic.
Spiral
Topics and concepts are repeated from level to level, adding more depth at each pass and connecting with review.
Conceptual/Topical
Focus is on the “why,” often with a unifying concept as well as specific skills; coverage may be broader.
Teacher Involvement
Low Teacher Involvement
Student-led materials; parent acts as a facilitator.
Medium Teacher Involvement
A mix of teacher-led time and independent student work.
High Teacher Involvement
Teacher-led lessons; may utilize discussions, hands-on activities and working together.
Additional Materials Required
No other materials needed
Everything you need is included.
Other Materials Required
There are additional required resources that are a separate purchase.
Other Materials Optional
There are additional resources mentioned or recommended but are not absolutely necessary.
Consumable
Consumable
Designed to be written in; not reusable.
Non-Consumable
Not designed to be written in; reusable.