Writeshop Program

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...writing as a means of learning.” Simply put, students use their writing assignments to explore other areas of study. Not only does this kind of writing boost a student’s writing ability, it helps him better understand the content and specialized vocabulary of a particular subject.

Beginning with “Describing an Object” (Lesson 1), you can immediately put writing across the curriculum into practice. Instead of describing a teacup, baseball, or Matchbox® car, students can observe and write about an oriole’s nest for science, a carved African mask for geography, a coonskin cap for literature, or a Peruvian flute for music. If you don’t have the object on hand, a vivid photograph can often serve as an acceptable substitute. Usborne, Eyewitness, and DK books make excellent choices because of their clear, intricate photos. Are you studying ancient Egypt or China? Find a detailed picture of a simple item from that culture. And whether you’re writing across the curriculum or not, use the Lesson 1 guidelines to choose an appropriate object that’s neither too elaborate nor too large.

Informative writing is also well suited to writing across the curriculum. Consider Lesson 11’s news article. Rather than make up a “newsworthy” story, students use the five Ws to explore a real incident they’ve been studying in another subject. What a great opportunity to learn more about an historical event, an archaeological find, or a scientific discovery and then write an article about it!

Narratives offer even more opportunity! When it’s time to write a personal narrative about an emotional event (Lesson 12), your student might choose to become Joan of Arc (history), Albert Einstein (science), the Apostle Paul (Bible), or George Frideric Handel (music). After reading about an especially exciting event in her subject’s life, the student must then synthesize and personalize the information in order to write a first-person narrative as if she herself were that individual. Writing from a different point of view challenges critical thinking skills!

Contrasting opposing world views, the paintings of Mondrian and Picasso, or protagonists from two Dickens novels. Student essays not only reflect the topics of study, they allow for expression of personal opinions as well.

First, writing across the curriculum increases students’ knowledge of their subject matter while helping them develop critical thinking skills. To prepare for the assignment, they must do a bit of reading or research. So as they take in the information, brainstorm, and write, they gain a greater understanding of the topic.

Explaining a Process, asks students to design an instruction manual. Instead of writing on lined paper and slapping together a folded cardstock cover, one 10th-grade student created a most unusual instruction manual based upon her readings from Lord of the Rings: She explained how to make an Elven sword! Not only did she cut her own branch and fashion it into a sword, she copied her composition onto parchment paper whose edges she had carefully burned. Writing runic characters with a calligraphy pen, she embellished each page to create a beautiful project worth keeping and treasuring.


WriteShop I Scope and Sequence
Lesson Number
Lesson Title
Lesson Focus
Skill Builder Focus
1a
Describing an Object (part 1)
Introducing WriteShop
Concrete Writing
1b
Describing an Object (part 2)
Concrete Writing
None
2
Describing a Pet
Conciseness
Using a Thesaurus
3
Describing a Person
Learning to Edit
Paired Adjectives
4
Describing a Circus Performer
Concrete Writing
Topic Sentences
5
Describing a Food
Sensory Description
Choosing Appropriate Titles; Its vs. It's
6
Describing a Season
Limiting Narration
Choosing Concrete Season Words; Using Similes
7
Describing a Place
Limiting Narration
Present Participles
8
Explaining a Process
Informative Writing
Arranging in Time Sequence Order
9
Writing a Factual Paragraph
Informative Report; Avoiding Plagiarism
Introductory Participial Phrases; Participles as Similes
10
Writing a Concise Biography
Conciseness
Appositives; "-ly" Adverbs
11
Introducing Journalism
News Article
Five Ws; Writing a Lead Paragraph
12
Writing a Narrative of an Emotional Event
Narratives
Prepositional Phrases
13
Writing a Narrative of Another Person's Experience
Conducting an Interview
14
First-Person Point of View
Point of View, Personification
Using Personification
15
First-Person Point of View
Limited Omniscience
Tense Agreement
16
Third-Person Point of View
Omniscience
Past Participles

WriteShop II Scope and Sequence
Lesson Number
Lesson Title
Lesson Focus
Skill Builder Focus
17
Describing an Object
Reviewing Concreteness
Reviewing Paired Adjectives, Similes, Present Participles
18
Describing a Place (expanded)
Reviewing Sensory Description
Reviewing Prepositional Phrases, Adverbs, Appositives
19
Writing a Short Report
Outlining
Reviewing Personification; Using Past Participles as Adjectives
20
Exaggeration
Descriptive/Informative Descriptive/Persuasive
Communicating Clearly; Incorrect Word Usage; Overly Descriptive Writing
21
First-Person Point of View (part 1)
Limited Omniscience; Descriptive Narration
Writing Descriptive Narration
22
First-Person Point of View (part 2)
Limited Omniscience; Changing Points of View
Descriptive Narration
23
Narrative Voice
First and Third Person Narration
24
Writing an Ad
Persuasive Writing
25
Opinion Essay
Developing Points through Outlining
Using Parallelism
26
Letter to the Editor
Developing Points through Outlining
27
Compare or Contrast Essay
Organizing Information
28
Compare or Contrast Essay
Organizing Information
29
Essays that Describe or Define
Developing Points through Outlining
30
Timed Essays
Writing Within a Time Limit