Write Shop Curriculum

WriteShop: an incremental Writing Program

 

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“We love the program.    I find it easy to use and extremely helpful. Although I have a strong background in language arts, I have always found it difficult to teach writing in an orderly, systematic way.     WriteShop = problem solved!” 

 ---Susan, Washington Homeschool Parent

 

 

 

Teacher's Manual Table of Contents

The WriteShop Teacher's Manual contains teacher resources and lesson plans

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS
WriteShop Teacher's Manual
Includes Lesson Plans for WriteShop I and WriteShop II

Introducing WriteShop

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Introducing WriteShop.............................................................................................. 1

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WriteShop I at a Glance..........................................................................................   7

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WriteShop II at a Glance..........................................................................................  8

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How to Use WriteShop............................................................................................  9

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Choosing a Track.................................................................................................... 10

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Supplemental Activities and Resources............................................................... 13

Recommended Activities.............................................................................. 13

Supplemental Activities................................................................................. 14

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How to Write a Practice Paragraph....................................................................... 16
 

Lesson Plan Overview

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WriteShop Lesson Plans......................................................................................... 17

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Lesson Plan Overview (Two- or Three-Year Track).......................................... 18

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Lesson Plan Overview (One-Year Track)............................................................. 19

 

WriteShop I: Fundamentals of Writing

Lesson 1a      Introducing WriteShop  Concrete Writing/Using a Thesaurus.....................  20       

Lesson 1b      Describing an Object  Concrete Writing/The Writing Process.....................  22

Lesson 2        Describing a Pet  Conciseness................................................................    26

Lesson 3        Describing a Person  Paired Adjectives/Editing........................................   30

Lesson 4        Describing a Circus Performer  Concrete Writing/Topic Sentences.........  32

Lesson 5        Describing a Food  Sensory Description.................................................     34

Lesson 6        Describing a Season  Similes/Limiting Narration......................................    36

Lesson 7        Describing a Place  Present Participles.................................................      38  

Lesson 8        Explaining a Process  Informative Writing/Sequencing.............................     40

Lesson 9        Writing a Factual Report  Informative Reports/Avoiding Plagiarism............    43

Lesson 10      Writing a Concise Biography Conciseness/Appositives/Adverb Phrases...  45

Lesson 11      Introducing Journalism  Writing a News Article......................................    47

Lesson 12      Writing a Narrative of an Emotional Event  Narratives/Prepositions.....  50

Lesson 13      Writing a Narrative of Another Person's Experience                                    

                            Conducting an Interview.........................................................................         53

Lesson 14      First-Person Point of View  Point of View/Personification.........................  55

Lesson 15      First-Person Point of View  Limited Omniscience/Tenses.........................  58

Lesson 16      Third-Person Point of View  Omniscience/Past Participles......................  60

 

WriteShop II:  Advanced Writing Applications

Lesson 17      Describing an Object Reviewing Concreteness & Sentence Variations.......... 61       

Lesson 18      Describing a Place Reviewing Sensory Description & Sentence Variations….  63

Lesson 19      Writing a Short Report Outlining............................................................     66

Lesson 20      Exaggeration Descriptive/Informative & Descriptive/Persuasive.......................   68

Lesson 21      First-Person Point of View, Part 1  Descriptive/Narrative.........................  70

Lesson 22      First-Person Point of View, Part 2  Changing Points of View..................   72

Lesson 23      Narrative Voice First- and Third-Person Narrative........................................    74

Lesson 24      Persuasive Writing (Writing an Ad) Writing to Convince........................   77

Lesson 25      Opinion Essay Developing Points through Outlining/Parallelism.....................   79

Lesson 26      Letter to the Editor Developing Points through Outlining..............................    82

Lesson 27      Compare or Contrast Essay, Part 1 Venn Diagrams................................ 84

Lesson 28      Compare or Contrast Essay, Part 2 Venn Diagrams................................ 84

Lesson 29      Essays That Describe or Define Developing Points through Outlining…....  87

Lesson 30      Timed Essays Writing within a Time Limit.....................................................   88

 

Editing and Evaluating

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Introduction to Editing............................................................................................      91

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The Key to Teaching Self-Editing.........................................................................      92

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Special Tips for Using the Teacher Checklist.....................................................      93

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Using the Writing Skills Checklists Step-by-Step...............................................      94

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Content....................................................................................................................      94

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Style........................................................................................................................       95

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Mechanics..............................................................................................................       99

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Evaluating Final Compositions and Essays......................................................      103


Positive and Encouraging Comments....................................................................     105

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General Positive Comments for a Job Well Done.............................................     105

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Positive Comments on Content...........................................................................     106

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Positive Comments on Creativity and Style.......................................................      107

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Positive Comments on Mechanics.....................................................................      108

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Transitioning into Helpful Suggestions...............................................................      108

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Neutral Comments................................................................................................      108

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Positive Comments on Editing Effort..................................................................      110

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Making Comments on the Final Draft..................................................................     110

Addressing Common Errors Lesson by Lesson..................................................     111

Common Problems of Mechanics............................................................................      131

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Confusion Between Plural and Possessive.......................................................      131

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Homonym Confusion............................................................................................      131

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Incomplete Sentences (Fragments)...................................................................       132

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Run-on Sentences................................................................................................       132

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Incorrect Use of Commas....................................................................................       134

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Misplaced Modifiers.............................................................................................       134

Student Writing Samples............................................................................................       137

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Common Proofreading Symbols and Terms.....................................................       139

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Writing Samples from Lessons 2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 12............................................       140

Skill Builder Keys.........................................................................................................       179

Pre-Writing and Lesson Activity Keys....................................................................       203

Appendix A: Handy References

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The Writing Process: Easy as 1-2-3-4-5...........................................................         A-1

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Glossary of Writing Terms...................................................................................         A-2

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Glossary of Sentence Variations........................................................................         A-4

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Sample Page Model: Handwritten.....................................................................          A-7

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Sample Page Model: Typed...............................................................................         A-8

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Weak Words List.................................................................................................          A-9

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Ingredients for a Tasty Paragraph......................................................................        A-10

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How Well Do You Follow Directions? Following Directions Game.........................        A-11

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Using a Daily Lesson Plan Book to Organize Assignments............................        A-12

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Organizing Student Drafts...................................................................................         A-13

"Here's Your Edited First Revision"

"Please File in Your Notebook"

Appendix B  Supplemental Activities

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Guide to Using Supplemental Activities.............................................................         B-1

Purpose of Supplemental Activities..........................................................         B-1

When to Use Supplemental Activities.......................................................         B-1

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Lesson Expansion.................................................................................................        B-2

Expanding WriteShop Assignments..........................................................        B-2

Writing Across the Curriculum....................................................................        B-4

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Additional Writing Activities..................................................................................       B-8

Creative Compositions  Story Builders/Story Starters....................................       B-8

Creative Exercises  Round Robin/The "Writing Well".......................................       B-9

Creative Extensions  Bloom's Taxonomy/Writing across the Curriculum............     B-10

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Story Builder's Word Banks

Characters....................................................................................................      B-12

Character Traits...........................................................................................      B-13

Settings.........................................................................................................      B-14

Problem/Situation/Incident..........................................................................      B-15

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Story Starters.........................................................................................................      B-16

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The "Writing Well".................................................................................................      B-18

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Essay Topics.........................................................................................................      B-21

Essays That Persuade................................................................................      B-21

Essays That Describe or Define................................................................      B-22

Essays That Compare or Contrast............................................................      B-24

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Writing a Research Report...................................................................................     B-26

Writing the Final Draft..................................................................................     B-26

Presenting an Attractive Report.................................................................     B-27

Problem Solving Chart for Reports............................................................     B-28

 Appendix C  Checklists and Evaluation Sheets (All-Purpose)

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Student Writing Skills Checklist.............................................................................    C-1

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Teacher Writing Skills Checklist............................................................................    C-2

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Student Essay Checklist (Compare/Contrast).....................................................    C-3

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Teacher Essay Checklist (Compare/Contrast)....................................................    C-4

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Student Essay Checklist (Persuade/Describe/Define).......................................    C-5

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Teacher Essay Checklist (Persuade/Describe/Define)......................................    C-6

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Teacher Essay Checklist (20- to 30-Minute Timed Essay)................................     C-7

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Student Report Checklist.......................................................................................     C-8

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Teacher Report Checklist......................................................................................     C-9

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Composition Evaluation.........................................................................................   C-10

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Essay Evaluation...................................................................................................    C-11

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Report Evaluation..................................................................................................    C-12

 

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