Spotlight: High School Writing and Literature

Writing Non-Fiction (High School) - Power in Your Hands

Creative Writing (High School) - Writing Fiction (in High School)

Literature (High School) - Illuminating Literature: Characters in Crisis

Sure Foundation is offering three English classes for high school students in the 2020-2021 school year. Need more information to decide which one is right? Here's our spotlight on these classes and what to expect:

Writing Non-fiction (High School)

This is a full year, one credit course for high school students. The class time is 1-1/2 hours each week, and students will have homework and writing assignments to do at home. The course includes twenty major writing assignments of varying lengths: opinion essays, persuasive essays, a position paper, newspaper writing, biography, compare and contrast, narration essays, and more. Students will learn about specific forms of nonfiction writing, develop competence and confidence in writing, learn organization skills for notes and writing, develop communication and critical thinking skills, and strengthen proofreading and grammar skills. They will practice writing skills that have practical application - not just different kinds of essays that they may face during high school or college, but business letters and process writing. 

The textbook is Power in Your Hands - Writing Non-fiction in High School by Sharon Watson, 2nd Edition. 

Are there pre-requisites for the class? Students should be able to read and write at a high school level. The class will work on proofreading and honing grammar and punctuation skills, but assumes that students will have a basic working knowledge of sentence and paragraph structures, parts of speech, and correct punctuation. 

What if my student has already taken this class? Students are welcome to take this class a second time, because they can choose different topics or themes to write about. 

How much homework will there be? How is the class structured? Class time is an hour and a half each week, during which we go over a chapter or section of the textbook with discussion and instruction of the material, practicing the concepts, answering questions, and doing some of the prep work for the essay that will be assigned. During the week at home, students will need to read and review all that was discussed in class. There is a writing assignment with each chapter, which students will need to complete at home. Working on the writing assignment for at least a short period of time every day is strongly recommended. Writing assignments vary in length, but generally average about 500 words. 

How will students be graded? Each writing assignment in the textbook is accompanied by clear instructions and a checklist of the required elements. Grades are awarded based on how well the student follows the instructions and communicates their ideas. Early in the school year, grading is generous in the areas of grammar and punctuation, and correct format. 

Creative Writing (High School)

This is a full year, one credit course for high school students. The class time is 1-1/2 hours each week, and students will have homework and writing assignments to do at home. Students will develop fiction-writing skills that include building scenes, developing conflict, description of setting and characters, writing dialogue, and narrating from different points of view. Students will be sharing what they've written in class and learning how to critique each other in helpful ways. Along with practicing their writing skills, students will be reading a novel to find and learn from examples of various story-telling tools. Other examples of themes and story-telling techniques will be examined in discussing short stories, various novels, and movies. Many of the examples used are classic or well-known stories, and although it's helpful if students are already familiar with the novels, they won't need to be in order to understand and learn from them.

The textbook is Writing Fiction (in High School) by Sharon Watson, and the required novel is The Last Book In The Universe by Rodman Philbrick.

Are there pre-requisites for the class? Students should be able to read and write at a high school level, although proper grammar is not particularly emphasized. The class will work on proofreading and grammar and punctuation skills, but assumes that students will have a basic working knowledge of sentence and paragraph structures, parts of speech, and correct punctuation. 

What if my student has already taken this class? Students are welcome to take this class a second time, because they can choose different topics or themes to write about. 

How much homework will there be? How is the class structured? Class time is an hour and a half each week, during which we go over a chapter or section of the textbook, discuss and practice concepts. During most classes, there will also be time to share our writing and practice critiquing. Class discussion and interaction is a big part of this class. During the week at home, students will need to read and review all that was discussed in class. There is a writing assignment with each chapter, which students will need to complete at home. Working on the writing assignment over several days is strongly recommended. Writing assignments vary in length, but generally average about 400 words. There are specific prompts for the scenes students will write, so they will not need to come up with all their own story ideas. There are a couple of movies that will be watched and discussed during class times as well, so the class can be a lot of fun!

How will students be graded? Each writing assignment has clear instructions and allows for creative interpretation. Grades are awarded based on how well the student follows the instructions and focuses on the narrative or descriptive tools being learned. Grading is generous in the areas of grammar and punctuation, and correct format, especially near the beginning of the year. 

Literature (High School)

This is a full year, one credit course for high school students. The class time is 1-1/2 hours each week, and students will be reading the assigned novels and stories, and completing some homework assignments at home. This course focuses on characters in literature - character types, how authors describe characters, motivations, dialog, point of view, conflicts, character development and arc through a story, and more. Emphasis will be placed on reading and discussing the novels and stories, although there are project assignments and quizzes for each chapter. These are varied and students will be able to choose which activities appeal to them. This is not a writing course, so writing assignments will be limited and will be graded on content rather than grammar and mechanics.

Students will learn about literary terms and devices as we read, discuss, and study four novels, a Shakespeare play, a biography or autobiography of the student's choice, and a number of short stories. The textbook is written from a Christian perspective, but the literature studied is from varying worldviews. 

The textbook is Illuminating Literature: Characters In Crisis by Sharon Watson. Students will need to have their own copy of the four novels and the Shakespeare play - see the Writing With Sharon Watson website for links. It's important that students use the recommended edition of the novels. 

Are there pre-requisites for the class? Students should be able to read and write at a high school level. Novels are to be read over two or three weeks, but in order to have meaningful discussion, students need to be able to keep up. It is perfectly acceptable for students to listen to an audiobook if reading is challenging, but they would still need the print edition and should follow along with that while listening.
How much homework will there be? How is the class structured? Class time is an hour and a half each week. Most of the class time will be spent in discussion of the material in the textbook and the literature. During the week, students will be expected to review their textbook, read the assigned literature, and work on various homework assignments. At the end of each chapter there are quizzes and opinion surveys on the literature studied.
How will students be graded? Grades will be based on assignments and quizzes completed, and class participation.
General Questions
The writing classes have been offered before. Can a student repeat the class? Yes, it's fine to repeat a class! Because students can choose the topics they write about, they can take either class a second time and write different stories or essays. I suggest taking a break rather than do the same class two years in a row.
Does it matter which writing class is completed first? Is one better for younger/older students? It really doesn't matter which class is done first as they are independent of each other. In general, the Non-fiction Writing class is better for older students as they are preparing for college, and it requires more critical and analytical thinking. The Creative Writing class is more relaxed when it comes to proper grammar and in its overall pace. If you have specific questions about choosing the right class for your student, contact us and discuss with the instructor!

Can a student take more than one of these courses at the same time? Taking the Literature course and one of the writing courses at the same time would probably work, but it's probably not a good idea to take both writing classes at once.
Questions? Contact us at SureFoundationTutorial@gmail.com