Course Overview:

Course Overview:

Welcome to your WASL Writing online class! This class is designed to help you master the skills necessary to pass the 10th grade writing WASL. While writing may sometimes appear mysterious and difficult, it is the intent of this course to help you better understand the writing process. After we spend four weeks together, you are going to be in control!

Course Description

In this class, you will study both persuasive and informative (or 'expository') writing. Understanding these two types of writing will provide a strong foundation for your success on both the WASL and in life.

In our expository writing units, you will learn how to: choose and narrow a topic, brainstorm and develop proof for your position, and add those little details (called 'elaboration') that make your writing exciting and fun to read.

During the persuasive writing units, you will learn to develop a position, to concede to the other side without losing the argument (the WASL calls this 'anticipate and refute'), and to use persuasive strategies to really convince your reader. Other skills you will develop include the ability to write compelling introductions and conclusions.

Of course, no writing course would be complete if we didn't talk about punctuation, spelling and grammar. (The WASL and your teachers call these 'conventions'). While this may be your least favorite part of the course, the big secret no one tells you is that getting a good conventions score can really help you to pass the test! And really, earning that score isn't terribly difficult; anyone who looks at your writing, scorers included, looks primarily for a few simple things. We'll decide together what skills you need to work on, and those are the ones on which we'll focus.

Scope and Sequence

We will explore one unit per week:

Unit 1: Expository Writing: Topic Development

Focus on conventions: common grammatical/usage errors

Unit 2: Expository and Persuasive Writing: Elaboration

Focus on conventions: sentence boundaries

Unit 3: Persuasive Writing: Methods of persuasion

Focus on conventions: common grammatical/usage errors

Unit 4 Expository and Persuasive Writing: Introductions and Conclusions

Focus on conventions: punctuation and capitalization

Evaluation

Your writing will be scored on a rubric called a COS (which stands for 'Content, Organization, and Style'). You will also earn a Conventions score on each piece of writing. In this course, evaluation actually serves a much greater purpose than just telling you what you "got" on an assignment. I believe that understanding the evaluation rubrics gives you secret power in the writing process. If you know what readers are looking for, it is much easier to provide it! So we will be spending time in each unit reviewing the WASL scoring rubrics, looking at actual papers written by students like you, and comparing those papers to our own. Understanding how you are being scored is just one more way we will put you in control.

	Class:WASL Writing Prep Start Date: 08/27/2009 Instructor: To Be determined
	Course Overview: Course Overview: *Welcome to your WASL Writing online class!* This class is designed to help you master the skills necessary to pass the 10th grade writing WASL. While writing may sometimes appear mysterious and difficult, it is the intent of this course to help you better understand the writing process. After we spend four weeks together, you are going to be in control! Course Description In this class, you will study both persuasive and informative (or 'expository') writing. Understanding these two types of writing will provide a strong foundation for your success on both the WASL and in life. In our expository writing units, you will learn how to: choose and narrow a topic, brainstorm and develop proof for your position, and add those little details (called 'elaboration') that make your writing exciting and fun to read. During the persuasive writing units, you will learn to develop a position, to concede to the other side without losing the argument (the WASL calls this 'anticipate and refute'), and to use persuasive strategies to really convince your reader. Other skills you will develop include the ability to write compelling introductions and conclusions. Of course, no writing course would be complete if we didn't talk about punctuation, spelling and grammar. (The WASL and your teachers call these 'conventions'). While this may be your least favorite part of the course, the big secret no one tells you is that getting a good conventions score can really help you to pass the test! And really, earning that score isn't terribly difficult; anyone who looks at your writing, scorers included, looks primarily for a few simple things. We'll decide together what skills you need to work on, and those are the ones on which we'll focus. Scope and Sequence We will explore one unit per week: Unit 1: Expository Writing: Topic Development Focus on conventions: common grammatical/usage errors Unit 2: Expository and Persuasive Writing: Elaboration Focus on conventions: sentence boundaries Unit 3: Persuasive Writing: Methods of persuasion Focus on conventions: common grammatical/usage errors Unit 4 Expository and Persuasive Writing: Introductions and Conclusions Focus on conventions: punctuation and capitalization Evaluation Your writing will be scored on a rubric called a COS (which stands for 'Content, Organization, and Style'). You will also earn a Conventions score on each piece of writing. In this course, evaluation actually serves a much greater purpose than just telling you what you "got" on an assignment. I believe that understanding the evaluation rubrics gives you secret power in the writing process. If you know what readers are looking for, it is much easier to provide it! So we will be spending time in each unit reviewing the WASL scoring rubrics, looking at actual papers written by students like you, and comparing those papers to our own. Understanding how you are being scored is just one more way we will put you in control.