“Writing is the painting of the voice.” – Voltaire
Course Overview:
This semester-long course teaches middle school students how to write with structure and style while reinforcing key events in American history. Students will follow IEW’s U.S. History-Based Writing Lessons (2nd Edition) to develop writing skills including note-taking, summarizing, narrative storytelling, report writing, essay structure, and stylistic techniques such as dress-ups and sentence openers. Homework will be assigned weekly and the teacher will complete a complementary mid-week edit of homework.
Skills Students Will Learn:
- Outlining and summarizing historical texts
- Writing narrative and expository paragraphs
- Using IEW style techniques: dress-ups, sentence openers, decorations, banned word replacements
- Writing with structure: stories, reports, and essays
- Editing and revising based on peer and teaching feedback