Writing Strategies for Coherence, Grades 5-6
Supersize the potential of your writing!
8 class sessions over 4 weeks, 1.5 hours per class (12 hours of instruction)
July 8 - July 30
Tuesdays/Wednesdays, 10:45 - 12:15 p.m. PST
Course Description:
How do we make sure the people who read our writing understand exactly what we mean? How do we strengthen our writing so that it is vivid and memorable? Our course in specifics and support helps young writers develop their skills with detail, selecting the best kind of information to be as clear as possible. For those who crave to be understood (or want to avoid being misunderstood), who want strategies to read effectively for essay tasks that require evidence, who want to feel confident meeting the challenge of having more to “say” in their work, who will benefit from practice to merge required materials like texts/evidence with their creativity, imagination, and interpretation—this class is for YOU. Even more, for your inner detective—because you will exercise powerful critical thinking and unlock your detection talent to find the right clues to solve all your writing “cases”!
Course Objectives:
Students will:
Instructor Biography:
Ilona Missakian has taught both high school AP courses and college English classes in Southern California, specializing in composition and rhetoric. Missakian infuses all courses with the strategies from the UCI Writing Project that promote students’ skills in reading and writing. Her recent activity in projects like i3 (Invention and Inclusive Innovation)--which embraces technology--and the Puente Project from U.C. Berkeley--which embraces culturally relevant content--have informed her approach to helping students shape their voices and craft effective communication. She enjoys working with all grade levels and individual learners to maximize their academic preparation. She has Master’s degrees in English and in Education, and a Ph.D. degree in Education, specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology.
How do we make sure the people who read our writing understand exactly what we mean? How do we strengthen our writing so that it is vivid and memorable? Our course in specifics and support helps young writers develop their skills with detail, selecting the best kind of information to be as clear as possible. For those who crave to be understood (or want to avoid being misunderstood), who want strategies to read effectively for essay tasks that require evidence, who want to feel confident meeting the challenge of having more to “say” in their work, who will benefit from practice to merge required materials like texts/evidence with their creativity, imagination, and interpretation—this class is for YOU. Even more, for your inner detective—because you will exercise powerful critical thinking and unlock your detection talent to find the right clues to solve all your writing “cases”!
Course Objectives:
Students will:
- Understand the role of specifics and support in writing to combat ineffective generalizations
- Understand the value of concrete language, description, examples, key quotes, and imagery; understand how to detect these features; and understand how to provide them in one’s writing
- Explore how verbal evidence from readings and observations from experiences can “beef up” how one can present one’s self
- Gain insight about which phrases help signal for readers what clues are being given
- Observe powerful writing samples and learn how to adapt the outstanding models into one’s writing style
- Practice expanding and enhancing writing with abundant specifics and support
- Collaborate on a class project to create a hypothetical theme-park
Instructor Biography:
Ilona Missakian has taught both high school AP courses and college English classes in Southern California, specializing in composition and rhetoric. Missakian infuses all courses with the strategies from the UCI Writing Project that promote students’ skills in reading and writing. Her recent activity in projects like i3 (Invention and Inclusive Innovation)--which embraces technology--and the Puente Project from U.C. Berkeley--which embraces culturally relevant content--have informed her approach to helping students shape their voices and craft effective communication. She enjoys working with all grade levels and individual learners to maximize their academic preparation. She has Master’s degrees in English and in Education, and a Ph.D. degree in Education, specializing in Language, Literacy, and Technology.