Enough website visitors asked if I offered any English courses
online to prompt me to make some available for folks who didn't
want to teach the classes themselves, even with all my invaluable
materials and advice.
These courses focus on nonfiction writing skills. If Josh
and Caitlin want to write poetry or science fiction, they'll have
to find someone else to teach them those skills. I do the flat-footed
stuff: ordinary expository nonfiction for the kids who want to
become morticians, engineers, or Navy seals.
These English courses have online live sessions that everyone
attends at the same time. Homework and participation in online
forums are in addition to attendance at the online classes.
You'll get advance notice of classes if you subscribe
to Writing Points, my monthly ezine. If you don't, you can
check the events
calendar (in the left hand menu on every page) to see when
classes are scheduled.
Below is an overview of each of the English courses I give via
online delivery.
Zucchini in Zero Gravity
Kids who think English is just a bunch of dumb rules love Zucchini
in Zero Gravity. Don't tell them the subtitle:
A silly way to solid academic writing skills.
Although originally aimed at eighth graders, this eight-session
class makes a good introductory unit for most students grades
7-12 who haven't written research papers.
Following in the best traditions of writers from Jonathan Swift
to Dave Berry, students present outrageous material as if it were
perfectly sensible.
Students can let their imaginations run wild, but they must observe
the conventions of a source paper: their invented experts,
sources, and facts must be carefully documented and presented
with a straight face. The papers can be hilarious.
Click for FAQs
about the course. I enjoy this course, so I offer it fairly
often.
Two serious English courses online
I offer two semester-long English courses, both online, in which
students write three short sourced papers and one longer research
paper to submit to a companion course they are taking. Both
are for upper level high school students, especially those who
may be taking a community college course.
The schedule for these courses blends a class experience with
individualized instruction.
Writing a Technical Source Paper
is designed to complement a course in some technical
discipline, such as math, science, or technology, that the student
takes concurrently. Go
to technical source paper FAQs page.
Writing a Humanities Source Paper
is designed to complement a course in some humanities discipline,
such as literature, history, or the arts, that the student takes
concurrently. Go
to humanities source paper FAQs page.
Both courses include 15 live sessions, each 50 minutes.
The course schedule puts 2/3 of the live sessions in the first
four weeks of classes when students are doing short writing
assignments.
As the assignments get longer, students meet in live online sessions
only alternate weeks. The class forum provides a venue
for individual instruction as well as peer learning
activities.
A full year of college preparation
Preparatory College Composition
uses nonfiction reading material instead of imaginative
literature for its reading component. All writing assignments
are nonfiction as well. The broad topic for all reading and
writing assignments is communication (oral, written, and nonverbal).
Students are graded entirely on how well they write rather than
on what they know about writing.
This course carries my guarantee of competence:
Click
to learn more about this English course's online requirements.
Courses available at group rates
If you would like me to give an online course especially for
some group to which you belong, please contact
me for information on group rates.
Published 28 Apr-2009; updated 29-Jul-2010
