Fostering academic excellence and biblical virtue to equip students for lives as local and global Christian servants.

English 3 Confident Composition

Course Catalog ID:
4038
Subject Categories:
English Language Arts, Writing and Composition
Description

Writing is a key to success in every part of life. Beyond the practical use of writing that requires professional tone and style, the process of writing an analytical composition and the argumentative essay is pivotal to student success in high school and college. Sometimes, even students who are well-read and good writers struggle with forming an effective claim and can benefit from expanding their “toolbox” of techniques. This course focuses on developing the set of skills needed in analyzing, writing, and revising. While the class does have reading assignments to provide media for analysis, there is no formal study of a list of novels, so English 3 Confident Composition is ideal for students who wish to focus primarily on writing while pursuing study of literature separately. Students will engage with multiple writing forms to practice how to research and critique sources, critically analyze information, form clear and persuasive arguments, and compose compelling academic essays with proper organization and formatting. From a stylistic perspective, students will learn the characteristics of meaningful writing through a focus on sentence fluency and vocabulary. By the end of the course, students will be equipped to excel in all steps of the writing process: brainstorming, writing, reviewing, and editing while simultaneously building confidence and developing style of their own writer’s voice.

Notes and Requirements
Grade Levels*:
9, 10
(* Determined by Date of Birth and declared Grad Year. Enrollment outside these grade levels requires written concurrence from TPS Support.)

Who should take this course?

  • This course is not a complete English Language Arts course. Most students should take a complete English Language Arts course, such as TPS English 3 Lit Analysis and Comp, which provides integrated writing and literature instruction to prepare for upper HS and college humanities courses.
  • This course is for grade 9 or higher students whose writing is less developed due to a late start or earlier lack of direct instruction. It is also suited for reluctant writers who have basic skills but lack confidence.
  • Because of its dedicated focus on writing, this course is also well-suited for grade 9 or higher students concurrently in a literature-based humanities (e.g., “classical”) group who want to develop their writing with an expert teacher.
  • This course is not suited for students below grade 9 seeking to accelerate their writing development (younger students will be referred to a suitable Lit and Comp course).
  • This course is not suited for students whose primary language is not English. It does not assist with writing challenges that are generally experienced by second-language learners. Second language learners will be referred to a suitable Lit and Comp course.

Summer Preparation: To get an additional boost in writing improvement, students are encouraged to take TPS Writing for Early High School in the summer before this course.

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