Writing needs to be taught just like any other subject, and letting students be "free" to write without a model is often letting them jump in the deep end without learning to swim first!
Writing & Rhetoric assumes students learn best by first reading excellent literature and then imitating those writers. Students who complete the entire program will learn to write narrative, expository, descriptive, and persuasive essays while developing their own unique style. Each exercise is designed to teach a skill that can be employed across all subjects. Skills are arranged from simple to complex, and the cumulative nature of each chapter reviews skills from earlier in the book, helping students to build a solid foundation of writing skills.
Chreia & Proverb, the fourth book of twelve in the Writing & Rhetoric series from Classical Academic Press, shifts gears from the style of the previous three levels. In this book, students continue to read about historical figures, but will use them as background information for writing six-paragraph essays. Objectives for this level include:
- Exposing students to proverbs, pithy sayings and life stories particularly from the Middle Ages
- Developing students' appreciation for the usefulness of concise sayings and actions and how these ideas impact their lives
- Introduce students to the expository essay using a six-step outline
- Giving students the opportunity to imitate and reshape proverbs and sayings
- Introducing the idea of paraphrase as well as comparing/contrasting
- Increasing understanding of the flexibility of copiousness of language through sentence manipulation.
- And more!
Lessons start with the reading selection, and are most often followed by the student's narration of the story in the "Tell in Back" portion of the lesson. The "Talk about It" section provides students with questions that require personal application and critical thinking. "Go Deeper" questions are multiple-choice questions that cover writing concepts and vocabulary in the piece. "Writing Time" exercises integrate dictation, sentence play, point of view, and other writing topics.
186 non-reproducible pages, softcover. Consumable workbook. NIV Scripture used. This workbook is part of the Writing & Rhetoric curriculum and covers the chreia & proverb essays; it is the fifth book in the series, and is designed for grades 4-5 or up. Covers 1 semester.
