WORKSHOPS
Summer Writing Workshop
Participants: high school 9, 10 and 11 graders
Size: 10-12 students
Description: The focus of this workshop is the trio of tasks that lead to good writing: directed practice, feedback, and revision. Students will start by learning skills in reading and note taking, which are vital for success in school and form the foundation of good writing skills. This will be the basis of writing a strong summary. Students will follow the writing process through guided activities to produce a text. The workshop will involve group interaction and feedback.
Location: TBD
OR
June 9-13 from 4:00 to 6:00
Through the activities, students will
- Explore how the human brain learns
- Gain three strategies for learning from texts
- Learn how to read and analyze texts
- Write a summary of another author’s work
- Practice idea generation strategies
- Learn to focus writing through a thesis and construct an outline
- Gain skills in drafting, revising and editing
- Participate in activities to emphasize key skills.
The workshop complements what students should already be learning in school and provides extra practice and new insight into the writing process.
Remainder of tuition due before June 9, please.
ACT/SAT Essay Writing Workshop
Participants: high school sophomores and juniors
Size: 12-15 students
Time: 3-hour session
Feedback: writing assessment
Description: This workshop is designed to help students understand the expectations for taking the essay portions of the ACT and SAT exams. The workshop highlights 8 characteristics that graders of the exams are looking for and teaches students strategies for meeting the expectations.
Students will
- Analyze sample essays
- Learn to use the prompts to formulate their answers
- Practice writing thesis statements and introductions
- Learn about how to incorporate support in essays
- Write a practice essay
- Receive a critique of their writing with recommendations.
The goal of the workshop is to help students understand the testing expectations and situation in order to give them the confidence to meet this challenge. Students are encouraged to ask questions and to use the skills from the workshop as they practice independently.
8-Session Writing Workshop
Participants: any writers
Size: 10-12 students
Time: 8 sessions of 2 hours each
Feedback: mid-workshop and end of workshop writing assessments
Description: This workshop is similar to the 5-Session workshop, but allots more time to develop key skills in the writing process. The focus is also the trio of tasks that lead to good writing: directed practice, feedback, and revision. Students will follow the writing process through guided group activities to produce written texts. The workshop will involve group interaction and feedback.
Through the activities, students will
- Explore creative strategies for idea generation
- Analyze and develop effective thesis statements using a proven writing technique
- Learn the process of organizing ideas to achieve effective synthesis
- Learn about the most common strategies for writing introductions and conclusions
- Gain skills in drafting, revising and editing
- Participate in activities to emphasize key skills.
The workshop complements what students should already be learning in school and provides extra practice and new insight into the writing process.
College Application Essay Workshop
Participants: high school juniors and seniors
Size: 4 or 5 students
Time: 4-hour workshop + 2 hours one-on-one
Feedback: critique of application essay
Description: One of the most anxiety-ridden tasks for a student is to write the personal essay required by many colleges to judge admittance. This workshop offers common advice on how to write the college application essay, but with a distinctive difference: students are walked through the process: through the course of the workshop they will produce a final essay. Additionally, students have one-on-one time with the facilitator during which they will receive individualized instruction and feedback. Students will :
- Receive guidelines for common do’s and don’ts
- Get help organizing the application process with checklists
- Develop strategies for effectively addressing individual institutions
- Learn about the Common Application process
- Write their essays, with step-by-step instruction
Students should come with information about essays requirements for the college(s) where they are applying. While the focus will be on completing one essay, students may gain insight into how to write for more than one school.
Need to Know: College Success Workshop
Participants: ideal for high school juniors and seniors, open to any students
Size: 15 participants
Time: 8 sessions of 2 ½ hours each
Description: Need to Know addresses issues students need to learn about by engaging in problem solving, self-evaluation and goal setting. The workshop covers key success skills to
- help students understand themselves as learners,
- clarify academic culture and expectations,
- improve soft skills needed for success,
- work on academic skills.
The major difference: Need to Know allows students to work through activities to help them develop their own style of learning and to reach their potential.
College readiness goes beyond academics:
| Academic Skills | College Success Skills |
| Reading a text book | Managing time and multiple demands |
| Studying for exams | Working in teams |
| Taking exams | Forming Academic Arguments |
| Writing college papers | Building networks and support systems |
| Taking notes in class | Interacting with professors |
| Participating in class discussions | Overcoming challenges |
| Creating Study Groups | Setting and reaching goals |
Students are required to purchase the workbook that includes the activities along with five chapters that explain significant skills and knowledge to help students entering college feel more confident. The fundamental idea is that the responsibility for education lies with the student, and by learning and using the skills that have led others to success, a student can reduce stress and perform to his or her potential.
Workshops for Business Professionals
Business-to-Business and Business-to-Client Blogging
Participants: Business professionals, aspiring bloggers
Size: 10-12 participants
Time Commitment: 8 sessions of 2 hours each
Description: Blogging is a powerful way to reach potential customers and build a business base. With planning, writing a blog can be quick and effective, building credibility and demonstrating expertise in your business.
Participants will learn how to
- strategically plan a blog,
- capitalize on SEO,
- coordinate blogs with business and seasonal cycles,
- manage multiple writers into a cohesive blog,
- develop individual blog topics and
- generate ideas for effective blogs.
Writing for Your Audience
Participants: Business professionals
Size: 10-12 participants
Time Commitment: 3-hour session
Description: In this workshop, participants will start by considering who the stakeholders in their projects are and what writing strategies will best serve their audience. Participants will learn how to reach their audience and achieve their communications goals by
- conducting an audience analysis,
- understanding how they might reach different types of audience,
- controlling structure, tone, word choice, content
- employing persuasive strategies.
The workshop can be based on case study or actual project.
Getting the Writing You Want from Your Staff
Participants: Business professionals, especially managers
Time Commitment: 4-hour session
Description: Many managers lose time and profitability because team members produce unclear reports. This starts a cycle: poor writing, followed by requests for revision then slightly better writing, and additional requests for revision. In this workshop managers will learn techniques to guide their teams toward written communication that is clear, effective and productive. The process uses three steps:
1) setting up the writing situation,
2) designing effective templates, and
3) providing feedback.
Using the CASE System of Writing, this workshop will provide planning strategies so reports will be on target the first time. Teams will define key areas: Content, Audience, Structure and Editing.
Workshop activities will focus on the following:
- Developing lists of key decision factors and steps to action (Content)
- Defining stakeholders and their communications needs (Audience)
- Designing and revising templates to provide effective writing guidance (Structure)
- Defining writing standards for clarity and effectiveness (Editing)
Professional Writing for Career Advancement
Participants: Business professionals
Time Commitment: 8 sessions of 2 hours, 6 weekly follow-up calls of ½ hour
Description: The workshop will present the CASE System of Writing: Content, Audience, Structure, Editing. Participants will learn how to manage the multiple and challenging demands of professional writing through comprehensive analysis of each CASE component.
The workshop is designed to help individual writers, following the same format as that for managers. Workshop activities will focus on the following:
- Developing lists of key decision factors and steps to action (Content)
- Defining stakeholders and their communications needs (Audience)
- Designing and revising templates to provide effective writing guidance (Structure)
- Defining writing standards for clarity and effectiveness (Editing)
The Final Edit
Participants: Business professionals
Time Commitment: 2-hour session
Description: Having correct and appropriate content is the substance of good writing. Most readers judge the credibility and value of a written text based on grammatical correctness and style issues. This workshop instructs participants in the editing skills needed to develop credibility with readers.
Participants can work with their own or provided texts to focus on:
- Key editing skills
- Common grammatical errors and fixes
- Sentence clarity
- Effective language usage
www.thewritersalley.com Lisa McNeilley lisa@thewritersalley.com