Take a step back.
A student of mine once said that Aeneas’s journey in The Aeneid could be summed up with one line: “Wait. What am I doing?”
Aeneas had to constantly stop and think about his larger purpose lest he get distracted, waste time, and lose his way!
If you feel like you’re bobbing around in an endless ocean of online writing course descriptions, curriculum company pitches, writing programs and pedagogies, it might be a good time for…
The Five Pillars of Writing Progress
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A mini workshop that reminds educators about the purpose of a K-12 language arts education and explains the five frameworks that Ms. Finnigan uses to design her writing courses and assignments.
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Homeschooling parents and other educators who want to support the development of young writers; and parents who are thinking about investing in courses or training at Teach to the Text.
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If you are a homeschooling parent, you’ll become a confident curator of your child’s writing education, knowing generally what your student needs at each stage (map), practically how to assess your options (compass), and specifically which courses at Teach to the Text might be right for your student (boat). If you are a traditional educator, the workshop will help you to to look at the craft writing from different angles, audit your students’ current course of study, and determine if The 12-Paper Plunge might be right for your school.
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Ellen Finnigan, founder of Teach to the Text and creator of The 12-Paper Plunge. Over the past 14 years, she has helped hundreds of students to succeed as writers in high school — and beyond!
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One parent of a student at Teach to the Text said, “There is so much confusion out there in the homeschooling world about writing!” Ms. Finnigan wanted to share her knowledge and insights to help others. She also wanted to explain her overall approach to teaching writing for parents and schools that might want to partner with her.
Money Back Guarantee
If this workshop doesn’t work for you, we’ll refund your money within one week of purchase, no questions asked, or you can request a $19 credit.
What you’ll get for $19:
Core Video (20 minutes)
to get the gist
Two Tools (Worksheets)
to help you audit, assess, plan
Demo Video (34 minutes)
to see how to apply what you learned
Learn all about the 12-Paper Plunge Homeschool Bundle in the bonus video!
If you have “littles”…
Hello!
My friend Kristen sent me an email asking for advice.
“Can you tell me what my children should be doing for writing?”
She had only been homeschooling for a couple of years, and she had three kids in K-4, a toddler, and a baby.
“Not really,” I said. “I don’t know anything about teaching writing in elementary school. Check back with me in a few years!”
(I felt like a Magic 8 Ball: Ask again later.)
But Kristen knows that I teach writing and am extremely passionate about it. She, on the other hand, is a math and science girl. She politely persisted:
“I want to know what I should be doing right now if I want my children to be prepared to take your classes one day.”
I started thinking about it: Surely I had some wisdom I could share! While I couldn’t compare and contrast all of the options for Kristen, what I could do is give her the general frameworks I use to think about writing and writing education, to design my own courses, and to foster student growth.
I couldn’t tell her exactly what to do, but I could empower her to do what she had to do with more clarity and confidence — and that’s even better!
Money Back Guarantee
If this workshop doesn’t work for you, we’ll refund your money within one week of purchase, no questions asked, or you can request a $19 credit.
“This mini-workshop was life-changing. Not exaggerating! Ms. Finnigan’s layout of the pillars of good writing helped me to understand not only the foundations of the Trivium and classical education, which are the bedrock of my child's education, but also the ways in which solid writing instruction can become the building blocks for solid thinking, expression, and powerful persuasion…This little course could have helped me plan ahead and save money on curricula that didn't deliver. So hopefully our experience can help someone else to not make the same mistake. Thankfully--even if my daughter is entering 11th grade in the fall and I so wished we had this understanding sooner--I'm excited to re-think things and have a better, solid plan.”
Darla, homeschooler (5 years)
B.A. English literature, M.F.A. Creative Writing