Writing Program

Academic Enrichment

It’s no secret that writing plays a vital role in every student’s life.

The ability to communicate their ideas, demonstrate their understanding of concepts, and even express themselves as individuals can be traced back to the written word. And yet according to studies, 75% of both 8th and 12th graders lack proficiency in writing. Our students deserve better.

Excellerate is here to help. Our comprehensive writing series focuses on quality over quantity while overcoming common roadblocks, including:

We offer options to accommodate different ages, skills levels, and schedules.

Our comprehensive writing classes work to:

All classes are taught by experienced writing coaches (with at least a bachelor’s degree) who guide students through a clear and actionable process. Collaborating with students in a workshop approach, Excellerate coaches help students formulate ideas and improve writing.

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Excellence In Writing (EIW)

Practice, practice, practice. In this class, we build confidence in the writing process through repetition and cumulative skill-application. The curriculum not only focuses on the writing product but also the practice and the process—habits that students will take with them beyond this class.

Class exercises work to build writer ‘muscle memory’ so that students know how to execute the fundamentals when they’re writing on their own.
Students train to recognize key words in reading and create outlines to aid in effective expression that reflects their reading comprehension.
From the sentence to the paragraph and eventually the essay, students develop structure and style techniques to write clear compositions.

WriteBrain (WB)

This class turns students into young authors as they write and publish their own children’s storybook! Since creative writing involves critical thinking, any student can benefit. It takes skill to bring a young reader through a story arc effectively!

An Excellerate writing coach guides students through a step-by-step, layered approach from start to finish.
Students choose a professionally illustrated book and craft their own words to set up scenes, plan the plot, create the characters, and devise dialogue.
Each unique narrative will be printed in a hardcover book with the student’s name on the front cover and celebrated at a publishing party!

Claim Evidence Reasoning (CER) Writing

Students in this class will work to develop or strengthen habits of Claim, Evidence, Reasoning — CER, the framework in academic writing. Here, we also help with school work; several students have benefited from our help in navigating tough writing assignments!

Students learn to apply this argumentative, research-based writing across subjects, whether English, Social Studies, or Science.
Routine classwork involves critically reading a source text — identifying central ideas and assessing the author’s intentions.
Students learn to respond to a text — citing and analyzing evidence in the reading, discussing implications, and synthesizing the key ideas through writing.

Write On!

Busy middle schoolers can commit to this class with only 8 sessions per unit — choosing one, two, or more units at a time. Write On guides students through a process of composing a different type of writing in each unit, including: personal narrative, persuasive, and opinion-argumentative.

Implementing curriculum from the New York Times’ Learning Network, certain units offer students a chance to enter their writing into a Times’ contest and be published as a winner!
In smaller assignments that advance toward a bigger product, students critically read, analyze, and follow the example of mentor texts.
Students engage in interactive writing exercises and thought-provoking discussions with the writing coach.

Claim Evidence Reasoning with the New York Times

This summer reading and writing class keeps students engaged in current events—recent and relevant topics around the world. Students learn to write for an audience as they participate in the Times’ summer contest.

This precursor or supplement to our CER class teaches students to write rich responses to reading; students choose any Times content on any topic and write why it intrigues them.
Class assignments entail posting student opinion comments on the Times’ website, another opportunity to write for an audience.
Coaches guide students through the Times’ winning rubric: making a personal connection; showing critical thinking; effectively handling evidence; and using a natural and engaging voice.

Writing Beach

This foundational writing course is for students grades 1–2. It builds essential grammar and sentence-writing skills in a clear, engaging way. Students are guided step by step through what makes a complete sentence, including proper capitalization, punctuation, and sentence structure. Coaches show students how parts of speech work together to communicate meaning.

Descriptive writing, poetry, and short story activities allow students to apply the skills learned.
Simple planning tools such as bullet-point outlines and sentence plans are introduced to help students organize their thoughts before writing.
Games, videos, and printable resources reinforce each lesson to equip young writers to express their ideas clearly in writing.

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You can make anything by writing.

C.S. LEWIS

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