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Curriculum Review: WriteGuide, Inc.
www.writeguide.com
WriteGuide offers several different services: individualized writing courses, evaluations of single papers, a spelling program, and articles on different aspects of writing. However, their primary service is, in their own words, to “provide individualized writing instruction for the Homeschool Family, via email.”
The writing course offers individualized writing instruction for homeschoolers in grades 3 — 12. The goal of the course is to assist parents in educating their children. The online tutors offer instruction, not just analysis, in their feedback to the students. That is, they will not only tell the student “what is wrong” with a paper, but will give constructive feedback in a quantity that will not overwhelm the student. They can afford to take their time because the feedback is daily.
More specifically, the tutors give evaluation and instruction to the student writers in the following areas: structure — how to guide the reader through the work; tone — how to convey an overall attitude toward his or her subject; clarity — how to say what you want using proper grammar; and overall effect — how to achieve singularity, or, how to accomplish what you want to accomplish. Although these divisions sounds a little mechanical, the feedback is not given within these divisions. Rather, it is given in a very straightforward way that is easily understood by the student.
Below is an excerpt from an email from a writing consultant to a seventh grade student who was in the process of writing a book review. This is very characteristic of the type of feedback from the tutors at WriteGuide.
In the first sentence, you will need to change the comma you have there to a semi-colon. You are putting together two complete and related thoughts, and a comma isn't "strong" enough. Then in that last sentence, place a comma after "rocky". You'll notice, if you read that out loud, you naturally pause there. The comma marks that pause.
Let’s move on! The next part of the review is the theme. The theme of the book is the message that the author thinks is so important, he keeps bringing it up over and over again. It is the idea the author wants you to come away with after reading the book.
I know this sounds a little tricky and it is, but you can do it. Think of the story “Cinderella”. We might say the theme of that story is “things aren’t always as they appear”. The coachman is really a mouse, the coach is a pumpkin, and the princess is a chamber maid. The person who wrote that story wants you to notice that you often have to overlook the outside of things to really see what is there. Does that make sense?
Your job is to figure out the theme of your story. What is the message that the author wants you to get out of his book? What is the idea that keeps coming up over and over?
The tutors give feedback on a daily basis either on writing a student is currently doing, or on work “from scratch. ” The instruction includes all aspects of the writing process, and the tutors offer to guide the student through nearly any genre of writing. Available in one-, three-, nine-, or twelve-month courses, the individualized writing program is self-paced in that the tutor will not send multiple emails if he or she does not receive a response from the student.
If you want to look at online samples, go to www.writeguide.com. There you will see reviews of several different projects. The projects are good samples of the type of feedback that WriteGuide tutors offer. (I have seen several other projects and the quality of the feedback is consistently this good. )
This is a difficult question because WriteGuide is not really a curriculum, but a service. Because it is a service and not a curriculum, you cannot assume that they will provide the structure for the course. It is not a systematic approach. So, if you use WriteGuide, come in with clearly defined goals. Have an idea of what skills or types of writing you want your child to learn. Basically, the parent or teacher must provide the “syllabus” — at WriteGuide you get feedback on the writing itself.
The feedback on the sample projects at www.writeguide.com is constructive enough that the program would seem to “work” with reluctant writers. Much of the other feedback on the site confirms the same.
The program would seem to more greatly benefit a highly motivated student in that the tutors only respond once they have received a response. If a student uses the course as it is meant to be used, he will receive feedback on his writing five days per week. Because there are no “interruptions” in a course, no “putting the course on pause,” a student who does not respond on a regular basis gets less for his (parents’) money than a student who responds regularly.
This program is also obviously better for students who respond well to written feedback. If your student responds more positively to verbal feedback, you may need to read and go over the comments with your student.
The program was designed to be used by homeschoolers. But because of the nature of the feedback, anyone in a co-op or school would be able to use the service.
Families interested in WriteGuide can sign up directly at their website. Their prices are as follows:
One Month: $55.00
Three Months: $130.00
Four Months: $174.00
Nine Months: $390.00
Twelve Months: $500.00
To use the course well, a student (or parent) will need to know how to use email, and to be able to type well. WriteGuide prefers that a student know how to use a basic word processing program (such as Word), but it is not a requirement.
The primary strength of the program: the student receives individualized, constructive feedback from a writing teacher on a daily basis. If you as a parent don’t know how to teach writing, or are afraid of teaching writing, you benefit from seeing someone give your child constructive, consistent feedback. Another major strength is that the courses adapt across the curriculum — you can use them with any subject.
The weaknesses. The program will not work if you do not have a reliable internet connection, or if your computer frequently crashes. Also, the program is not a complete writing course, which is not a weakness, but worth being aware of before you begin.