middle/high school writing - questions about different curricula

[matroyshka]

I've been reading here for a while and many writing programs have intrigued me for the years ahead (we start middle school next year!), but I'm not sure which to use when (or which to pick over the other).

What grade range would you think appropriate for the following curricula? Could either be used in 7th or 8th grade?

Lively Art of Writing
Writer's Workshop

Also, two more literature-oriented programs interest me - would you use them instead of a writing program that year (they appear to have at least some writing), or alongside one - would using one of them in the same year as one of the curricula above, for example, be overkill?

Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings
Windows on the World

And finally, has anyone used the writing programs from Michael Clay Thompson? I see a lot of people post about the elementary grammar stuff, but I don't think I've ever seen one about the middle school or higher levels, or the writing, poetry or vocabulary elements. I'm most interested in hearing from anyone who's used:

Paragraph Town
Essay Voyage
Caesar's English 2
Building Poems
A World of Poetry
Advanced Academic Writing

Anyone know how Essay Voyage would compare to Lively Art of Writing in teaching essays?

I'm posting over here on the high school board because I'm looking for some BTDT advice. :001_smile:

[Kfamily]

bump:001_smile:

[Kareni]

I'm not a member but I see that there is a Yahoo group for users of Michael Clay Thompson's materials. See:

MCTLA · Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MCTLA/)

Regards,
Kareni

[matroyshka]

I'm not a member but I see that there is a Yahoo group for users of Michael Clay Thompson's materials. See:

MCTLA · Michael Clay Thompson's Language Arts (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MCTLA/)



Thanks, I joined!

Anyone got any feedback about the other curriculua (LLAOW, LLLOTR, WW, WoW), especially as regards sequence and/or using alone or with others?

[Momto2Ns]

:lurk5:

[teacalm]

And finally, has anyone used the writing programs from Michael Clay Thompson? I see a lot of people post about the elementary grammar stuff, but I don't think I've ever seen one about the middle school or higher levels, or the writing, poetry or vocabulary elements. I'm most interested in hearing from anyone who's used:

Paragraph Town
Essay Voyage
Caesar's English 2
Building Poems
A World of Poetry
Advanced Academic Writing

Anyone know how Essay Voyage would compare to Lively Art of Writing in teaching essays?

I'm posting over here on the high school board because I'm looking for some BTDT advice. :001_smile:

I have not used the above MCT LA's books since I've only used Grammar Island and started/stopped Magic Lens. However, in my limited use of these materials, Magic Lens ties in very close with Put That In Writing Level 1. I have briefly used these two resources last summer, and only stopped when I enrolled ds in home2teach.com writing class.

I have, however, the copy of Advanced Academic Writing. This is more about using the MLA format when writing or composing reports. The book is assuming that you already know the basics of paragraph writing.

Sorry, not the ones you're looking answers to, but I felt close enough for me to respond to your query.

[katilac]

I have not used it, but other posters have said that the LOTR program is more of a supplement, to be used along with something else (or one after the other).

For middle school, I just purchased some of the Flash Kids Fearless Writing series (I think they may be excusive to Barnes & Nobles). They have several books (research papers, essays, creative writing), and each one has a guide (text) and workbook available. $8 per book.

The series bills itself as "step by step instruction" for middle-school writing, and that's what I like about it. We have the reseach paper guide; it covers a subtopic (say, how to cite sources) in the guide and then has corresponding practice in the workbook.

It has checklists to go over every time you write a paper, and covers some of the most common mistakes in grammar, spelling, verb tense, etc.

Simple, thorough, step-by-step.