Adnil Press - Advanced Writing

Andrew Kern is the president and founder of the CiRCE Institute, a research and consulting service to classical educators. Andrew Pudewa is the director and principal speaker for the Institute for Excellence in Writing.

The “Two Andrews” come together on this 6-hour DVD seminar for teachers, teaching parents, college & high school students.

Author: Andrew Pudewa & Andrew Kern

Price: AUD $49.00

This seminar presents tools and tips for tackling the timed opinion-based essay as currently included in the SAT exam, and introduces strategies for writing a well-crafted personal essay for a college application. The accompanying CD-ROM contains the .pdf files for both seminar handouts, as well as several bonus files dealing with other aspects of SAT preparation.

Statement from The College Board, Creator of the SAT Test: "Our own research involving the test scores of more than 150,000 students admitted to more than 100 colleges and universities shows that, of all the sections of the SAT, the writing section is the most predictive of college success..."

In Part One, students write two entire 25-minute essays (a “before” and “after”), review grading criteria from The College Board, complete several types of outlines, and learn how to continue practicing for the test.

Part Two discusses typical questions for college and university application “personal” essays, helps students determine structure based on length, and shows a concrete process for developing ideas. Participants write out one complete “TRIAC” paragraph, and work on a full outline for a real personal essay.

The CD-ROM contains the .pdf files for both seminar handouts, and several bonus files (text, .mp3, and powerpoint) dealing with other aspects of SAT preparation.

What Is On Each Disc?

Disc 1 and 2 (Part One)
SAT (Prompt-Based) Essay Preparation
• Practice for the SAT Essay (Responding to a Prompt)
• Initial prompt exercise
• The six-point rubric
• Analysis of scored essays, discussion
• How to practice and prepare for the SAT Essay
• Outlining strategies
• Stylistic considerations
• Second prompt exercise
• Plan for preparation, homework

Disc 3 and 4 (Part Two)
College/University Application Essay
• Planning for the College Application Personal Essay
• Overview of what colleges want
• Analysis of samples
• The Common Application
• Organizational strategies
• Stylistic considerations
• Writing a notable essay
• Planning a draft exercise

CD ROM Includes:
• All the handouts necessary for the seminar
• Patsy Brekke’s “Essays on Demand” lesson plans, a 14-week program with complete prompts and instructions to practice SAT-type essays.
• An SAT Preparation Lecture on MP3 by Julie Walker complete with PowerPoint slides.

This 3-DVD set is primarily for upper high school and college-level students and teachers, but is also applicable for professionals who wish to hone their communication and information processing skills. These disks teach pupils persuasive writing and speaking skills, advanced note taking, and powerful tips for planning and writing a college level paper. A CD-ROM contains the seminar handouts, lesson plans, and other supplemental materials.

Level(s): C

+ More Information

Set of three discs, each 90-120 min.

Accompanied by a CD-ROM which includes 20 pages of seminar handouts containing the models, exercises, and samples presented during each class, as well as the newly created lesson plans and other supplemental materials--over 100 pages--designed to aid you/your student in implementing the materials presented in the DVD Seminar. (A complementary download of the Advanced Communication Series Student e-book is also included with your purchase. This e-book contains the exact same information as the CD-ROM.)

Click here for an overview of the supplemental materials.

Disc 1: Persuasive Writing & Speaking
Reviewing and expanding on the persuasive essay model from the Structure & Style syllabus, this class goes into specific detail of how to plan and construct a persuasive paper. The strategic model shows how to select topics and prepare a presentation that will catch the reader’s attention and keep him reading, gradually swaying opinion in the desired direction. The second half of this tape gives insightful tips on powerful public speaking techniques, coaching exactly how to deliver a message to an audience in a dynamic and engaging way (95 min.).

Disc 2: Advanced Note Taking: A Dynamic Key Word Approach
Although the Structure & Style syllabus presents a simple and useful method of Key Word Note taking that helps students transfer an idea from a source to an outline, the advanced techniques presented in this class take Key Word Notes to an entirely different level. Using a flexible Stick and Branch approach, this powerful system is extremely effective as a method for processing more complicated ideas, whether taken from source texts or from live lectures. In-class exercises provide practice with simple as well as more complex content. This easy-to-grasp technique may be, for many people who will learn and practice it, one of the single most useful tools they can possess for success in school and work. (96 min.)

Disc 3: Power Tips for Planning and Writing a College Level Paper
Facing a variety of assignments from many different professors, the typical college student often finds that when he tries to write well, he can please only some of his instructors some of the time. With strategies to evaluate and respond to diverse requirements, this class is a secret weapon for beating the system (116 min.).

Now in its third edition, The Elegant Essay walks students through the entire essay-building process. The student book includes instruction, practice exercises, modeling, and grade sheets. The separate teacher’s manual provides a sample schedule, grading helps, and lesson-by-lesson instructions regarding how to teach the material and includes sample models and answers. After practicing the elements of an essay, students apply all they have learned by completing two essay assignments: a descriptive and a persuasive essay. With clear explanations and practice exercises, The Elegant Essay is an excellent extension and refinement of IEW Unit 8. Consumable.

Changes to The Elegant Essay 3rd Edition

For the past several years, Mrs. Myers has listened carefully to questions and feedback from students, homeschool parents, co-op teachers, and classroom teachers. In this major revision, she addresses their comments, concerns, and suggestions.

STUDENT BOOK:
All units have been revised and 50 pages of additional teaching resources have been added, including:

-- Some new student exercises
-- Note pages for each unit to support and reinforce instruction
-- More student samples where needed
-- Updated procedures to cite sources using MLA format
-- Teaching models reprinted in an appendix
-- Grading sheets that include checklists and reminders
-- A brief review of IEW style techniques

SEPARATE TEACHER'S MANUAL:
The teacher’s manual has more than doubled and has been removed from the back of the student book. Additions include:

-- Teacher's manual is now a separate book
-- Detailed lesson plans that follow the three steps: model, practice with help, independent work
-- Techniques to make mini-lectures productive, efficient, and understandable
-- Detailed suggestions for group (or classroom) activities that engage students and promote learning
-- Specific schedules for a 14-week course (with 2-hour weekly meetings or daily meetings) and a 3-4 week condensed course (called Essay Boot Camp)
-- Quiz questions
-- Updated MLA citation procedures
-- Two methods of grading student work (checklists and points) and a substantial discussion of each
-- Additional teaching models where needed
-- IEW basic essay model and style techniques review

Purchase this if you need extra student books to teach the The Elegant Essay: Building Blocks for Analytical Writing.

Click here to download the How To Use CBS Guide, with suggestions on how to start using these products.

A natural extension of the IEW Unit 3 model for students in grades 6—12, How to Write a Story provides explanations and exercises for each stage of story construction: getting ideas, developing effective plots, creating realistic scenes, and characterization.

This is ideal for students who want to write longer stories and for teachers who are seeking ideas on how to teach original fiction writing.

This unique book shows aspiring writers what they need to know to write their first novel.
-Designed especially for teenagers and older hopeful writers, instruction is based on 30 years of proven, practical methods of developing an idea into a complete story.
-This guide covers the common elements of all category novels as well as the special requirements of the key genres: suspense, mystery, romance, juvenile and others.
-Checklists and helpful workshop suggestions can be found periodically throughout the book, providing a distinctive and valuable feature.
-This is the answer book to questions beginning writers have on all aspects of novel writing.

Discover what it takes to be a journalist—from a news reporter or editorialist to a feature writer.

Junior high and high school students will learn how to communicate current events to a wide audience. While writing their own newspaper, they will learn the principles of journalism such as conducting interviews, applying Associated Press style, and understanding worldviews. Students will write news, feature, and opinion pieces. With self-directed instruction and hands-on assignments, Journalism Basics will equip students to reach the world through journalism.

Author: Megan House & Karin Viet

This thorough, self-directed or teacher-led course offers step-by-step instructions in reading literature for depth of understanding and responding in written form.

With guidance through carefully chosen works of literature, this course contains easy-to-follow lessons and essay assignments, evaluation and editing techniques, essay examples, and scoring rubrics. An expanded reference section and a multiple-choice section supply students with the tools necessary for success on the AP English Literature Exam and in future writing assignments.

Author: Mary Margaret Pryor

Classical Rhetoric through Structure and Style teaches the student to compose essays and arguments based on the Progymnasmata, the most successful and enduring collection of rhetorical exercises in the Western tradition.

This approach to composition emphasizes the classical method of building up the student’s reasoning and articulation skills through a series of interrelated, rhetorical exercises.