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Reading is a foundation to writing, while writing rienforces reading. The verbal expression of a language is also critical in strengthening both reading and writing. At Veritas Education, we understand the importance of these skill sets and have developed a course that aims to enhance students' overall cognitive ability in addition to teaching them the technicalities in reading and writing. 

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As one can see from the model above, language development is a key component of our cognitive domain. Our Reading, Writing, and Effective Communication course is designed to run in parallel with regular in-school English instruction. The class will both focus on reinforcing the objectives of the students’ in-school classes, as well as training students to express their ideas effectively and think deeply in ways that may not be covered in the public school curriculum. Students will explore effective reading methodologies, discover their writing potential, share their thoughts, compose logically structured and deep essays, and create positive impressions through their non-verbal and verbal presentations.

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Writing is the skill we use to express ourselves in the digital age and good writers know how to convey information clearly and effectively. Unfortunately, roughly three-quarters of both 8th and 12th grade students lack proficiency in writing according to the National Assessment of Education Progress.

So what opportunities do students need to become great writers? And why do so many students miss them? The journey starts when we are very young; it takes a combination of deep, authentically interesting observations and a masterful command of the chosen language. Research into how students learn can help us boil them down to 5 basic needs for every aspiring writer. Let’s take a look.

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#1: Instructors who are Proficient and Motivated

Good instruction requires more than just a strong curriculum - students need teachers who are proficient in the skills being taught and motivated to teach them. Unfortunately, when it comes to writing, finding instructors like this is difficult. According to a 2016 study including almost 500 teachers grades 3-8, fewer than half of the teachers had taken a college class that included a substantial component on teaching students to write. And fewer than a third had taken a class entirely dedicated to this subject. Of that same group of teachers, only 55% reported that they enjoyed teaching writing to students.* Here at Veritas Education, we only work with instructors who are passionate about education and are motivated to help our students.

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#2: Opportunities for interaction with highly-proficient language users

One of the factors that’s most predictive of language mastery, according to research conducted by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), is frequent opportunities to use the language in an informal context.**  This means chatting with friends, talking over dinner, and having engaging conversations about a wide variety of subjects. The best way to do this is to structure conversation with open-ended questions - questions that require the participant to think and explain their thoughts. By doing this regularly, children are trained to structure their thoughts and express them in a way that makes sense to others. The connection between complex thoughts and good writing is fundamental. This is why we have also included a presentation component in our curriculum. 

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#3: Developing Critical-Thinking Skills

Critical thinking can be learned, but students need the opportunity to learn them. That’s why we have worked with a team of Harvard Graduate School of Education-trained curriculum designers to put together our Deep Thinking & Communication Development courses; they are designed to address the deficiency that research has to exist in many academic programs.

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#4: Constant Academic Support

The quality frequency of instruction is equally as important as the quality instruction. All students, and especially bilingual ones, require continued academic support to thrive. The OECD details the need for academic support outside of class - things like tutoring, homework help, and writing assistance. Overall, what’s important is the consistency of language instruction. This is because students are not only building language proficiency, but building content literacy across several different academic disciplines.

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#5: Practice, Practice, Practice

You may have been able to see this one coming. Whether it’s Malcolm Gladwell’s “magic number of greatness” - 10,000 hours of practice to master a subject - or the old adage that “practice makes perfect,” there really is no substitute for consistent practice. The key here is consistency. The Chinese American Educational Research and Development Association, in addressing writing development, notes that regular writing assignments, particularly in a journal format, can “motivate them to write more in length and richer in content.” This is something students can (and should) start doing on their own! But it’s also a great way for students to present their writing to their teachers.

Writing is one of the fundamental skills students need to learn, and given its importance, we have developed a curriculum, which supplements SOL, to help students convey thoughtful ideas in a confident manner. Utilizing the Socratic Seminar strategy, which is often used in top private high schools, we hope to engage students in deep reading and encourage them to express their thoughts confidently. 
 

For 3rd grade level, students will focus on the following Writing priorities in addition to our Reading and Communication components:

• Using knowledge of roots, affixes, synonyms, and antonyms to determine the meaning of new words.

• Discuss meanings of words and develop vocabulary by listening to and reading a variety of texts.

• Identify the author’s purpose, main idea, and supporting details.

• Write a clear topic sentence focusing on main idea.

• Use past and present verb tense.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

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For 4th grade level, students will focus on the following Writing priorities in addition to our Reading and Communication components:

• Develop and use general and specialized vocabulary through speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

• Identify themes, genres, and the narrator of a text.

• Use text features such as type, headings, and graphics, to predict and categorize information.

• Use transition words and prepositional phrases for sentence variety.

• Utilize elements of style, including word choice and sentence variation.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

For 5th grade level, students will focus on the following Writing priorities in addition to our Reading and Communication components:

• Orally express ideas clearly in pairs, diverse groups, and whole class settings.

• Discuss the impact of setting on plot development and describe character development.

• Differentiate between first and third person point-of-view.

• Skim materials to develop a general overview of content and to locate specific information.

• Clearly state a position including supporting reasons and evidence to persuade the intended audience.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

For 6th grade level, students will focus on the following Writing priorities in addition to our Reading and Communication components:

• Participate in collaborative discussions with partners building on others’ ideas.

• Identify and analyze the construction and impact of figurative language.

• Explain how an author uses character development to drive conflict and resolution.

• Draw conclusions and make inferences based on explicit and implied information.

• Write multi-paragraph compositions with elaboration and unity.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

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For middle school students, the class will:

• Focusing on crucial writing and reading strategies and core concepts. Covering real SOL questions and exercises. 

• Cultivating student’s communication, presentation, self-reflection, and deep thinking skills.

• Providing practical steps to reading precisely, and writing with both logic and depth.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

For high school students, the class will:

• Foster students’ critical reading, descriptive writing, and engaging presentation skills.  

• Develop a mature young adult mindset through topics including Impression Management, Deep Thinking, Descriptive Writing, and Close Reading.

• Instructor will provide individualized feedback to help students improve and achieve their reading/writing goals.

• Read more here

Our teachers accomplish this by encouraging students to approach texts as active readers, engaging with the material by asking questions, making connections, and breaking down readings into their main elements. This helps students to both better understand the meaning of the text, as well as understand how to use these elements to improve their own writing.

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