Course Length: Full academic year (30 weeks)
This Year's Schedule: Click here to view
Aims of the Course
The add-on writing portion of American Literature is one of the few add-on courses that's available as a stand-alone course, that is, not requiring a registration for the main literature course as well. By offering it separately, we're letting many older teens obtain skills needed for university, namely that of writing research papers.
The first term will be a traditional-style research project with all the skills of narrowing a topic, tracking down sources, careful note-taking, proper citations, and instruction on how to build up to a long paper of 10 pages or more.
The second term will focus on a new style of writing research, the multi-genre project. Based on an American artist, this project will have students build on the skills and tools from the autumn term, but add to their repertoire with Prezi presentations, prose responses to artwork, and a variety of other creative projects that encompass the life and work of their artist toward a single focus.
Homework Expectations
The live webinar will be 1/2-hour weekly sessions that follow on from the American Lit main course, and will entail about 2 hours of homework each week.
There is no reading list for this course as all projects are generated by the students, and hunting down sources plays a big part in their research efforts.
How It Supports Your Child's Education
UK students may be interested to know that the multi-genre project can contribute toward an Art Award at Bronze level, thus killing two birds with one stone!
For US students, the course will constitute one high school credit in Writing, or if combined with the American Literature main course, a credit with honors level.
Who Teaches Research Papers in American Literature?
Dr. Kat Patrick now resides in her home state of Texas with her four children, all of whom are Dreaming Spires students. Before that, she lived for 25 years in England. Her background includes an MA from Durham (UK), a PhD from Delaware (US), and a UK PGCE teaching certificate, all in the subject of English. She continues to examine for both the Cambridge Assessment International Education and Oxford, Cambridge, RSA examinations boards for both IGCSE and A-level. Her revision guide is available to purchase via Amazon.
See all courses taught by Kat