In this summer class, students will consider actions taken by characters they will come to know and love in J.R.R. Tolkien's masterpiece The Hobbit. Students will write about what was done and how, but they will spend most of their time contemplating why a character made a specific decision and whether that choice was a good choice. This will require them to read closely and think deeply. Working through the first half of The Lost Tools of Writing Level One will provide students with the tools to think and write well. They will learn questions to ask, ways to organize their thoughts, and rhetorical devices that will delight their readers even as they persuade their readers toward truth. New skills will be introduced each week, and students work toward mastery of those skills by practicing them throughout the course. They will be assigned weekly reading and pre-writing or essay homework and will make brief posts in class discussion threads. We will read portions of books in class and spend time conversing about these stories together. It is my hope that students will leave this class with a love of story and the ability to share with others the truths that exist in these tales.

Grade Range: 8th-11th grade

Learning Objectives:

• Students will increase their ability to read texts closely, comprehending the overall story.
• Students will hone the skill of attending to details in stories and in their writing.
• Students will write seven persuasive essays.
• Students will be introduced to the Five Common Topics of Invention and utilize them as they consider what to write.
• Students will organize their thoughts well in essay outlines during Arrangement.
• Students will practice rhetorical schemes and tropes in Elocution.
• Students will leave class with a greater love of story.
• Students will leave the knowing how to write a persuasive essay.

Required Literature and Texts:

• The Lost Tools of Writing Level One Student Workbook
• The Magician's Nephew, by C.S. Lewis ISBN 978-0064471107
• Watership Down, by Richard Adams ISBN 978-0743277709
• The Fellowship of the Ring, by J.R.R. Tolkien ISBN 978-0547928210
• Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis ISBN 978-0743234900
• To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee ISBN 978-0060935467