Prerequisites:
Entering 8th grade
Able to compose a short paragraph
Able to identify the eight parts of speech
Able to identify the structure of a sentence
Able to navigate a word processor and organize weekly assignments

Course Description

Students in this course will adventure through the first level of The Lost Tools of Writing, conquering the formidable tasks of generating ideas, organizing ideas, and expressing ideas through the art of rhetoric. With each new lesson, we will gain a new tool to help us along in our journey toward truthful and persuasive communication. These powerful tools will help us bring harmony to our communities as we strive to make decisions together. Students will also join Beowulf, Sir Gawain, and Bilbo Baggins as they journey into danger, bravely battling monsters and gaining great renown.

Please note: this course is a 28-week course rather than Kepler's standard 32-week course. Additional live sessions will be held on the 4th Friday of August, September, October, January, February, and April to satisfy credit requirements for diploma track students.

Course Objectives

Students will be able to:

Gather facts about an Issue by asking questions from the Five Common Topics.
Consider an Issue from both the Affirmative and Negative positions.
Perceive the truth about an Issue.
Organize ideas into a persuasive essay with Exordium, Division, Thesis, Proofs, Refutation, and Amplification.
Express ideas with beauty and clarity using parallelism, antithesis, alliteration, assonance, similes, and metaphors.
Delight in literature through annotation and discussion.

Weekly Time Commitment
1.5 hours participating in a live-interactive class
1-2 hours completing LTW assignments
1-2 hours reading and annotating assigned text
1 hour revising assignments as requested