Fairfax Collegiate Write | Discuss | Revise is a program of premium writing courses. Each Write | Discuss | Revise course provides challenging content, direct instruction in writing, weekly reading and writing assignments, and individual writing conferences with the teacher. Write | Discuss | Revise is for students who seek to go beyond what they are learning at school and take their reading and writing to the next level.
Each Write | Discuss | Revise course meets weekly over Zoom for eight weeks, and each class is seventy-five minutes. There are four to ten students in each class section.
Students in Write | Discuss | Revise courses learn to write by reading, discussing, and writing about challenging and fascinating topics in history, science, social science, and literature. The first two Write | Discuss | Revise courses are Benjamin Franklin 7-8, which introduces middle school students to the writings of Benjamin Franklin, and The American Revolution 9-10, an advanced course for ninth and tenth graders about the causes and results of the American Revolution. We will be adding more Write | Discuss | Revise courses soon, including courses for grades 3-4, 5-6, and 11-12.
Write | Discuss | Revise courses provide explicit instruction in writing. Students practice writing complex sentences about the content they are learning. Grammar is taught in the context of writing. Students also practice note-taking, planning, outlining, revising, and editing.
Middle and high school students in Write | Discuss | Revise courses read about 30 pages and write a one to two-page paper each week. Writing assignments require students to summarize, analyze, and respond to reading assignments.
Each student meets individually with the instructor each week over Zoom for a ten-minute writing conference. Conferences focus on planning drafts and revisions, not on editing grammar and spelling.
The result of Write | Discuss | Revise is that students learn to write persuasively about abstract ideas.