One thing that I do during the last session of my Masterclass is debrief the experience with each of the participants. Over time, and having offered these sessions for quite a while now, I feel like the five-week group course is a fantastic PD opportunity. I really enjoy watching teachers get enthusiastic about writing instruction and trying out new approaches in the classroom.
Here’s a review of the Masterclass from Mindy Salinger:
“As far as experience in the classroom goes, I don’t have much. This is my second year. I teach in a private Catholic school in Massachusetts and we have a pretty broad curriculum. This was my first year teaching AP Lit. and college dual enrollment. I also teach theater and 9th graders.
To be honest, I think that prior to taking Kristian’s Masterclass, my students learned in spite of my teaching. I was a graphic organizer kind of girl in that I had my students map out their paragraphs and plug in their topic sentences and quotes. This is how I was taught so it just seemed natural for me to go this route. I didn’t have any real strategies … so this was my default.
And most of my students struggled. And I got frustrated and defeated. And my students lost interest and patience and faith in me. I was stuck just spinning on the wheel of not knowing how to do things differently.
A colleague put me in touch with Kristian and I’m glad she did. His templates spell everything out for our students. It just makes sense. I don’t know how to say it other than that students just really grasp onto his concepts and take off running. Myself, and my students, especially love that each of the templates transfers from one expository mode to the next. This is perfect for our Lang. students that move to Lit. It’s a seamless transition. And all students can make sense of his templates.
What changed for me the most is that (it sounds goofy) I became a Bob Ross teacher of writing. Kristian really emphasizes modeling. So, I write with my students for every essay. HUGE PAYOFF! I simply model how to use the templates and my students follow. It’s a huge game changer. They get it. They grasp the concepts and they simply write so much better now.
I highly recommend Kristian’s Masterclass. He has a knack for teaching writing and he’s always thinking outside of the box. Just look at his alternative grading methods and library of writing workshop videos! Love it!!! I think that any ELA teacher can benefit from this course. It’s worth the time for sure. Kristian is super helpful and always accessible. I feel like I hound him a lot but he’s always super giving of his time and resources. A++ Masterclass. Take it!!”
I love working with teachers like Mindy. She was eager to learn and eager to make her teaching load more manageable. As always, seeing these transformations is truly gratifying.
The enrollment doors are currently open for my next Masterclass which will begin June 13th. There will be two sessions that will run for five weeks: session I will be hosted from 5-6 p.m. EST (Sunday evenings); session II will go from 7-8 (also on Sunday evenings). I will offer more sessions on different evenings depending on interest.
If you have any questions, or would like to schedule a discovery call, please reach out to me.
Here’s the link to the Masterclass webpage: www.teacihnghow2write.com
Happy teaching and happy writing!
Kristian
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