2016 Writing Camp Testimonials

The feedback from nearly 20 students (and their parents) who participated in the 2016 summer writing camps was phenomenal. Students and parents overwhelmingly agreed that the camp activities helped the students improve their writing.

And students enjoyed the camps, too! Several students also reported that participating in the camps increased their enjoyment of writing and helped them feel more confident about their writing ability.

Almost every student, and 100% of the parents, strongly agreed that they would highly recommend An Elegant Word writing camps to others.

“It really says a lot when a student enjoys your camp so much, they ask to go back. Thank you!” —Mom of a student who participated in both the Basic Essay and Advanced Essay camps in 2016

“Thank you for the wonderful experience. I’m looking forward to enrolling my younger child when he becomes eligible! My daughter gained an appreciation of essay writing as a genre in contrast to short stories. She liked the way it helped her develop a thesis.”

Here’s what other parents said about the Basic Essay camp:

“The class was well-structured and covered the basic principles needed to create an essay. I think the course was very good for my child.”

“My students thoroughly enjoyed this camp. One of my students had minimal experience with writing, and in just five days he greatly improved.” —Susan D.

“I like how the writing camp helped my student think deeper about a subject. It taught her to be goal oriented and to persevere to achieve a goal.” —Emily B.

“They learned so much!”

“I love how you give positive feedback to the kids. Very encouraging! My student liked the camp more and more toward the end.”

“My kids put a lot into the class and got quite a bit out of it as well.” —Clark R.

The students in the Basic Essay camp said they loved the many games we played and found several aspects of the camp helpful:

“I like how the teacher constantly assisted us with our work. I now better understand how to dress-up my writing style and use key word outlines.” —Cameron D.

“This camp was fun and interesting. I enjoyed all the games!” —Matthew L.

“‘Fun!’ is how I would describe this camp. It also helped me with my essay structure.”

“Writing camp has helped me to feel more confident when writing papers. Learning about stylistic decorations and paragraph clinchers and topic sentences was especially helpful.” —Tyler

“It was great! I write stories and essays for school, and this really helped me. The key word outlines helped a lot.” —Hannah R.

“This camp was really good. It was especially helpful to learn the specific steps in the essay-writing process.”

“I love the camp! I enjoyed the games the most! And the most helpful part was learning the specifics about how to write an essay. This will help me in school this fall.” —Chesney

“It was fun and interactive as well as educational. It helped me with word selection and essay formatting. The handouts and class activities as well as the tips and advice written on our essays and drafts were very helpful to my writing.”

Returning students thoroughly enjoyed the Advanced Essay camp:

“Writing camp was amazing. The resources we read are sure to help me through English III and personal college essays. It has encouraged me to read classic authors and appreciate a different genre that I had prematurely judged as ‘boring’ and “difficult.’ The best parts of camp were being exposed to multiple authors to learn from, the well-structured and thoughtful lessons, and the awesome teacher!” —Natalie L.

“I extremely enjoyed all of the readings. I also enjoyed finding the differences between my style and the authors’ styles. I really loved hearing you talk so enthusiastically about writing as well. It has been a completely lovely experience. I think that in the future I will revise more and choose my words more carefully.” —Maria-Louise C.

“The writing camp was very helpful and will help me with my future essays. I learned how to analyze and imitate different master essayists. I especially enjoyed imitating E. B. White and his personal essay. Learning how to analyze the authors’ essays was incredibly beneficial.”

“The camp was enjoyable and the benefits great. I gained a more thorough understanding of the masters. The most enjoyable part was arguably the analysis of the different essays.”

“This camp has really helped me. Reading and understanding the master authors’ essays has taught me the value of focused paragraph and essay structure. It was especially helpful to study the structural choices and to learn to identify the stylistic techniques of great authors.”

“Writing camp has allowed me to explore different areas of writing and learn to write in a more thought-provoking way. It has made me more conscious of my writing and the effect of the words I use. I enjoyed looking closer at the stylistic decorations and patterns among the different authors we studied.”

Like what you see? I hope you’ll consider joining us for one of our 2017 summer writing camps. Stay tuned for more information coming soon!

 

 

2016 Advanced Essay Writing: Imitating the Masters

Who: Grades 9-12, returning students only
When: August 1-5, 2016, 9:00-12:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
Where: Houston Baptist University, hosted by The Academy at HBU in the University Academic Center (UAC) classrooms, 7502 Fondren Rd, Houston, TX, 77074

Business woman writing in notebook

In addition to reviewing sentence structure and stylistic elements, returning students will read essays by master writers, analyzing and imitating their respective styles in a series of response essays of their own. Studying an array of the best American essays from the past century, students will gain exposure to different essay structures and themes ranging from opinion piece to social appeal, from personal essay to literary theodicy. The skill and insight of great authors serves as inspiration for students who are finding their own individual voices. By imitating the sentence structures and essay organization of great authors, students can be empowered to compose their own beautiful, powerful work as they join the larger conversation. This advanced essay course makes a direct bridge for the student between imitating great writing and composing beautiful writing in their own words. Students will also gain practice with timed, in-class writing as well as with the revision and critique process.

To receive the full benefit of the writing camp, students will need sufficient time and a handful of supplies. In addition to the three hours of class time, students should plan to spend another two or three hours each day completing homework. Students should secure the following supplies before the start of class:

  • Dictionary & Thesaurus—Consider apps such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the English Thesaurus.
  • Pack of 6 different colored pencils: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, & purple—Preferably erasable!
  • Pens/Pencils
  • 3-ring binder with 5 or more dividers and lined notebook paper (If you have the binder with handouts from last year, please use that!)
  • Composition book

Students in the Advanced Essay Writing camp will also need to be able to type, print, and email assignments using a sharable word processing program such as Microsoft Word.

 

Space is limited! Enroll today.

Camp tuition is $250/student. Enrollment will be confirmed and your spot reserved once payment is received.

This class will be offered if a minimum of seven students are enrolled by June 24. Full refunds will be made for any classes that are cancelled due to low enrollment.

Note: This Advanced Essay camp is open to highschool students who either participate in another of the 2016 camps this summer—the Basic Essay camp/the Thesis Essay camp—or who have participated in a 2015 writing camp with An Elegant Word last summer.

2016 Basic Essay Writing

Who: Students in grades 7-10+ in fall ’16
When: July 11-15, 2016, 9:00-12:00 p.m., Monday through Friday
Where: Houston Baptist University, hosted by The Academy at HBU in the University Academic Center (UAC) classrooms, 7502 Fondren Rd, Houston, TX, 77074

Positive Afro-american woman studying at home

Incorporating both report-style and descriptive writing, students will learn the structure and style of a basic five-paragraph essay. By the end of the week, students will produce an original essay including integrated quotations, MLA in-text citations, and a properly formatted “Works Cited” page. An intensive overview of style elements will assist students in developing vivid vocabulary and sophisticated sentence variety. Throughout the week, students will gain an awareness of sentence structure and grammar that goes hand-in-hand with their growing ability to amplify and manipulate the parts of a sentence.

To receive the full benefit of the writing camp, students will need sufficient time and a handful of supplies. In addition to the three hours of class time, students should plan to spend another one or three hours each day completing homework. Students should secure the following supplies before the start of class:

  • Dictionary & Thesaurus—Consider apps such as the Merriam-Webster Dictionary and the English Thesaurus.
  • Pack of 6 different colored pencils: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, & purple—Preferably erasable!
  • Pens/Pencils
  • 3-ring binder with 5 or more dividers and lined notebook paper
  • Composition book

Students in the Basic Essay Writing camp will also need to be able to type, print, and email assignments using a sharable word processing program such as Microsoft Word.

 

Camp tuition is $250/student. Enrollment will be confirmed and your spot reserved once payment is received.

Space is limited! Enroll today.

UPDATE: This class is full! You can add your name to the waiting list here!

Note: Highschool students are welcome to participate in both the Basic Essay camp as well as the Advanced Essay camp.