Holly Van Houten

Novels to Knowledge
The Writer’s Path to Critical Thinking
Journeys

Live/Online Class

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Ages:  11-13

Teacher:  Holly Van Houten

Homework Required:  YES.  Please plan on 1.5-2 hours of homework per week for the reading and writing components of this class.

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Special Note:  Holly has limited availability for 1:1 tutoring.  Check with her if your child would benefit from this.

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All parents and students will be invited to join our Google Classroom, and parents are encouraged to view the student accounts regularly (students will need to share their log in information with parents) to check that student work has been completed and properly submitted.

Join us on a literary JOURNEY as we travel through history and time with some fantastic Newbery
Award-winning novels. There is a wonderful range of extremely high-quality historical fiction for
middle school students, and the Newbery Award is given to the very best. This year, we’ll be reading
books with storylines that revolve around JOURNEYS.

During the FALL QUARTER, we will travel the roads of America with The Watsons Go to
Birmingham, by Christopher Paul Curtis, Esperanza Rising, by Pam Muñoz Ryan, and One Crazy
Summer, by Rita Williams-Garcia.

In the WINTER QUARTER, we will travel internationally with Around the World in 80 Days, by Jules
Verne, A Long Walk to Water, by Linda Sue Park, and Inside Out and Back Again, by Thanhha Lai.

During the SPRING QUARTER, we’ll be Travelling Through TIME with Holes, by Louis Sacher, The
Giver, by Lois Lowry, and When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead!

Using these stories of adventure, courage, and learning, students will hone their writing skills as they explore Journeys as the powerful learning experiences they are.  I am confident that students will love these amazing books and enjoy thinking critically about the significance of physical, mental, and spiritual journeys through history and time as they write down their ideas about each book in essay form.  For our writing projects, we’ll be incorporating the "literary circles" approach -- where each student takes on a specific role (Character Analyst / Thematic Advisor / Historian) for each novel.

Over the course of each quarter, students will write three essays (2-3 pages in length) related to their “role” for each book.  This class will take students step by step through the process of creating strong essays. We’ll be emphasizing the entire writing process – from planning through drafting and revision.

Writing well allows students to express their ideas, argue their opinions, and demonstrate their
knowledge.   As they write about these novels, students will go through the process of organizing,
developing, and clearly articulating their ideas -- an excellent way to learn about any subject.  We will use a Round Table Revision Workshop format to look at essays together as a class so students can also learn about the reactions their writing elicits from others and build their own critical thinking skills.

There is always a wide range of writing abilities in a class like this, and every student just writes at
their own level, challenging themselves to develop and mature as thinkers.  This class will be a great opportunity for students to work with their peers as they enjoy some wonderful novels, learn many of the essential techniques of literary analysis, and hone their writing skills.
In this class, we will be implementing technology to help us work on the Writing Process. Our classes will take place each week through live, interactive, and engaging online sessions, and we will utilize a variety of tools to enhance our classroom discussions and encourage collaboration (breakout rooms, polls/quizzes, video access, and screen sharing for our intensive essay revision sessions). The Zoom video platform will allow us to meet like a regular classroom for lecture and discussion purposes as we immerse ourselves in wonderful literature and the process of writing literary analysis essays. The class will also utilize Google Classroom for assignments and work-sharing both during class sessions and outside of class. Taking advantage of the incredible, collaborative power of Google Docs will allow us to share ideas and revision techniques far more efficiently. This class will be a great opportunity to enjoy some wonderful literature and practice essential literary analysis and writing skills.

NOTE:  There are no Materials Fees for this class, but parents must purchase the required books for
their students. Holly will provide Amazon Purchase Links for each chosen edition.
About Holly: Students will receive instruction from Holly Van Houten, who has decades of experience preparing young writers with the skills they need to succeed. In addition to teaching Literature and Writing at The Huckleberry Center for Creative Learning in Valencia, California, since 2009, Holly taught in the USC Freshman Writing Department for 10 years while completing her Ph.D. coursework in English and American Literature.  Holly has also taught in the English departments at Pepperdine University, California State University, Northridge, and California State University, Long Beach. She has helped young scholars become confident writers for over 30 years and has successfully prepared students of all abilities for college-level writing.

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