Courses
Essay Writing Lab*
Taught by Laura Morefield
ages 14+ (or permission of instructor)
Full-Year 32-week Course
NOTE: 1.5 hr. classCourse Overview:
Essay Writing Lab supports high school students in developing the writing skills needed to craft clear, compelling, and sophisticated essays by providing a structured writing workshop with guided revision where the bulk of their writing practice is done IN CLASS. Students will learn to construct strong thesis statements, organize complex arguments, integrate textual evidence effectively, and refine their voice for academic audiences. Through this process, students will practice analytical, argumentative, and expository writing across disciplines. By the end of the course, students will produce polished, thesis-driven essays and demonstrate confidence in developing original, well-supported arguments.
Course Description:
This class will focus on providing students from many different writing backgrounds and experiences with IN CLASS practice on writing academic essays. Regardless of whether they have no prior essay writing experience or have written some essay before, this class will support students in mastering both the structure of an essay and the various elements and types of essays. The students will hone their skills by editing and critiquing essays before applying these skills to their own essays.
Students will be guided through formulating ideas, writing drafts, revising, and editing to produce a polished essay of each type we cover. The time we spend on each section/topic will vary depending on how quickly the students move through the material. At the end of this class, students will be able to discuss the various types of essays, understand the approach to take when assigned a particular type, and compose a well-written five paragraph essay.
Essay Writing Lab will use materials from a program called Essay Architect as well as a few other resources. These will be provided either in links or via PDFs, so no purchase of additional materials is required. However, the instructor may recommend some optional texts for additional instruction as necessary as we proceed through the class this year.
*This is the next course recommended after Writing 2: Academic Paragraphs or Literary Analysis (2025/2026) for those ready to progress to essay writing. It is expected that some students may require more than one year of Academic Paragraphs before proceeding to essay writing, depending on age, maturity, ability, etc. Those who are new to Elex Learning will be required to submit a writing sample demonstrating paragraph mastery for admission to this course.
Students who wish to continue writing the following year may wish to take the Research Paper Writing Lab course.
*A typical English course from middle school through to the end of high school requires both a literature component and a writing component. Our courses are designed to enable you to choose the best combination for your learner’s needs.
Literature Options: | Writing Options: |
English Lit: GenreCohorts: ages 9-12 / ages 11-13 / ages 12+ | |
Honours Literary Analysis of Short Works Writing Lab |
Schedule and Cost:
***NOTE: This is an 1.5 hour full-year class.
TWO COHORT OPTIONS:
Tuesday 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. ET
Thursday 1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. ET
Course Dates (click to download pdf)
For Tuition Fees, Code of Conduct, and all the details, see THE FINE PRINT
What your Student will Learn:
Students will learn the basics of essay structure, types, and elements, beginning with evaluating and critiquing essays to understand effective writing techniques. Guided by these insights, students will draft, revise, and polish their own essays, focusing on creating well-structured five-paragraph compositions. Students will develop a comprehensive understanding of constructing compelling essays and producing polished written work.
Class Structure and Homework:
• Student & Parent Involvement: The course meets live weekly for an hour and a half, with 1-2 hours of homework each week consisting of assigned reading of the chapter and other resources to support their writing along with other activities to support their writing. Students will do most of their writing during class with live instruction and immediate feedback. Parents are welcome to join the online Google Classroom as students to review assignments and support their teens.
• Supporting Different Learning Styles: Whether your teen is a visual, hands-on, or auditory learner, we work to accommodate their learning preferences. Parents are encouraged to share insights into their teen’s learning style, helping us tailor assignments to best suit their needs.
Upon registration, students and parents will be provided with a Google Classroom link to join. Class materials and assignments will be posted directly to Classroom, and students may communicate with each other through this platform. Students may communicate with the instructor through Classroom and student inquiries are usually addressed as quickly as possible between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. ET. Student inquiries made on the day of class may be addressed in class instead of through Classroom.
NOTE: Upon request and where warranted by the student’s level of performance and academic achievement, the instructor may agree to provide a letter of recommendation to potential employers, colleges, etc. All requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis and should be submitted with as much advance notice as possible.
Course Materials:
- A three-ring binder divided into a couple of sections, one for instructor-provided PDF materials and one for your own writing
- A printer to print PDFs, student drafts and writing
- Writing paper and pencils/pens for PDFs, essay planning, notes, and editing