Ms. Andrea's Summer Workshops

Spring Promotion ($50 off, code: THRIVE) until April 14. 

Ms. Andrea's Summer Workshops 2023 Schedule  

College Essay Workshop
8/2(W) - 8/18(F)
MWF, Total 8 sessions
5 PM PT / 8 PM ET
90 mins 
Dates: 8/2, 8/4, 8/7, 8/9, 8/11, 8/14, 8/16, 8/18 

Contemporary Lit. Analysis Workshop
8/1-8/24 
T&TH, Total 8 sessions
3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET
75 mins
Dates: 8/1, 8/3, 8/8/, 8/10, 8/15, 8/17, 8/22, 8/24

Creative Writing Workshop
7/31-8/18
MWF, Total 9 sessions 
3:30 PM PT / 6:30 PM ET
75 mins
Dates: 7/31, 8/2, 8/4, 8/7, 8/9, 8/11, 8/14, 8/16, 8/18 

Project Title:
College Essay Writing Workshop  

Grade Group: Rising Grades 10-12 in fall 2023 
Schedule: 

• 8 Sessions: 8/2(W)-8/18(F) (Note: Starting Wednesday 8/2)
• Meeting three times a week (MWF)
• Class length: 90 min
• Class time: 5PM-6:30PM PST (=8PM-9:30PM EST)
• Product: By the end of the unit, students will have produced two full-length (650-word) essay drafts for three different CommonApp prompts.

• Rationale: If students have choices of topics and drafts, they can work with these ideas to fit any application process.
• We’ll be utilizing narrative skills as well as persuasive skills, since the most effective college essays house an argument in a story.

• Camp Outline (90-min sessions):
  Day 1: Getting to Know You
  Day 2: The Rhetorical Situation & Reading Like a Writer
  Day 3: Genre Blending & Creative Nonfiction
  Day 4: How to Give Feedback
  Day 5: First Essay & Workshop
  Day 6: Second Essay & Workshop
  Day 7: Revisions Feedback
  Day 8: Short Essays & Wrap-Up

  
  

Project Title: 
Is it The End Times? Contemporary Literature and the Apocalypse  

Grade Group: Rising Grades 9-12 in fall 2023 
Schedule: TBA 

• 8 Sessions: 8/1-8/24 
• Meeting twice a week (T&TH)
• Class length: 75 min
• Class time: 3:30-4:45PM PST (=6:30-7:45PM EST)
• Overarching Questions
• Thematically: How are these texts reflective of our current times? What problems are we grappling with through this literature?
• Stylistically: What do we look for when we read modern texts? What counts as “literature” and why? Why did these novels make the choices they made, and how do those style choices contribute to the themes presented?
• General Plan:
• There are two fairly short novels selected for this unit:
• Severance by Ling Ma
• A Children’s Bible by Lydia Millet
• • Note: Students will need to acquire these texts in order to participate. Any other supplemental texts will be provided digitally.
• While a good chunk of our work will be discussion based, we will do a writing exercise each day. We will also write two AP-Style papers using actual AP Literature prompts, one for each novel. We will spend our final session discussing what makes a text highly literary and worth reading, and we will do some comparison throughout. Students should be prepared to write and respond to discussion questions and should be able to keep up with the reading.

Project Title: 
Directing the Narrative: Writing and Studying Participant-Engagement and -Driven Narratives 

Grade Group: Rising Grades 9-12 in fall 2023 
Schedule: TBA 

• 9 Sessions: 7/31-8/18 
• Meeting three times a week (MWF)
• Class length: 75 min
• Class time: 3:30PM-4:45PM PST (=6:30PM-7:45PM EST) 
• Overarching Questions:
• What’s the point of interactive narratives? How do they give autonomy to the reader/participant? How might you create one of these narratives in a way that is compelling and complete?

• Texts to study:

  • Video Game — Thomas is Alone (available on most consoles [such as PlayStation, XBOX, and Nintendo Switch] and smartphones [both Apple and Android])
  • Novels — Journey Under the Sea by R.A. Montgomery; (optional pre-reading) The Starless Sea by Erin Morganstern 
  • TV — Markiplier in Space, available on YouTube; (optional with Netflix access) Bandersnatch; Kaleidoscope 

   

• General Plan:

  • In the first week, we will interact with these texts (the video game, the novel, the TV show) in order to study their choices and how we as consumers get to interact with the stories.
  • The second week will be focused on writing—at least half of the session will be dedicated to writing time, while the other half will look at different ways to present the narrative. Some writing may need to be done outside of the session as well.
  • During the second week, we may also discuss optional texts (if all students have access, we will choose one)
  • There will also likely be video essays to watch regarding diverging narratives.
  • The third week will focused on assembly and presentation. The final session will include a presentation of all student creations, so everyone can “read” what the others wrote.
  • Other texts are TBD
  • Students will not need to purchase any books unless they would like to.
  
  
  
  

Teacher Bio: Ms. Andrea 

I have always been a teacher, but I have been teaching professionally for four years and currently hold a Clear Credential in California for Secondary English. I was previously licensed in Colorado, where I got started with my teaching career. I love working with students to find their passions, and my favorite moments are those when students have been struggling and finally have that "ah-ha!" feeling. My undergraduate degree is in English, Secondary Education from the University of Northern Colorado, and I'm working toward a Masters of Fine Arts in Creative Writing at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. Like most English teachers, I describe myself as a voracious reader with broad literary (and non-literary) interests, and I hope that soon young adults will be reading books I have written.
B.A. English, Secondary Education, Univ. of Northern Colorado
M.F.A. in Creative Writing, University of Massachusetts, Boston

[SUMMER PROJECT 2023 POLICY & REGULATION]