Calvert Education Services Introduces Virtual Writing Skills Workshop for Middle School Students

BALTIMORE, Sept. 9 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Calvert is excited to announce the addition of a Writing Skills Workshop to its hugely successful online Skills Workshop series. These four-week online workshops are designed to boost core academic skills. Calvert currently offers four workshops as part of this innovative, online series.

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• Grammar Skills Workshop I
• Grammar Skills Workshop II
• Math Skills Workshop I
• Writing Skills Workshop

Students view engaging video lessons which are reinforced with game-based learning activities. Online assessments provide immediate feedback and detailed explanations for answers. The guided instruction and activities are enhanced by short assignments that are personally evaluated by a Calvert Instructor to ensure mastery.

The first Writing Skills Workshop will focus on how to write a well-constructed paragraph. Students will view videos, play games, and have reference sheets for each lesson. For each unit, students will submit an assignment to assess their skill acquisition.

Writing skills are becoming increasingly important in both middle school and high school. In this global age, communication is usually written, and submitted electronically, as in an e-mail, a presentation, a blog or a social network.  Good or bad, these daily communications make an impression and speak volumes about the person who writes them.  Companies seek out and value employees who demonstrate clear, organized, and accurate written communications.  

The Skills Workshops have been developed on Moodlerooms, an enterprise learning management system. Moodlerooms was recently awarded "Best Information Technology Company of the Year" at the 10th annual Maryland Incubator Company of the Year Awards.

Gloria Julius, Chief Learning Officer, said, "Calvert has a tried and true tradition of providing a foundation of knowledge and skills that students need to be articulate communicators and proficient problem- solvers. These workshops provide prerequisite skills that will help middle school students achieve with confidence. In fact, anyone who wants to improve these basic skills is welcome to enroll. In the workshop pilot, some adults even enrolled."

The Grammar I Workshop addresses the basic parts of speech and the structure of various types of sentences.  Topics include complete and simple subjects and predicates, compound subjects and verbs, adjectives, adverbs, and direct and indirect objects, all taught through Calvert's tradition of diagramming. Grammar II reviews Level I concepts and expands to sentences with prepositions, adjective prepositional phrases, adverb prepositional phrases, predicate adjectives and predicate nominatives.

Math Skills Workshop I focuses on fractions and problem-solving skills. This course helps students develop an understanding of fractions and increase proficiency in performing operations with fractions. Students will also practice problem-solving strategies within the context of fractions. Students complete a pretest at the beginning of the workshop and a posttest at the end, so that their progress in the workshop can be measured.

Course registration fees begin at only $99, making this an unprecedented value for an online course, instructional components, and academic support.

About Calvert

Calvert has been the trusted leader in distance learning for over a century. Today its world-renowned curriculum is used by schools and students in all 50 states and over 60 countries. Calvert dedicates itself to inspiring students to realize their full potential in a 21st century learning environment using a proven curriculum and expert instructional support systems designed to encourage academic excellence. The Calvert Curriculum is built on a rich foundation of reading, writing, and arithmetic. That foundation is then layered with history, science, music, geography, and the arts to ensure a well-rounded academic experience.

SOURCE Calvert Education Services