Jump In Composition REVIEW

What do you do when you have a reluctant writer?  You jump for joy when you find a program that can help snap them out of it.  I was so happy to give Jump In, 2nd Edition from Writing with Sharon Watson a try.  It is written and intended for Middle School but can be adjusted down or up depending on your student.  I received physical, softcover copies of the Student Workbook and Teacher's Guide. The Student Workbook consists of 285 pages and is pretty much self-guided. Your student can work independently with the instructions given.  The Teacher's Guide consists of 115 pages and includes schedules, random facts, assignments, teacher tools, sample evaluations (for grading), 10-minute plunges, answer keys, and grading grids (rubrics).

Teacher's Guide

Random Facts of what is covered

There are listed schedules for One, Two, and Three Year plans.  It is written to be completed in two years but can be adjusted to be done in one or slowed down to stretch to three years.  It can be used in homeschool, classroom, and co-op settings.  This curriculum is written for all levels of writers including reluctant, eager, beginning, and experienced.  We went with the two-year plan so we could cover everything.  The one-year plan does not have everything in the book scheduled.  There are 98 daily lessons (skills) with an additional 19 skills through other assignments.  The lessons take from about 5-20 minutes to complete (not counting writing the papers).  The Random Facts page gives you a full synopsis of what to expect but a few important ones I would like to mention that your student will learn are:

• writing paragraphs and different types of paragraphs
• topic sentences
• main ideas (thesis statements)
• writing 9 types of essays (opinion, persuasion, cause and effect, newspaper article, how to, biography, compare and contrast, book report, and book response)
• one research report (including in-text citations and citing their sources)
• how to proofread
• Five different types of poems (there are no grading grids for these)

Brainstorming skill

Opinions skill

Reasons skill

She mentions that you need a separate grammar course and then gives links to some resources.  Everything is broken down into bite-sized pieces for your student(s). Each lesson teaches them a new skill they will use.  When they get to writing the papers there are schedules and checklists for them to go over to help them make sure they are not missing anything and that they cover all they need to.  The grading grids in the Teacher's Guide helps you to easily grade the assignments.

Sample grading grid

I also really like the 10-Minute Writing Plunges Program in the Teacher's Guide.  There are many ways you can use it and they are suggested to you in the guide.  I like to cover skills on Monday through Thursday and then take a break and do a 10-Minute Writing Plunge on Fridays if it works out with the schedule.  There are 98 lessons but keep in mind that the writing assignments will take more time, thus the two-year schedule.

Teacher's Guide TOC (partial)

I love the content in the Teacher's Guide.  Especially the Teacher's Backpack section.  There is even a section for suggestions for reluctant writers (did she write that just for me? LOL).  It also includes templates that can be copied for your student(s) to use in their assignments (i.e. creating your own paragraph). The Backpack is full of suggestions and explanations to help you and your student succeed.  Do not fret if writing is not your strong point, Sharon helps you get it done with as little pain as possible.  The grading grids (rubrics) help you assign grades with ease.

Sample checklist teaching a skill

Keep in mind that my 9th grader is a struggling learner, slightly dyslexic, and extremely dysgraphic.  Writing is pure torture for him, but we must get it done.  With many challenges, we are getting through this curriculum one day at a time and I think he is kind of liking it.  He won't admit it now, but I see him getting into some of the assignments.  The fact that they are focused and so short make them completely doable and he is not getting frustrated like he usually does.  I am excited as we progress and I have high hopes for what this can do for him.

I cannot say enough about Jump In, 2nd Edition from Writing with Sharon Watson.  If you are needing a good, solid writing program I HIGHLY recommend it!  I will definitely be checking out some of her other programs.  There is evidently a follow up to Jump In for the high school level that I'm sure we will be using in the future.  You can connect with Sharon Watson on FACEBOOK and PINTEREST.

Please be sure to also check out the other reviews from my fellow Crew members by clicking on the graphic link below.