One Year Adventure Novel

Students engage with classic literature including The Prisoner of Zenda and excerpts from classic adventure novels. The complexity appears appropriate for high school students.

Students read 'The Prisoner of Zenda' and encounter 'an excerpt from a classic adventure novel' in lessons, suggesting engagement with complex, grade-appropriate texts

The curriculum employs clear direct instruction through engaging video lessons followed by textbook reinforcement and guided practice. The instructor explicitly explains concepts and provides reasoning for requirements.

Each lesson begins with a 15-30 minute video where 'Schwabauer is a very engaging presenter' who 'spends quite a bit of time explaining why' requirements matter, followed by textbook lessons that 'reinforce and expand upon the video lesson'

The program provides exceptionally structured writing instruction, guiding students through the complete novel-writing process with incremental steps and clear frameworks. Students learn advanced techniques like point of view consistency and story structure.

The curriculum includes 'surprisingly comprehensive instruction' with structured progression through story building, skeleton, outline, writing, and revision phases, plus instruction in 'advanced techniques such as incorporating double disasters and unexpected graces'

The curriculum includes reading a complete novel (The Prisoner of Zenda) alongside excerpts from classic adventure novels. Students engage with both whole texts and targeted excerpts to illustrate specific storytelling techniques.

Students read chapters from The Prisoner of Zenda throughout the course and encounter 'an excerpt from a classic adventure novel' in lessons to illustrate specific points

The curriculum does not appear to include explicit vocabulary instruction as a primary component. The focus is on storytelling techniques rather than systematic vocabulary development.

The review describes instruction in story elements, character development, and writing techniques, but does not mention specific vocabulary building activities

The program focuses primarily on creative writing craft rather than building systematic domain knowledge across disciplines. While it references classic literature, it's not designed as a knowledge-rich curriculum in the traditional sense.

The curriculum teaches storytelling techniques and references well-known books and movies, but the primary focus is on creative writing skills rather than building background knowledge across domains

The program includes a teacher's guide and clear instructional videos that support implementation, though the guide is described as relatively minimal. Parents/teachers are not required to read extensively before beginning.

The curriculum includes 'a teacher's guide' that 'explains the curriculum, covers frequently made mistakes, provides weekly quizzes...and shows how to evaluate student work,' though Schwabauer says 'parents or teachers should read the first two chapters...by the end of the first month'

The curriculum includes weekly quizzes that require students to recall key concepts like story elements. However, the review doesn't indicate extensive spaced review or retrieval practice throughout the program.

Weekly quizzes ask questions such as 'Name the five elements of a story' and can be completed orally or through self-scoring computer quizzes

Not applicable for this high school creative writing program. Phonics instruction is not relevant for grades 9-12 students.

This is a high school creative writing program designed for grades 9-12