"1. IT IS FLEXIBLE. As a rule, I do not like using all CAPS and bolding text, but I needed to emphasize how important flexibility is to me. Too often I'm given intervention programs that are strictly programmatic and overly scripted. This is a program, but there is A LOT of room to customize and tailor the instruction to your students' needs. Also, if you feel that certain elements are not necessary, you can omit them and move on seamlessly. That is VERY important to me as a teacher, and other programs fail miserably in offering that attribute.
2. She has provided virtually everything you'll need. Every book you will need is right there in front of you. All of the lesson plans are done. It only takes about an hour and half a week to go over the objectives, familiarize yourself with the "motions," and apply them to your students. I used data for grouping. Simple.
3. The curriculum avoids new-age cliches, teaches the ageless and universal elements of writing, and incorporates literature into the instruction...and does it all with style. My experience in teaching has been relatively short (4 years), but I feel like I've been trained in about a thousand programs and methods of intervention. My greatest complaint with many of the programs was that they did not expose the kids to works of literature, fearing, I assume, that the text might be low interest or too complicated for the kids to grasp. Discovering Voice and Voice Lessons give short excerpts from great works of literature, while teaching students about figurative language, diction, syntax, and other methods of expression. THESE BOOKS ARE EDUCATIONAL GEMS. Every English teacher should have and use them. Period.
4. The curriculum is rigorous and relevant to all subject areas. The writing skills the students will learn are not those specific to writing for just an English class. The students are schooled in how to write thesis statements, for example, and how to support their statements with facts, details, and evidence. These are skills that social studies, science, and even math teachers require from their students. They are also explicitly taught how to write expository, persuasive, and compare and contrast essays.
Overall, the program is general enough for personalization and specific enough to target real needs. It is very balanced and solid. These are skills and tactics that have obviously been accumulated over many years of genuine, teacher-to-student, student-to-student interactive instruction. It's a gem for teachers in my position with very little experience. I highly recommend this whole package. It is the most engaging, comprehensive, and true intervention curriculum I've come across."
-Adam Booth, English teacher at Bronson High School

"It's the most comprehensive writing program I've ever used. It goes far beyond teaching the typical formulaic, "pass the test" essay. By providing exercises on elements of style and voice, it has made my students better thinkers and writers!"
-Jake Seymour; teacher, P.K. Yonge Developmental Research School

"Writing is a valuable skill no matter what career one is planning to go into. Writing Intervention Kit for High School is a guide for teachers to help their high school students who seem to have fallen behind the rest of the pack when it comes to competent writing skills. Offering a full curriculum meant to be spaced out more than four and a half months, it is expertly and scholarly designed to help even the most behind student writers to catch up and have the ability to pass state assessment exams. It also includes activities for small groups, tutoring, and advice for students practicing on their own time. Enhanced with a CD with reproducible worksheets and other invaluable resources, Writing Intervention Kit for High School is a solid and enthusiastically recommended acquisition for educators and administrators outfitting their schools with teaching aides."
-Midwest Book Review, Library Bookwatch and Internet Bookwatch, October 2008