Teaching teens to be better writers

Helping teens become better writers is the focus of free evening classes that will introduce students to Dante’s Inferno, the Trojan War and the sea off the coast of Cuba.

“We are looking for anyone who wants to improve their writing skills,” said Todd Wagenmaker, pastor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Fort Worth.

He said the classes will expose students to great literature works of Western civilization and teach a series of writing templates used in classical-style writing. Students will learn and practice strong essay writing form with clear introduction, theme and conclusion, he said.

Literature that will be studied includes Dante’s Inferno, Homer’s Iliad and “The Old Man and The Sea” by Ernest Hemingway.

“A lot of people today haven’t read them,” he said. “They are great books and we try to bring it down to where the students are.”

During the summer, Wagenmaker led another writing class for students ages 10-19. That class studied the Five Books of Moses and wrote five-paragraph essays on topics discussed in the class.

The classes are a ministry to the public, said Wagenmaker, who headed a classical Christian school in St. Louis before moving to Fort Worth.

“It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness, therefore, we are offering these classic classes to our Fort Worth neighbors,” Wagenmaker said.

This story was originally published August 30, 2015 at 2:32 PM with the headline "Teaching teens to be better writers."