Malcolm X copied the dictionary from A to Z. He understood what most classrooms never teach: language is not a gift. It is a tool you build. That self-imposed discipline became the foundation for a voice that shook the world.
This course walks that same arc.
The Details
An ELA writing course for grades 6–8, grounded in the intellectual tradition of Malcolm X.
🗓️ Dates: January 5 – March 26
⏰ Schedule: Tuesdays & Fridays, 4:00–5:00 PM EST
💻 Format: Live virtual (real-time instruction, not pre-recorded)
💳 Investment: $397 — payment plans available
Winter: Writing as Witness and Argument
"I'm for truth, no matter who tells it. I'm for justice, no matter who it is for or against." — Malcolm X
Winter is about the architecture of thought. This is the season of writing—not the hollow, five-paragraph essay of standardized tests, but writing as witness. Writing as argument. Writing as the act of saying, I was here. I saw this. This matters.
Your child will learn to build a claim the way Malcolm built a case: with evidence, with logic, with an understanding of audience that is both strategic and deeply respectful. They will study his rhetorical moves and practice deploying those same moves in their own work.
✍🏾 The Craft:
From Vocabulary to Essay
This is a writing class and writing is a skill built in layers. Your scholar will move through a comprehensive introduction to essay writing, one deliberate step at a time:
🔤 Vocabulary → ✏️ Sentence → 📄 Paragraph → 📜 Essay
Each layer builds on the last. Scholars learn the words that carry weight, the sentences that hold an argument, the paragraphs that develop a claim, and the essays that bring it all together with a clear rubric for evaluation at every stage, so they always know what strong writing looks like and exactly how to get there.
And they will write. A lot.
This course is built around practice, not passive instruction. Scholars will spend real time:
- ✍🏾 Writing essays — drafting, revising, and refining their own arguments
- 📖 Reading essays — studying real, published work that lives out in the world
- 💬 Discussing essays — analyzing what makes an argument work and deploying those moves in their own writing
By the end of the term, your scholar won't just know the structure of an essay. They'll know how to build one that says something — and how to defend it.
This Is Not a Neutral Course
This course is for families who believe their children are heirs to the English language. It is for students in grades 6–8 who have something to say and are ready to engage with complex ideas, real-world history, and the full humanity of a complicated intellectual figure.
It is not for families who prefer an ELA curriculum that avoids direct engagement with race and power.
It is not for students who need a skills-drill approach rather than an integrated, thematic year.
I'm Marika. I built this course because I watched middle-grade scholars lose their voices in academic spaces that weren't built for them.
I've spent my career teaching young people to write with evidence, with logic, and with the conviction that their perspective belongs in the room. I've seen what happens when a child realizes the English language belongs to them — not as a guest, but as an heir. That moment changes everything. It changes how they write. It changes how they speak. It changes what they believe they're allowed to do in the world.
This course exists to create that moment and then to build on it for an entire year. My scholars don't just learn to write essays. They learn to build arguments, to witness their own experience, and to speak with the authority that Malcolm X claimed for himself when he copied the dictionary from A to Z.
The course is built for middle grade learners, approximately grades 6 through 8. It is rigorous and assumes your child is ready to engage with complex texts and ideas. That said, the structure supports a wide range of skill levels. Advanced fifth graders and ninth graders seeking a foundational year in rhetorical power have both thrived here.
Plan for at least one of focused work per week, outside of class.
Course costs $397 per household.
Yes. Sponsorships cover tuition for accepted families who need it. You won't be matched with a name — but you'll know a young writer found their voice this year because of you. As a thank you, we'll mail you a copy of the Omowale ELA Grammar Companion. Email us at info@kotoko.org
No. We believe the struggle to find the right word, to build a sentence from scratch, to revise something that isn't working yet—that is the education. AI short-circuits the very process this course exists to cultivate. Your child will learn to trust their own mind, not a prompt window. We ask that all written work be fully, unmistakably human.
Email info@kotoko.org for a sample class. Serious inquires only.