We are getting SO excited for our first trip to Minnesota for #NCTE15 — the best weekend of the year! We hope to meet you, dear readers! Here are some places we are sure to be during the convention: Writing With Mentors Book Signing — 11am SATURDAY — Heinemann Booth (#832) Teacher-Writer Roundtable (K.15) — 4:15pm — […]
Author: Rebekah O'Dell
Conferring With Writers to Learn What We Don’t Know
Uh oh… My stomach sank, and I could feel the gears inside my head turn on and begin whirring, trying to catch up. Trying to think of the answer. The right answer. Or a good answer. Or any answer. This right here — this is the risk we run when we commit to conferring with […]
Writing With Mentors Book Signing at NCTE15
We hope that we are going to get to meet you at NCTE15 in Minneapolis next week! We will be signing copies of Writing With Mentors at the Heinemann Booth (#832) at 11am on Saturday! We would LOVE to meet you! Please come see us!
Archives of #teachwriting chat — Analytical Writing
We had a wonderful time last night chatting about analytical writing! Here are the questions we considered together: The conversation was fast and furious, chock full of brilliant ideas for engaging students with analytical thinking and writing! Missed it? Need to go back to take notes? You can read the full archives here!
Build Writing Independence with a Digital Menu of Mini-Lessons
So much of the workshop method is built on the desire to mold students into independent writers who will continue to thrive when they leave our classes. By the end of a year in my ninth grade Reading Writing Workshop, I hope that students will have discovered their own unique writing process, they will know […]
#teachwriting Chat, Tuesday, 11/3 @ 9pm EST — Teaching Analytical Writing
On Tuesday night (11/3, 9pm EST), Allison and I will be hosting #teachwriting chat. We’ll be thinking about the challenges, the necessary skills, the authentic products, and (of course) the mentor texts in teaching analytical writing. Here are the questions: We hope you’ll join us for a thought-provoking conversation that impacts every writing classroom!
Flipping Mentor Text Instruction Using Genius
I have a hard time narrowing down the list of mentor texts I want to use in each writing study. There always seems to be just one more amazing text that I think can instruct and inspire my students. In Writing With Mentors, Allison and I recommend 3-6 mentor texts as the ideal cluster for […]
So, I quit grading …
Grades — good or bad — tend to make us do unproductive things. Each September, when I assess my students’ first piece of writing, processed and polished, leave feedback, and return it to them, one of two things happens: students who did well give a great sigh of relief and check English class off of […]
Writing With Mentors — 30% Off On Heinemann.com!
Have you been waiting for Amazon to have Writing With Mentors in stock? Wait no longer! Heinemann is offering Writing With Mentors at 30% off right now — far cheaper than you would get it on Amazon — and it ships IMMEDIATELY! Get your copy now at this amazing price!
Translating Writing With Mentors for Elementary and Middle School, Part II
Last week, we shared our four fundamental beliefs about teaching with mentor texts — beliefs that apply to any students in any classroom, from kindergarten to senior year. We believe that: Real writing is the result of studying real writing Students benefit from studying hot-off-the-presses mentor texts Students need to study multiple mentor texts in […]
moving writers 