One of the writing teacher’s lesser-known jobs is to calm the writing fears of our gifted and talented students.
Category: The Writing Process
Best of 2015-2016: Writing Explorers – 4 Ideas for Approaching Writing as Discovery in Your Class Tomorrow
I spent a lot of time with Donald Murray this year, working my way through his books and essays. One of my biggest takeaways is that neither I nor my students need to have all the answers before we begin writing — and that is such an encouragement to anxious student writers! In this post, […]
When Purpose Drives a Project
The Internet has the power to connect people across the globe. I think we can all agree that’s already been well-established. The realization that I’ve recently had, though, is what a powerful impact this can have on my own professional learning. The first time I participated in a Twitter chat, I felt like a superfan […]
Structure as Mentor Text: How Can We Organize Ideas Beyond the 5-Paragraph Essay?
A few weeks ago, I came across a post on the Teaching and Learning Forum on the NCTE website. The conversation centered around the usefulness—or the lack of usefulness—of the five-paragraph essay. Comments varied, with many teachers chiming in with their thoughts, both fervently for and against the form. I spent the first five years […]
Five Ways to Use Sketching in Writing Workshop
Bring sketching into your workshop to help students visualize details and reflect on the writing process.
Making “Writer” a Label Students Can Wear – Three Ideas
Before mentors texts became the flexible frame onto which I could hang all of my writing instruction, I had nothing to do with all of the cool articles I stumbled across. When I found a piece of writing that connected with my curriculum, I would most often say, “Hey! Cool!”, print it or clip it, […]
Writer’s Telephone – an Information-Gathering, Idea-Nuturing Strategy
I feel like I’ve been engaged in a pedagogical ancestry project recently — mapping my teaching forebears through generations. In floods of professional books, blogs, Tweets, and chats, these ideals into which I have become so deeply entrenched sometimes lose their original source. Like a game of educational Telephone, the message gets translated and retranslated, […]
Three Different Approaches to Flash Drafting
No matter where students are in their writing, flash drafting can be a useful exercise if students are invited to flash draft on their own terms.
moving writers 