We are over at the Heinemann PLC Series this week chatting about mentor texts & discovery . Read — and watch — more here!
Category: Writing Workshop
3 Reasons Literary Analysis Must Be Authentic
Hello, friends! Oh, how we have missed you! Allison and I are still in the midst of finishing our new book on teaching analytical writing, but we couldn’t resist a quick check-in with you to share some of what we have been up to! Yesterday we had the great fun of doing an hour of virtual […]
From Babylon to New Hampshire: Tiny Writing Lives Large
Today’s guest post is from Elizabeth Oosterheert (@oosterheerte). Elizabeth currently teaches middle school language arts and directs the 8th Grade Theatre Troupe at Pella Christian Grade School in Pella, Iowa. She enjoys leading sectionals on young adult literature and writing workshop at the Iowa Reading Conference and the Heartland Teacher Convention. Her passions are writing beside […]
New Year, New Writer’s Notebook
I’m one of those New Year’s Resolvers. I love making lists. I love setting goals. I look at the New Year as a chance to reorganize my whole life. It’s a magical time in my weird little world. So, of course, I was immediately intrigued when I saw a mention of Bullet Journals on Facebook. […]
What Are You Working On? Empowering Student Writers through Workshop
I’ve always believed in the writing process. My teaching didn’t always reflect that belief, as I spent too many years earlier in my career creating worksheets and essay prompts and outlines and templates. I soon realized that just because my writing instruction included steps didn’t mean it was a process. That said, in more recent […]
Video Essays for More Authentic Literary Analysis
Today’s guest post comes from a California teacher that we met at the Southland Council of Teachers of English Annual Conference in October! Noël Ingram currently teaches English 10, Cinematic Arts, and Yearbook at Da Vinci Communications in Hawthorne, CA. She conducted her undergraduate studies in English and Psychology at the University of California, Davis, […]
“Teachable Alternatives” to the 5-Paragraph Essay
On Friday morning at the NCTE Annual Convention, I sat in a session that featured Tom Romano, Mariana Romano, and Linda Rief. My hands failed me that session. I simply could not get all the ideas down in my notebook fast enough. One after another, each teacher spoke to the importance of giving kids the […]
A New Approach to Finding Mentor Texts for Literary Analysis
In our 9th grade Reading Writing Workshop, most writing studies are genre-based. Occasionally, we center our writing studies around a writing technique. But in my 12th grade IB English class, things are a little different. We still use a workshop approach to writing — we move through writing processes in different ways and at different […]
Tiny Writing: Boosting Opportunities for Frequent Student Publication
I love swimming in writing studies for weeks at a time with my students — immersing ourselves in mentor texts, gathering information, writing off the page, talking out our ideas, drafting, revising. But when the average writing study lasts 3-5 weeks, it’s hard to keep the momentum and excitement of seeing a piece through to […]
Breaking Mentor Texts into Loose Parts
Loose parts are easier to examine, replicate, and experiment with. How do we break a mentor text down?
