Use these five tips and the tools provide to coach high quality peer review sessions.
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The Writing Teacher’s Guide to Summer
I closed the laptop, took a deep breath, looked at my husband, and said, “Next year, I want to be a really, really good teacher.” He just laughed and shook his head, used to such proclamations by now. Because at the end of every single school year, I am consumed with how I am going to […]
Mentor Text Wednesday – Sunday Edition: Writing About Tragedy
Mentor Texts: Sometimes, The Earth is Cruel by Leonard Pitts Jr. Patton Oswalt’s Facebook response to the Boston Marathon Bombing Take Time To Heal – A Gay Educator Looks At Orlando by Jess Lifshitz Finding Love In Our Anger – A Straight Educator Looks at Orlando by Doug Robertson I Still Love America by Devin […]
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 […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: The Video Essay
Mentor Texts: Batman: Evolving the Legend by Kristian Williams (@kaptainkristian) (Any of the videos on his YouTube channel are awesome!) Writing Techniques: Presentation Analytical or Critical Writing Pop Culture Writing Curation of material to augment presentation Background: You’ve already reacted with a sigh or a fist pump. Another geeky one. This is another one […]
Who Is Writing With Mentors For?
Writing With Mentors has a 9-12 label in the top right corner, but it isn’t only for workshop-centered high school teachers. There is something in this book for every writing teacher who wants to engage students, connect them with the real world of writing, draw direct links between reading and writing instruction, and ratchet up the […]
How Mentor Text Study Makes “Big Magic”
It was 9:45 on a Thursday night with two weeks left in the school year and I was crying. My eyes welled up as I read a mash-up of Death of a Salesman and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Years after the death of their father, Biff Loman was inviting Happy to join […]
A Study for Growing Writers & Naturalists
Take writers outside and watch them bloom!
5 Tips for Teachers Who Want to Quit Grading
I would wager that grading is probably the very least favorite element of teachers’ jobs. (I would also guess this is quickly followed by complaining parents and senseless, top-down mandates.) We’ve all had the fantasy of the perfect teaching job that would exist if only we weren’t bogged down in numbers and rubrics and gradebooks. […]
College Application Essays: Using Infographics to Help Students Write Authentically
For a few years now, a debate has been simmering in my department about the college application essay: what’s our role? Some of my colleagues think we have an obligation to help the students with this very important piece of writing, and they’re not alone. Many of the school districts around us require all juniors […]
moving writers 