Use these five tips and the tools provide to coach high quality peer review sessions.
Tag: writing workshop
Discovering a Writing Process that Works
One of my favorites things about the end of the school year—aside from summer vacation, of course—is the opportunity to reflect on another year gone by. And as I look back on this particular year, I see many bumps in the road: lessons gone awry, students I didn’t quite reach, and material I didn’t get […]
Could You Please Repeat That? Showing Students the Effect of Repetition in Writing
Remember that Family Guy bit where Stewie is begging to get Lois’s attention by doing that lovable and annoying and relentless thing children do? “Lois! Lois! Lois! Lois! Lois! Mom! Mom! Mom! Mommy! Mommy! Mommy! Mama! Mama! Mama! Ma! Ma! Ma! Ma! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mum! Mummy! Mummy! Mumma! Mumma! Mumma!” Of course, Lois replies, […]
Coaching the Overwhelmed Writer
Sticky notes and index cards can help overwhelmed writers take things bit by bit.
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, […]
Teaching Shakespeare (and Literary Analysis!) with Prompt Books
This April, English teachers, Anglophiles, all buddies of the Bard will commemorate the 400th anniversary of William Shakespeare’s death. Museums, libraries, schools, and theater companies are marking the occasion with special events like the homecoming of the Globe to Globe tour of Hamlet, which will have performed in around 200 countries by the […]
A Writing With Mentors Interview
We had so much fun talking to Anna E. Baldwin (@annaebaldwin), a professor at the University of Montana, about writing workshop, mentor texts, and our new project!
Sentence Study to Textual Analysis — an Aha! moment
In 2014, I attended Alison and Rebekah’s presentation at NCTE in Washington, DC, and left buzzing about so much of what they shared, especially sentence studies. For reluctant writers like my freshmen, a sentence study is a great way to ease into creative writing or new sentence styles. The thought of writing a paragraph sometimes […]
Revision: A New Kind of Final Exam
Inspired by Rebekah’s decision to quit grading earlier this year, I have been trying to take more risks with assessment in my own classroom. I haven’t gone grade-free quite yet, but I’m looking for more opportunities to involve my students in the assessment process. Since it is end-of-term time for many schools, I thought […]
Mentor Text Wednesday: On Rey
Mentor Text: The Power of Rey by Nicole Sperling What Rey Means to Me by Gabrielle Bondi What is a Mary Sue, and does Star Wars: The Force Awakens have one? by Caroline Framke Writing Techniques: Character analysis Pop culture analysis Using a feminist lens to critique character and pop culture Background: I got two […]
moving writers 