linda rief · response · writer's notebook · writer's-reader's notebook · writing about reading

Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook

Stacey Shubitz


I received Linda Rief‘s Inside the Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook: A Workshop Essential (Heinemann 2007) the other day. I began reading it almost immediately. Even though Rief, a New Hampshire Middle School Teacher, gears her writing towards an audience of teachers who teach middle school, I still felt this was a must-read book for me since I have a deep interest in notebooks and making them work for kids.

As stated in Chapter 1 of her book, here are the goals of a Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook (herein referred to as W-RN):

  • gives students a place to begin to develop ideas as writers and readers (and a subsequent place for teachers to track that growth).
  • a place where children can observe, think about, and notice the world around them.
  • a consistent structure to respond to literature without attempting to stymie creativity and expression.
  • a place for students to recognize their development as fluent, creative, thoughtful, and imaginative readers and writers.

    • I’m fascinated by the amount of thought Rief put into developing the sample W-RN, which came along with the professional book. I’d love to purchase something like this for my students, but my worry would be there wouldn’t be enough space for them to really write and write and write and live like a writer: they’d need more than one of these/year and that would get expensive. That being said, the W-RN is smartly designed and is broken-up into sections with spaces for lists, vocabulary development and much more.

    Wouldn’t it be great if we all had the opportunity, like Linda Rief, to design our own notebooks for our kids using what we’ve learned through the years to perfect them? This is my writing teacher dream!

    Discover more from TWO WRITING TEACHERS

    Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

    Unknown's avatar

    Published by Stacey Shubitz

    Stacey Shubitz is a K-6 literacy consultant and former elementary teacher. She is the author of CRAFT MOVES and other professional books on writing workshop. Her forthcoming book, MAKE THE SCHOOL SYSTEM WORK FOR YOUR CHILD WITH DISABILITIES (Guilford Press, 2026), empowers parents to navigate the special education system.

    3 thoughts on “Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook”

    2. Pingback: Writer’s-Reader’s Notebook | Prime Notebook Computer Review

    3. I think you’re almost there! You have an abundance of wonderful ideas!!!

      I too looked at that book and wondered what you were thinking. I like her ideas, but I think I might stick to two separate notebooks for now (writer’s notebook and response log)

      Reading Response Logs

      Like

    Comments are closed.