Many of today’s students crave choice, freedom, and the excitement of exploring something new. This year, as you prepare to roll out your writing units, you may also want to reconsider the level of constraints within each unit. How and when might you invite students to choose the product that best fits their personal preference and intended audience?
Tag: writing process
Flailing and Feedback In Writing Process As Critical: KidLit Authors Share Why
Slowing down the brainstorming part of the writing process and recognizing the emotionality of feedback has big rewards for two published authors, in addition to our young classroom writers.
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Ways to Warm Up for Writing (At All Ages and Stages)
Athletes warm up before practice, musicians warm up before a rehearsal--so why wouldn't writers warm up before writing?
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Teaching Writing, Learning Writing
As I get ready for the March SOLSC, I'm thinking about ways to support writers when ideas, energy and inspiration waver.
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A Step Back, A Leap Forward
Sometimes the most effective way to help writers leap ahead, is to slow things down and take a step back.
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Discovering and Developing Student Writer Identity
For writers to grow, they must develop writer identities. How do we help them do that?
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Making the Most of Pre-Assessments
We spend a week or so sharing stories, and building excitement for writing stories. We hand out notebooks with fanfare, and writers happily personalize them. They brainstorm ideas for stories they could write. And then we stand in front of the class and explain that today is the day we want each of them to… Continue reading Making the Most of Pre-Assessments
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Sometimes we only write in writing workshop
My sixth graders have been busy drafting their feature articles this week, and I had a series of mini lessons planned to begin each writing workshop day. My students, however, had other ideas.
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Keeping a writing blog: taking our writing workshop online
With the Classroom Slice of Life Story Challenge just around the corner, perhaps some of you are thinking more than ever about starting a class blog just for writing. Over the past few years, we have taken our writer's notebook online in my classroom, not just for the month of March, but for the entire… Continue reading Keeping a writing blog: taking our writing workshop online
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Does “Published” Need to be “Perfect?”
There's a reason for second and third editions of really great books--a writer's work is never done, and is certainly never, ever perfect.
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Saturday Mornings
This is my vision of you on Saturday mornings: A mug of something warm -- coffee, tea, or chai -- in your hands Snuggled in a comfy chair Allowing peace to replace the stress from the week Happily thinking about the power of words and education to change the world Wait a minute -- maybe… Continue reading Saturday Mornings
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First Draft Writing
When I was first learning about Writing Workshop, it was difficult for me to wrap my head around the process each student would be going through. I spent a lot of time thinking and re-thinking the writing process and the way it would become individualized. Going from idea to notebook to draft to publication seemed… Continue reading First Draft Writing
TWO WRITING TEACHERS 