Many secondary teachers, like you, are beginning to realize the power of running their English classes using writing workshop. Maybe you keep seeing references to it on Pinterest or in Facebook groups. Maybe a teacher friend is trying it and finding success. Or maybe an administrator is pushing teachers at your school to try it. […]
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Mentor Texts for Middle School by Genre+Summaries and Skills to Teach
Every writing unit should start with mentor texts. Students need many examples of the type of writing we expect them to do. In this article, I’ve compiled my favorite middle school mentor texts. Each mentor text includes grade levels, a summary of the text and skills you could teach. Note: This article doesn’t cover how […]
We Need to Stop Neglecting Fiction
Don’t Have Time to Read? Fiction writing is neglected in English classes everywhere for many reasons. We don’t have enough time. Or we are afraid students might produce pages and pages and pages and we feel too guilty about not reading all of those pages! Or maybe some of us don’t do it because we feel it’s just […]
My Students Don’t Write During Writing
Don’t have time to read all of this?!?! Listen below:) So, some of your students aren’t writing during writing? Maybe they are just sitting there staring off into space. Or maybe they are sneaking onto their phone, they’ll probably tell you they were looking up a word on thesaurus.com. Or maybe they are whispering with […]
5 Ways to Use Google Classroom During Writing Workshop
In the last three years Google Classroom has definitely transformed my teaching practices. It is such a simple system to use. At first I used it in obvious ways, create a Google Doc, type directions in that Doc and post it as a class assignment. But as time went on I began to see it […]
10 Ways to Publish Student Writing: A Step-by-Step Guide
Publishing student writing is the cornerstone of a successful writing workshop program. At the beginning of each of my writing units I tell students they will write many different drafts within a writing genre and pick one to revise intensely and then to publish.
10 Ways to Use PowToon in the English Classroom
PowToon is a fun and fairly easy video creation tool for teachers and students. The company already has an excellent blog post about how teachers can utilize this tool in their classrooms here. This blog post is about how students can use PowToon for ten writing and reading tasks! Here is an excellent tutorial […]
Ten Places to Find Mentor Texts
What is a mentor text anyway? A mentor text is any text used to model the type of writing your students are learning. Mentor texts are the backbone of writing workshop because students need to see what the pros do, to get inspired in their own writing. Mentor texts can also be called writing samples, […]
Mini Lesson Step By Step Part One
So what is a mini lesson anyway? To put it plainly, a mini lesson is a brief lesson modeling a targeted writing skill. In this series I’ll break it down into small, easy to chew bits. Join me for this three part series analyzing the components of an effective mini lesson. Part One: Coming to the Meeting Area & Hooking […]
50 Ways to Get Kids Begging to Write More
Do your students moan and groan when it is time for writing? Does it make you sick to your stomach when that happens? Does it make you feel like you are failing as a writing teacher? You are not alone! Believe me, it happens to the best of us. It is not you! Remember writing […]