by Amanda | Jan 27, 2023 | Argumentative Writing, Podcast, Support for Struggling Writers, Technology, Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It It’s about time for teachers to start their opinion, persuasive, or argumentative writing units (depending on the grade you teach). Most teachers realize that sample sentences and essays are an important component of any writing...
by Amanda | Aug 23, 2022 | Assessment, Equity, Podcast, Reading Units, Social Justice, Unit Planning, Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It In this six-part series, I outline exactly how I’m rethinking my workshop classroom with an equity lens. You can find the other parts of this series here:Part 1: Rethinking Writing Workshop with Equity in MindPart 2: Rethinking...
by Amanda | Dec 22, 2019 | Assessment, Differentiation, Podcast, Writing Units
397SharesShare Tweet Pin It Teachers are SUPER busy during the school year and need to be efficient when planning new writing units. It is absolutely necessary to find ways to save time. The thing is you are most likely missing one huge step before you...
by Amanda | Jan 26, 2019 | Make Writing Fun, Podcast, Writing Units
213SharesShare Tweet Pin It So you want to excite students about your upcoming writing unit? Before I wrote this post I asked some 7th and 8th grade students this question… What could teachers do to get you excited for a writing assignment?...
by Amanda | Oct 28, 2018 | Assessment, Podcast, Writing Units
1.4kSharesShare Tweet Pin It Don’t have time to read this article? Listen here! Grading hundreds of papers is the bane of an English teacher’s existence. Don’t get me wrong. I love being able to get a thorough look into the minds of my...
by Amanda | Aug 26, 2018 | Featured Post, Make Writing Fun, Podcast, Writing Units
640SharesShare Tweet Pin It 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...
by Amanda | Oct 7, 2017 | Mini Lessons, Podcast, Reading, Routines, Writing Units
6.9kSharesShare Tweet Pin It Writing and reading workshop are powerful methods to teach English. But, how can secondary teachers, who have less than an hour with their students, do it all?!?! I think I have found the solution! Here are the two different...
by Amanda | Sep 5, 2017 | Back to School, Management, Mini Lessons, Podcast, Writing Units
5.9kSharesShare Tweet Pin It This article outlines exactly what I did to launch both reading and writing workshop in my classroom. If you are an English teacher wanting to teach using the writing and reading workshop model, then...
by Amanda | Aug 6, 2017 | Assessment, Featured Post, Publishing, Technology, Writing Units
1.5kSharesShare Tweet Pin It 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...
by Amanda | Nov 4, 2016 | Podcast, Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It Most secondary teachers I know, wonderful teachers who are friends of mine by the way, teach information/expository writing using essay assignments. Here’s how it usually goes: Read & annotate articles Write an essay in...
by Amanda | Oct 13, 2016 | Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It Planning a unit can be time consuming but it doesn’t have to be. Planning a unit can actually be quite simple, especially if you plan as you go, based on the needs of the students in front of you. Below you’ll find 5 tips...
by Amanda | Mar 3, 2016 | Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It Many teachers think argumentative and persuasive writing are the same. Some would go as far as to say that persuasive writing has just turned into argumentative because of Common Core (not true). And where does opinion writing...
by Amanda | Oct 29, 2015 | Mini Lessons, Writing Units
Share Tweet Pin It Planning a writing unit can feel overwhelming. Many teachers feel stressed out by curricula put in front of them by their schools and districts with little to no training. It is difficult to sift through all the words to get to the...
