Revision Strategies for Adolescent Writers


Book Description

Supported by the Common Core State Standards, the 30] strategies in this book include pre-writing planning, peer conferencing, modeling effective revision, and using technology.




Teaching Adolescent Writers


Book Description

In an increasingly demanding world of literacy, it has become critical that students know how to write effectively. From the requirements of standardized tests to those of the wired workplace, the ability to write well, once a luxury, has become a necessity. Many students are leaving school without the necessary writing practice and skills needed to compete in a complex and fast-moving Information Age. Unless we teach them how to run with it, they are in danger of being run over by a stampede—a literacy stampede. InTeaching Adolescent Writers , Kelly Gallagher shows how students can be taught to write effectively. Gallagher shares a number of classroom-tested strategies that enable teachers to: Understand the importance of teaching writing and how to motivate young writers Show how modeling from both the teacher and real-world texts builds young writers Provide choice of what to write, which helps elevate adolescent writing, and how to fit it into a rigorous curriculum Help students recognize the importance of purpose and audience Assess essays in ways that drive better writing performance. Infused with humor and illuminating anecdotes, Gallagher draws on his classroom experiences and work as co-director of a regional writing project to offer teachers both practical ways to incorporate writing instruction into their day and compelling reasons to do so.




Write Like this


Book Description

If you want to learn how to shoot a basketball, you begin by carefully observing someone who knows how to shoot a basketball. If you want to be a writer, you begin by carefully observing the work of accomplished writers. Recognizing the importance that modeling plays in the learning process, high school English teacher Kelly Gallagher shares how he gets his students to stand next to and pay close attention to model writers, and how doing so elevates his students' writing abilities. Write Like This is built around a central premise: if students are to grow as writers, they need to read good writing, they need to study good writing, and, most important, they need to emulate good writers. In Write Like This, Kelly emphasizes real-world writing purposes, the kind of writing he wants his students to be doing twenty years from now. Each chapter focuses on a specific discourse: express and reflect, inform and explain, evaluate and judge, inquire and explore, analyze and interpret, and take a stand/propose a solution. In teaching these lessons, Kelly provides mentor texts (professional samples as well as models he has written in front of his students), student writing samples, and numerous assignments and strategies proven to elevate student writing. By helping teachers bring effective modeling practices into their classrooms, Write Like This enables students to become better adolescent writers. More important, the practices found in this book will help our students develop the writing skills they will need to become adult writers in the real world.




Writing for Children and Teens


Book Description

Nowhere will you find a more comprehensive, current, and detailed writing skills course designed specifically for writing children and teen books, written by a children's and young adult author who is in the field today. WRITING FOR CHILDREN AND TEENS: A CRASH COURSE is a ten-step course that relays all the nitty-gritty details of the business, beginning with how to evaluate your book idea all the way to pitching your book to editors and agents. Within each step, you'll find clear and specific information covering topics such as the children's book market, manuscript format, commonly made mistakes and editing tips to beef up your writing skills, finding the right literary agent or children's book publisher, and professional submission etiquette. This book will even tell you what kind of paper you should use and exactly how you should write your email or letter pitches to editors and agents. Bonus materials include templates for all of your submission needs as well as examples of real-life editorial letters sent to authors from editors today. You will get a complete inside peak to the children's and YA fiction writing market for those who want to write picture books, easy readers, chapter books, and middle grade or young adult/teen novels.




The Write to Read


Book Description

Use reader response strategies to achieve Common Core goals in reading and in writing! Response journals—brief, personal writing in response to reading—can significantly improve reading comprehension. What′s more, when scaffolded over the year, reader response strategies promote engagement, build understanding of complex literary and informational text, and even help students provide supporting evidence in their writing—all goals of the Common Core. For educators eager to use reader response strategies, veteran teacher Lesley Roessing presents a unique, step-by-step approach that inspires thoughtful reading and skillful writing in Grades 5–12. Based on research and her own classroom experience, Roessing′s innovative writing exercises encourage students to read more deeply, develop questions, and participate actively in class. Beginning with simple response tasks and moving toward more complex assignments, the book provides a scaffolded curriculum for the full academic year. Developed for language arts and content area teachers, as well as literacy specialists, this resource includes: Examples of response journals for a wide range of genres, including fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and students′ personal reading Strategies for using reader response to guide classroom discussions, group work, book clubs, and journal writing at home Adaptations for students with diverse abilities Numerous classroom-ready templates and samples of student work Discover a well-structured writing curriculum that promotes confident learning and the joy of reading.




"Is it Done Yet?"


Book Description

Beyond all the wise and practical advice Gilmore offers, there is another reason why I love this book - it's funny and fun to read. Though the author writes with great authority, he never places himself above the reader. Indeed, he uses humorous anecdotes from his personal life and classroom to humble himself and create a sense of joy even as he tackles a subject of dread for most English teachers. - Barry Lane Author of After the End Why do so many students resist revision? Maybe because it feels to them like starting over, like an indictment of their first draft, or a rejection of their ideas. Encouraging teens to see revision as process rather than criticism, as the bridge between generating ideas and finalizing their work for publication, is crucial to their growth and success as thoughtful adult writers. With "Is It Done Yet?" Barry Gilmore helps you push your writers toward a new, realistic understanding of revision while offering proven ways to overcome student resistance. Is It Done Yet? takes a new, refreshing look at revision. It acknowledges that while writing manuals often suggest general guidelines for writing, few target the specific and recurring issues of style and argumentation that students typically encounter in their assignments. Gilmore offers a variety of practical strategies for incorporating revision at all stages of the writing process - especially in content and style - as well as in numerous genres, including literary analysis, on-demand writing, and the college entrance essay. He goes beyond marking up grammar and spelling, differentiates editing from revising, and presents a multifaceted approach that moves students toward an understanding of revision as a process that helps them write fluently and communicate more effectively. All the while, Gilmore will help you change your own sense of revision so that you can use it to match up student needs with specific instructional focuses. Humorous, practical, and accessible, Is It Done Yet? includes classroom samples of student writing and revision, a thorough description of Gilmore's step-by-step process for incorporating powerful revision lessons, and ready-to-use activities that engage students and support your teaching. In addition, with chapters on peer and class revision, revision in creative writing, and using technology during revision, he gives you everything you need to get kids revising and develop their maturity as writers - to help them complete papers with pride, confidence, and craft.




Brave the Page


Book Description

The official NaNoWriMo handbook that inspires young people to tackle audacious goals and complete their creative projects. Includes pep talks from today's biggest authors! John Green, Marissa Meyer, Jennifer Niven, Daniel José Older, Danielle Paige, Celia C. Pérez, and Scott Westerfeld with an introduction by Jason Reynolds! Partly a how-to guide on the nitty-gritty of writing, partly a collection of inspiration to set (and meet) ambitious goals, Brave the Page is the go-to resource for middle-grade writers. Narrated in a fun, refreshingly kid-friendly voice, it champions NaNoWriMo's central mission that everyone's stories deserve to be told. The volume includes chapters on character, plot, setting, and the like; motivating essays from popular authors; advice on how to commit to your goals; a detailed plan for writing a novel or story in a month; and more! National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that believes in the transformational power of creativity. They provide the structure, community, and encouragement to help people find their voices, achieve creative goals, and build new worlds--on and off the page. With its first event in 1999, the organization's programs now include National Novel Writing Month in November, Camp NaNoWriMo, the Young Writers Program, Come Write In, and the "Now What?" Months.




Reviser's Toolbox


Book Description

The book is designed to help writing teachers in grades 2-12 teach revision and editing. Includes reproducible lessons and posters.




The Knowledge Gap


Book Description

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.




The Writing Rope


Book Description

Writing is a complex task--and today's students must learn to write proficiently and write to learn in different content areas. The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects clearly explains the intertwined skills and processes involved in writing well: transcription, writing craft, critical thinking, syntax, and text structure. Steeped in writing research and packed with reproducible handouts and templates, this book provides the knowledge and resources educators need to help students master writing.