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Jun 8

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Tools of the Trade: Google Docs – A Tool for Taking the Writing Conference Beyond the Confines of the Classroom

By Kelly Virgin

“By truly listening to students when we confer, we let them know that the work they’re doing as ‘writers’ matters.” -Carl Anderson

For years I have struggled with finding the time to truly listen to each and every writer I teach and as a result I know I have failed in letting many of them know how much their writing matters. As a high school teacher, the confines of a 42 minute class period and the average class size of 25 or more students made it logistically impossible for me to engage in meaningful writing conferences with every student regularly. That is until I took our writing conferences beyond the confines of the classroom through the use of Google Docs.  Read more

Jun 6

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A Writerly Life: Wisdom from Paul West

West

Jun 6

2 Comments

Books on the Blog: The Key to Extraordinary by Natalie Lloyd

by Jen Greene

Natalie Lloyd has a lyrically brilliant writing style that draws readers into an alternate universe where magic does exist and anything is possible.  Her sentences are carefully crafted together to weave a story that leaves you changed upon completion.  Her first book, A Snicker of Magic, is a masterpiece that I try to put in the hands of every student in my classroom.  Her second novel, The Key to Extraordinary is just as magical and transformative, sure to quickly become a favorite among students in the upper elementary grades.  Read more

Jun 1

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Teacher-to-Teacher: End-of-Year Epiphanies

Adobe Spark (22)

By Janice Ewing

My grad class is small this term, a seminar-like community with lots of conversation and sharing of ideas and experiences. The comfort level among the group is a welcome respite at a time when everyone is striving to fulfill end-of-year requirements and scrambling to reach unmet goals, while keeping up with grad school and family obligations.

Recently, a few of the teachers shared experiences that were unexpectedly positive and rewarding. For example, Anne (names have been changed) teaches in an alternative high school for students who have previously dropped out or taken other detours from the traditional path to graduation. Most, if not all, have had struggles and negative experiences with reading, robbing them of the pleasurable experience of getting caught up in a book. By chance, Anne acquired a large enough collection of Walter Dean Myers’ Monster to accommodate her small class. She had not read the book, but had read reviews and commentaries and it seemed like a great fit for her students. She decided to jump in without reading it ahead, which was not her usual practice. Next issue: a well-meaning colleague pointed out that there were related “packets’ available, which would provide questions, prompts, discussion points, etc. An inner voice told her to forgo the packets, and she listened to it.  Read more

May 30

A Writerly Life: Wisdom from Cheryl Strayed

Strayed

May 25

2 Comments

The Monsters and the Writers (Guest Post)

by Donald LaBranche

The first principle is this: when they walk through the door, take them seriously as writers.  Every decision I make will have to grow out of that ground. Purple hair, ukuleles, gothic jewelry and clothing, surly expressions on the face one day and sweet dispositions the next…take them seriously as writers. Whatever it is, writers are just like that.  

I’ve been teaching this Young Writers/Young Readers class (Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror) long enough so that I have a process that more or less stays the same. I ask myself the same questions every year. Whose fiction should I read so I can renew familiarity with classic stories? (Mary Shelley) Whose fiction is on the cutting edge of what is being written say, in the last 3-5 years? (Ann Leckie) Also, whose work about the craft of writing will benefit my students by learning and practicing what they have to say? Finally, I want to look at student work from the last couple of years in some detail to discern what it is they can do well and what I need to help them do better.

That’s it. That’s the plan as it looks in mid-April.  Read more

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