Welcome to the September 22, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher writer. Thanks for stopping by! The Many Ways to Use Writing Prompts: Many of us turn to writing prompts for a daily spark for our (or our students'!) writing. But prompts can be so much more. Enjoy "Creative Writing Prompts: The Complete Guide" from Standout Books. How to Teach Writing Process: Students best learn about the writing process

Welcome to the September 8, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher who writes. We appreciate you stopping by! We've put together some great tips this week to get your writing year off right. Let's get started... Unpacking Students' Writing Baggage: What kinds of past writing experiences are your students carrying into your classroom this year? Now is the time to help your students unpack that baggage so they

Welcome to the June 16, 2018 edition of the Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a writer yourself. We are glad you're here! For Teachers of Writers What Are Your Questions About Teaching Writing? Whether you've been in the classroom for 20 years or 2 years, we've all got questions about teaching writing. I'd love to feature your questions in a "Questions From the Classroom" section in my upcoming book about teaching writing. Please s

Welcome to the April 7, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing a writing habit yourself. Thank you for stopping by! For Teachers of Writers Hooking Your Reader: Did you catch our post this week, "Fantastic First Lines?" It includes a free resource for you to use with your students to help them play with their opening lines and try on a few different techniques to find one that will really grab the attention of their read

You've heard the saying, "Don't judge a book by its cover." But what about, "Don't judge a book by its first page?" Is this even possible to do? When we pick up a book, it is most likely the words on the first page that determine whether or not we will keep reading. We've all read a book or two that didn't capture our attention so we stopped reading. Don't let this happen to you as a writer! Those first few lines of writing are referred to as the "hook" or the "grabber" becau

Powerful dialogue does more than help characters say something. Good dialogue moves a story forward. Here's how to use mentor texts to s