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The Writing Round-Up {8.24.19}

Jennifer Laffin

Aug 21, 2019
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {8.24.19}

Welcome to the August 24, 2019 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher-writer. Below you will find some great tips from around the web to help you do either -- or both! Let's get started! Daily Writing Topics: In addition to the #DWHabit Word of the Day, you may enjoy sharing Gary Anderson's Daily Writing Prompt with your students. You can find his prompt on Twitter each morning by searching #WNW1920 or by followi

The Writing Round-Up {12.15.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Dec 12, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {12.15.18}

Welcome to the December 15, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher who writes. Enjoy this edition of the Writing Round-Up? We would love it if you would share it with your friends or on your social media. Thank you for supporting us! Now, on to this week's Round-Up! Start your 2019 writing year off right! Join one of the Teach Write Time to Write! Online Writing Workshops today to meet and write with other t

The Writing Round-Up {11.17.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Nov 13, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {11.17.18}

Welcome to the November 17, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher writer. We appreciate you stopping by. If you are at NCTE this weekend, don't forget about our #TeachWrite Meetup and Notebook Exchange at 4:30pm on Saturday. To find out where we will meet, sign up for our Remind and we will send a text message. Whether you are a teacher of writers or a teacher who writes, we've found some great tips for you

The Writing Round-Up {10.27.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Oct 26, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {10.27.18}

Welcome to the October 27, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher writer. Are you headed to NCTE in Houston next month? If you are, we hope you will join us at a #TeachWrite writing meetup and notebook exchange on Saturday, November 17. The time and date is still TBD, but you can sign up for a text reminder and we will let you know when we figure it all out. Whether you are a teacher of writers or a teacher

The Writing Round-Up {9.29.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Sep 27, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {9.29.18}

Welcome to the September 29, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher writer. We appreciate you stopping by! If you enjoy our Writing Round-Up, we'd love it if you would share it with a friend. Also, be sure to sign up for our email list so you never miss an update. Now, on to this week's Round-Up! Can Your Students Write a Novel? National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) begins November 1. During NaNoWriMo, pa

The Writing Round-Up {9.08.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Sep 7, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {9.08.18}

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

The Writing Round-Up {9.01.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Aug 29, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {9.01.18}

Welcome to the September 1, 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! We've found some great tips for you this week that will help you grow as a stronger teacher of writers, a teacher-writer yourself or BOTH! Remember, many of the things that work for you as a writer may also work for your students so share your learning with them too. Now, let's get started! Writing Tips for All

The Writing Round-Up {8.25.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Aug 23, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {8.25.18}

Welcome to the August 25, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing as a teacher-writer. Below you will find some great tips from around the web to help you do either -- or both! Let's get started! Daily Writing Topics: In addition to the #DWHabit Word of the Day, you may enjoy sharing Gary Anderson's Daily Writing Prompt with your students. You can find his prompt on Twitter each morning by searching #WNW1819 or by followi

The Writing Round-Up {4.21.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Apr 20, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {4.21.18}

Welcome to The Writing Round-Up for April 21, 2018. Thank you so much for stopping by! We've gathered some fantastic tips for teaching writing and for growing as a writer yourself this week. Let's get started! For Teachers of Writers Encouraging Persistence: How do we help our students develop grit and persistence when it comes to writing? Kate Sjostrom shares three tips in her post, "Encouraging Persistence in Writing" from Writers Who Care. I especially agree with tip #2! W

Fantastic First Lines {Reading Like a Writer Series}

Jennifer Laffin

Apr 3, 2018
3 min

Fantastic First Lines {Reading Like a Writer Series}

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

The Writing Round-Up {3.31.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Mar 30, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {3.31.18}

Welcome to the March 31, 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 are here! For Teachers of Writers Blast Through Writing Instruction Roadblocks: Are you ready to ramp up your writing instruction? Don't know what's holding your students back from growing as writers? Brian Kissel has some tips for you in his ASCD Educational Leadership journal article, "Six Roadblocks to Writing Instruc

Dialogue That Does Something (Reading Like a Writer Series)

Jennifer Laffin

Mar 27, 2018
3 min

Dialogue That Does Something (Reading Like a Writer Series)

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

The Writing Round-Up {3.17.18}

Jennifer Laffin

Mar 16, 2018
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {3.17.18}

This week on The Writing Round-Up: Increasing writing effectiveness, pondering poetry, growing student-writers, conferring & more!

Balance Your Writing with The Power of Three

Jennifer Laffin

Jan 31, 2018
2 min

Balance Your Writing with The Power of Three

There’s something magical about the number 3. (Just ask the people at Schoolhouse Rock, right?) Our minds find comfort, balance and completeness when things happen in threes. As an example, look at that last sentence above. Notice the three details: comfort, balance & completeness. How would the sentence be different if it just said "Our minds find comfort and balance when things happen in threes"? Threes create a pattern that research has found is easier for the brain to pro

Sentence Length: Mix It Up!

Jennifer Laffin

Jan 25, 2018
3 min

Sentence Length: Mix It Up!

It's time for another experiment in writing. Please read the following two passages: Passage #1: The flakes fluttered to the ground. It had started snowing at midnight. The ground was now just white. You couldn’t see the grass anymore. The road was completely covered too. That meant one thing — snow day! We could spend the day sledding. Passage #2: The flakes fluttered to the ground. Even though no one was awake to see it, it had started snowing at midnight. Now, there was w

Paragraphs: Give Us a Break!

Jennifer Laffin

Jan 17, 2018
2 min

Paragraphs: Give Us a Break!

I’d like to try a little experiment. Please read the following two passages. Passage #1: The birds gathered at the feeder, each one eager for their chance to gather some seeds. There was a snowstorm last night, leaving a blanket of white covering the dried grasses and branches and hiding any source of food that the birds could find on their own. But the bird feeder would be their saving grace. As they waited their turn, they chirped greetings to each other. The fat mourning d

The Writing Round-Up (11.19.17)

Jennifer Laffin

Nov 19, 2017
2 min

The Writing Round-Up (11.19.17)

Welcome to another week of the Writing Round-Up, our gathering of tips for teaching writing and being a teacher who writes. We spent a few days this past week at the NCTE Annual Convention in St. Louis and were lucky to connect with other educators and thought leaders who are passionate about writing and literacy. We highly recommend this amazing learning experience! Now, on to this week's Round-Up... For Teachers of Writers Storytelling Tips from Pixar: Looking for something

Fast Drafting: Getting Ideas Down Quickly

Jennifer Laffin

Nov 8, 2017
3 min

Fast Drafting: Getting Ideas Down Quickly

Writers spend too much time in the drafting phase when working on a writing project. Rough drafts are meant to be just that - rough. Teachin

Editing & Revision: Defining the Difference

Jennifer Laffin

Oct 25, 2017
2 min

Editing & Revision: Defining the Difference

Editing and revising are two of the most important stages in preparing writing for publication. Knowing the differences between them is the

The Writing Round-Up {10.22.17}

Jennifer Laffin

Oct 22, 2017
2 min

The Writing Round-Up {10.22.17}

Welcome back to the Writing Round-Up, a collection of some of our favorite finds about teaching writing and being a teacher who writes. We hope are ready to dive into some new learning because we've got some good things to share this week. Let's get started! For Teachers of Writers Who Are Your Students Writing For?: As a writer, keeping my audience in the forefront of my mind shapes the writing I do and motivates me to do my best work. Do students have this same opportunity?