Welcome to the September 3, 2017 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of some of our favorite tips for teaching writing and being a teacher-writer.
I hope your first weeks of school are going well. I've settled both of my kids into their college lives and have spent the week adjusting to being an empty-nester. I'm looking forward to more time to write and to share some great writing finds with you in the days ahead. (Be sure to sign up for our mailing list to keep in touch with what I find.)
Let's get started with this week's Round-Up...
For Teachers of Writers
Mentor Texts for Launching Writing Notebooks:
The beautiful thing about using a mentor text when teaching writing is that it reinforces the reading-writing connection. As you begin your writing year, Franki Sibberson has some great mentor texts to help your students dive deep into their notebooks in her blog post, "Mentor Texts for Launching Writers' Notebooks."
What does it mean to write? Shawna Coppola asked teachers that question, then had them compare their list to the kinds of writing they taught in their classroom. Would your lists match up? Check out "What It Means to "Write" -- and What We Teach Our Students" to read more. Shawna's words will get you reflecting on your own practice.
Think about the routines in your life: Getting up in the morning, your route to work, leaving for the day. Routines are something you do automatically and do not require much extra effort. In "The Silent Hero: Routines and Procedures," Deb Frazier shares how routines in the writing classroom can make writing easier and more automatic for our students and reduce stress for all of us.
For Teacher-Writers
The Routines of Writers:
Speaking of routines...do you wonder how professional writers go about getting their bottom into their writing chair to make their magic happen? This post from the website Writing Routines will give you an inside look at how some authors stop the procrastinating and start writing every day.
Time to Tweet:
Mark your calendar to join us on Monday, September 4th (yes, Labor Day evening) at 7:30 pm EDT for our monthly #TeachWrite Twitter chat. This month's topic is a timely one given the back-to-school craziness: "Making Time for Writing." You can sign up to receive a reminder text message here.
Join our Facebook Group: TeachWrite: A Tribe for Teachers of Writers & Teachers Who Write. Our goal is to build a community for writing teachers and writing teachers where we can support each other, learn about writing and teaching writing, and have fun! We would be honored if you would join us!
Every Sunday, the Writing Round-Up shares a few of our favorite finds about teaching writing and other topics of interest to writing teachers.
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Thanks for reading this week's Writing Round-Up! Have a great writing week and see you next Sunday.
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