Welcome to the final Writing Round-Up of 2017! This week, we are sharing some of our favorite finds from 2017, just in case you missed them the first time around.
Before we jump into 2018, we wanted to THANK YOU for being a part of our inaugural year. We are looking forward to 2018 where we will continue to strive to be your go-to resource for teaching writers and becoming a writer yourself because we believe when these two acts are combined, everybody wins!
Now, on with The Round-Up...
For Teachers of Writers:
Looking for some new and fun ways to use writer's notebooks in your classroom? Take a look at the Sharing Our Notebooks website from author/poet/awesome person Amy Ludwig Vanderwater. Her collection of teacher-curated notebook ideas is impressive!
Teaching students how to include dialogue in their writing is so important, yet so tricky. Often, we begin by teaching students how to properly punctuate dialogue, but author Lynne Dorfman suggests that there is more to it than that. We must go deeper and show students the WHY along with the HOW. Her blog post, "Using Dialogue: What We Need to Teach Our Students First," will get you thinking.
Does thinking about a classroom (or classrooms) of students each working on a different writing project have you shutting down your workshop before you even begin? If so, then you MUST read "Managing Independent Writing" from Rebecca O'Dell and Moving Writers. Her solution for record keeping is brilliant!
We've seen the annotated-list headlines everywhere: Seven Ways to Start Your Day, Ten Books Your Classroom Needs, Seven Ideas for Teaching Fractions , or even my own Five Myths About Teaching Writing. This style of writing is catchy and gets right to the point quickly. Readers like it. How can we teach our students to add this style of writing to their writing toolkits? " Your New Favorite Form of Writing, Revealed" from Shawna Coppola will show you!
Editing & Revising: What's the Difference?:
Did you catch my post that explains the difference between editing and revising? Many students (and maybe even a few teachers) think they are the same thing, but their job is quite different.
For Teachers Who Write:
Purposeful Writing Partners:
Do you have a tribe of writing people you write with? Do you want to? "How Writing Partners Help and Where to Find Them" from author Julie Cantrell and the website Writers In the Storm explains the how and why behind finding your writing tribe. (Be sure you subscribe to the Writing Round-Up or the Teach Write website--we've got some big news on this topic coming in January!)
I am a book junkie and love reading books about writing. I was excited to see this list, "The 28 Best Books on Writing" from Signature and was interested to learn that I own 10 of the 28. How about you?
Is the Need For 'Perfect' Holding You Back?
I love, love, love the Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach podcast. Her weekly podcasts are short and always helpful. I especially liked Episode #127: The Paralysis of Perfection. Are there things you've avoided trying with your writing because you are afraid of looking like a beginner? Take a listen!
Looking to improve your writing craft? You'll enjoy these six tips for improving your writing from Harvard's Steven Pinker. Entertaining and insightful!
Join Us! Let's get 2018 started "write" with our monthly #TeachWrite Twitter Chat on Monday, January 1, 2018 (New Year's Day) at 7:30 pm ET. Our theme this month is "Being a Goal-Getter in 2018!". If you'd like a text reminder of our monthly chat, you can sign up here.
Make 2018 Your Best Year YET!
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