Welcome to the March 24, 2018 edition of The Writing Round-Up, a gathering of tips for teaching writing and for growing a writing habit yourself. We appreciate you stopping by to learn with us!
For Teachers of Writers
Understanding Writing from the Inside-Out:
What can we, as teachers, do to unlock the writer in all of our students? It begins with trying a little writing ourselves, as Ashley Lamb-Sinclair explains in "3 Ways to Unlock the Writer Within Every Student" in this EdWeek post.
Spending Time in the Writing Greenbelt:
So much writing goodness happens when teachers can step back and the control of writing back to the writer -- the students. In this thank you note to Ralph Fletcher and his amazing book, Joy Write, Christina Nosek shares what happened when she introduced her students to greenbelt writing and how it transformed her writing classroom and her young writers too! (If you haven't read Fletcher's Joy Write yet, we HIGHLY recommend it!)
Mini-Lessons for the Secondary Classroom:
If you are a secondary teacher, you may enjoy these "5 Favorite Mini-Lessons For the Secondary Classroom" from Amanda Werner and TeachWriting.org. Everything from using mentor texts to generating ideas is covered.
Are You Conferring or Just Helping?:
What's the difference between conferring with a student writer and simply 'helping' them? Are they the same? Read "Moving From Helping to Conferring" by Dana Clark and NCTE and find out.