In my book, Last Day Blues, the students in Mrs. Hartwell’s class worry that she will be sad when the school year ends and will spend the summer wishing she were back in school. As the students try to think of ways to ease Mrs. Hartwell’s sadness, they also look back at the high and …
A couple of years ago I was volunteering in an elementary school and was asked to monitor a small group of 3rd graders who needed extended time to take the standardized state test. As I wandered around the room, I noticed one boy getting especially antsy and yet, to my surprise, he kept plodding ahead. …
“Through the years I’ve learned that the most successful writers are those who have learned to think about their process and reflect on their work.” Louise DeSalvo When I teach writing, I want my students to see the 5-step writing process as a necessary tool to guide, inform and improve their writing. I want them …
A Helpful Boost for Teaching the Writing Process Read More »
Teaching the Reading Process (with videos) As a writer of nonfiction, I use the Reading Process to guide my thinking in order to comprehend and then synthesize the information I get from research reading. As a middle school reading teacher, I organized my instruction around that same process. The Reading Process refers to the three …
My picture book biography, Monet Paints a Day, (Charlesbridge, 2011),was written using three different kinds of nonfiction. This was done because I had so much interesting information to present but wasn’t sure what information to leave in and what to leave out. In short, I faced the decision every writer faces as they move into …
Whenever I talk to students, whether in my own class or during school visits, I’m inevitably asked how my book, First Day Jitters, came into being. The answer is simple. I owe it all to a timed writing assignment! Over twenty years ago, my class and I were doing a 10 minute quick write on …
First Day Jitters and a Timed Writing Assignment Read More »
Throughout my years as a writing teacher, I consistently saw that many students didn’t know how to effectively revise. “My sentences are complete, and I’ve corrected my spelling. I’m done,” they would tell me. But they weren’t. And even if they had beautiful language, a well-organized beginning, middle and end, and grammatically correct paragraphs, their …
Obviously, as a writer, it is important to continually work at understanding your craft and improving your skills. However, to my mind, just as important to literary success is purposefully developing the irreplaceable attributes of a writer’s mindset; patience, perserverance, the ability to reflect, and most important of all, self-forgiveness. Patience: We all know that …
Four Essential Attributes Every Writer Needs (And Teachers Too!) Read More »
On the wall facing the front door of the middle school I attended a long, long time ago, there was a saying, in big, bold letters, that caught my eye every morning as I walked into the building. Another day, another chance. I saw it. I read it. And I absorbed it. Not on purpose, …
I am not a football fan, but when I taught middle school, I pretended to be one, so I’d have something to talk about to some of the boys in my class. I will admit though, to discovering that I really liked the motivational stories of players’ grit and determination. As I read about the …
What Teachers Can Learn About Motivation from NFL Coach Gary Kubiak Read More »