For Teachers

Last Day Blues: Students Reflecting on the Past Year

As a teacher I loved the last day of school.  Obviously, I was looking forward to a summer of no more (school) reading, no more (school) books, no more student’s dirty looks.  But it also provided the perfect time to look back and reflect on the year, to really think about and examine my successes, …

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Four Essential Attributes of a Writer…And a Teacher

I first wrote this essay for an adult writing class I was teaching, outlining what I believed to be the most important attributes of a writer.  However, as I recently reread it, I realized that these attributes – patience, perseverance, reflection, and self-forgiveness – also applied to being a teacher.  Actually, the truth is,  I …

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A Helpful Boost for Teaching the Writing Process

“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 …

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Teaching the Reading Process (with videos)

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 …

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One Book. Three Types of Nonfiction: A Lesson For Students on How and Why to Use Different Types of Nonfiction in Their Writing

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 …

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