What is the goal of your writing instruction?
• Is your instruction geared to helping your students become the next great American novelist?
• Is your primary goal to make sure that your students never leave a dangling participle or slit an infinitive?
• Do you hope to develop a passion for writing?
• Is your goal to help develop the writing skills [...]
Gifted and Talented (G.A.T.E.) Students Do the MATH before they do the WRITING
I once taught a 5th grade G.A.T.E. class at a very affluent school for the final two months of the school year. It was my off-track vacation time and their teacher could not finish the year. I had never seen students like these [...]
In the inner-city of Los Angeles there are many “year round schools.” On quite a few of my vacations I have taken over classrooms that were “without a teacher.” These are classrooms where others “did not” or “would not” stay. They are challenging. They contain many, many reluctant and remedial writers.
I have experienced these “extreme [...]
Two Kinds of Writing Assignments for Student Essays and Reports
1. The topic has not been assigned. Students choose the topic.
2. The topic has been assigned. Students must follow the directions and stay on topic.
Teachers must find the right balance between these two methods when giving assignments.
These ideas will help when you do assign the [...]
Christmas is a wonderful time of year for student writing. There is a very high level of student motivation! Student interest and motivation stays high when they write about Christmas coming from different angles and with different purposes.
Here is a great list of Christmas essay and story writing ideas! Teaching your students to write using [...]
Why Teach Children Poetry?
Are you a true lover of poetry? Are you an avid and exceptional teacher of poetry in the classroom? If so… then this article is not for you.
This article is for the rest of us teachers who know that poetry has value… but with limited time and so much to cover… poetry [...]
Grammar, Vocabulary, Worksheets… NOT!
Grammar, phonics… whatever my students need is what I want to teach. I can get as excited about the sound of a single letter as I can about an entire essay.
Discovering the full beauty and interconnectedness of a particular subject is always fascinating to me.
This beauty exists in even the most minute [...]
Six Reasons You May Want to Use a Writing Prompt When Teaching Children Writing
1. Challenge students’ thinking and writing skills
2. Create interest in writing and inspire creativity
3. Get reluctant writers writing
4. Help students develop the habit of writing every day
5. Practice for writing assessments
6. You are giving a classroom assignment that involves writing
Kinds of Writing Prompts for Elementary and Middle School [...]
Three Important Questions about Middle School Writing Instruction
1. Are your middle school students remedial writers or are they on grade level?
2. How do you bridge the gap between your remedial writers and your high achieving writers?
3. What are appropriate goals and objectives of middle school writing instruction?
The Six Traits of Effective Middle School Writing Instruction
Many students are ready [...]
What is a paragraph and how do you teach children to write a paragraph?
“A paragraph is a group of sentences about one main idea or topic. A paragraph usually contains between 5-8 sentences about that one main idea or topic. All of your sentences in the paragraph must be about that one main idea or [...]