If we want students to be better writers and communicators, we need to teach them real world writing. Liz Prather’s Story Matters is exactly the guide teachers need to blend narrative, argumentative and information writing, says English/history teacher Michelle Voelker.
This year with help from the ideas illustrated in (re)Designing Narrative Writing Units, ELA teacher and coach Rebecca Crockett has faith that her 7th and 9th grade students will know what good narrative writing looks like and produce some quality writing of their own.
Book Reviews / Project Based Learning
by MiddleWeb · Published 12/26/2018 · Last modified 11/17/2019
Teacher leader Kevin Hodgson finds much to like in A.J. Juliani’s The PBL Playbook. The text is built around practical advice for PBL implementation and classroom experiences. For beginners Juliani’s stories are a lifeline, offering mentor examples and lesson analysis.
You will find 100 teacher and student friendly mentor texts in Linda Rief’s The Quickwrite Handbook. Sourced from students, teachers, and authors as well as herself, the texts come with suggestions to get students thinking and writing, says consultant Anne Anderson.
Writing interesting nonfiction is a valuable student skill. So why is most of it so boring? A focus on content and conventions isn’t sufficient, says teacher Angie Miller. See her strategies to help kids read like writers and engage audiences with writing that fascinates.
In the 2nd edition of Mentor Texts, Lynne Dorfman and Rose Cappelli help put a gradual-release focus on purposeful planning, finding stories to engage young readers, and using the book’s readings to support strong writing by students, says Erin Corrigan-Smith.
After using Page-to-Stage Writing Workshop for Students with her 7th graders, ELA teacher Nicole Waychol is convinced that once you read the book, author Kwame Alexander is going to have you saying “yes.” Yes to jazz. Yes to writing. Yes to poetry. Yes to publishing.
In “Read Talk Write” Laura Robb provides strategies that can grow students’ ability to have rich, accountable conversations, leading to productive, engaging writing. Reviewer Linda Biondi especially appreciates the mentor texts, detailed lessons, and reproducibles.
Content area teachers can access easy-to-use lessons and mentor texts to strengthen students’ writing in Nancy Steineke and Harvey “Smokey” Daniels’ resource book. Teacher Linda Biondi describes the detailed, teacher-friendly format for lessons lasting 10 to 40 minutes.
Bring exploration, fact-gathering and deduction to grades 3-5 life science classes with Stewart and Chesley’s “Perfect Pairs.” Full of standards-based lessons aligned to fiction/nonfiction picture books. Literacy coach Pam Hamilton eager to share it with teachers.
