How do we get students to "ache with caring" about their writing instead of mechanically stringing words together? We spend a lot of time teaching the craft of writing but we also need to devote time to helping students write with purpose and meaning. For decades, Georgia Heard has guided students into more authentic writing experiences by using heart maps to explore what we all hold inside: feelings, passions, vulnerabilities, and wonderings. In Heart Maps, Georgia shares 20 unique, multi-genre heart maps to help your students write from the heart, such as the First Time Heart Map, Family Quilt Heart Map, and People I Admire Heart Map. You'll also find extensive support for using heart maps, including: tips for getting started with heart maps writing ideas to jumpstart student writing in multiple genres from heart maps suggested mentor texts to provide additional inspiration. Filled with full-color student heart maps, examples of the resulting writing, along with online access to 20 different uniquely designed reproducible heart map templates, Heart Maps will be a practical tool for awakening new writing possibilities and engaging and motivating your students' writing throughout the year.

Deep in Our Hearts is an eloquent and powerful book that takes us into the lives of nine young women who came of age in the 1960s while committing themselves actively and passionately to the struggle for racial equality and justice. These compelling first-person accounts take us back to one of the most tumultuous periods in our nation’s history--to the early days of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and Students for a Democratic Society (SDS), the Albany Freedom Ride, voter registration drives and lunch counter sit-ins, Freedom Summer, the 1964 Democratic Convention, and the rise of Black Power and the women’s movement. The book delves into the hearts of the women to ask searching questions. Why did they, of all the white women growing up in their hometowns, cross the color line in the days of segregation and join the Southern Freedom Movement? What did they see, do, think, and feel in those uncertain but hopeful days? And how did their experiences shape the rest of their lives?

Grade level: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, p, e, i, s, t.

Humanity and warmth. They are the cornerstones of quality nonfiction writing - even in genres more informational than intimate. With "Finding the Heart of Nonfiction," Georgia Heard demonstrates how with mentor texts you can help students create inviting nonfiction.

A Sweet Small-Town Romance to Warm Your Heart! Zoey is a New York executive and is used to getting her way. When bad luck strikes and she loses her job, she has nowhere to turn. As an orphan, she has no family, and her friends have all turned their backs in her greatest time of need. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a father she never knew, she has no choice but to move to Harmony Cove, a small beach town in Georgia. The town and its people are not what she expected. They are kind and welcoming, and one particular person makes her love Harmony Cove even more. The charming photographer next door, with eyes the color of the sea, makes her believe that there just might be some good in the world. For the first time in her life, Zoey feels like she has found a home. Harley is a successful photographer who feels like he has it all. He has a wonderful family, true friendships, and a hobby that he loves. When a beautiful woman from out of town moves in next door, he can't help being drawn to her independence. He just hopes that he can show her that there is more to life than a career.When bad luck strikes Zoey for a second time, a misunderstanding occurs, and Zoey is once again left all alone. Can Zoey and Harley look past their differences and admit to their mistakes? Do opposites really attract?

Maya Angelou has fascinated, moved, and inspired countless readers with the first three volumes of her autobiography, one of the most remarkable personal narratives of our age. Now, in her fourth volume, The Heart of a Woman, her turbulent life breaks wide open with joy as the singer-dancer enters the razzle-dazzle of fabulous New York City. There, at the Harlem Writers Guild, her love for writing blazes anew. Her compassion and commitment lead her to respond to the fiery times by becoming the northern coordinator of Martin Luther King's history-making quest. A tempestuous, earthy woman, she promises her heart to one man only to have it stolen, virtually on her weding day, by a passionate African freedom fighter. Filled with unforgettable vignettes of famous characters, from Billie Holiday to Malcolm X, The Heart of a Woman sings with Maya Angelou's eloquent prose -- her fondest dreams, deepest disappointments, and her dramatically tender relationship with her rebellious teenage son. Vulnerable, humorous, tough, Maya speaks with an intimate awareness of the heart within all of us.