Writing instruction expert Warren Combs presents a step-by-step plan for teaching writing workshops that are aligned to the Common Core State Standards. The book is filled with practical mini-lessons, strategies, and tools for every stage of the writing process, from prewriting through publication. Scripting is provided, to show teachers how to model each strategy for students. In addition, Dr. Combs shows how teachers can use the following elements: The concepts Voice, Pictures, and Flow, to help students understand the essential elements of writing; The words Invite, Model, Write, Look, and Learn, to model effective writing for students and have them learn from your example; Revision strategies such as Jot and Blend, Combining Sentences, Writing Leads, and Writing Closes; Peer revision using Peer-Assisted Learning Systems (PALS); Student self-assessment rubrics. The book also includes scoring guides and pacing guides, to help teachers implement writing workshops more easily. As Dr. Combs demonstrates, you can give workshops more structure while still making writing come alive for your students.

In this brilliantly imagined book, author Danell Jones mines the diaries, essays, correspondence, and fiction of a literary legend to create an unforgettable master class in the art of writing. Using Virginia Woolf’s own words, this inspiring, instructive, and entertaining guide will delight fans, students, and teachers alike—and at last give Woolf a classroom of her own. Imagine what it might be like if Virginia Woolf were teaching a writers’ workshop. What would she say? What elements of her own experience would writers today find valuable? Now one need only to look within these pages to delight in her magic. For here, perched at the podium of a classroom, Woolf is ready to discuss the advice for writers that she scattered throughout her work. From nurturing ideas and dealing with self-doubt to creating a completed work and getting published, here is a wellspring of practical advice, invaluable insights on the creative life, and dozens of “writing sparks”— exercises for writers of all levels— inspired by Woolf’s most well-known works. Take your seat in class as she shares her wisdom, wit, and expertise on a range of matters, including: •The value of experimentation •How to use a journal for inspiration •The importance of reading, walking, and practicing •Methods for learning from great writers Also provided are recommendations for further reading as well as the original sources of all of Woolf’s quotes For deeper exploration. Let Woolf’s utterly unique vision guide you to your own distinct voice at the same time that you deepen your appreciation and knowledge of her as a revolutionary writer and thinker.

From the award-winning author of From Your Child's Teacher, comes this excellent teacher's resource for helping primary students begin to write their stories.This resource includes:strategies for organizing and developing writers workshopsamples that illustrate various levels of writingstrategies for conferencing with young studentsinformation on the role of editingassessment ideasmany practical reproduciblesdetailed writing-activity lessons

An innovative new approach to teaching and writing creative nonfiction from veteran teacher and critically acclaimed author Carol Bly. Teachers and writers everywhere are facing the limits imposed by the prevailing models of teaching: community or MFA “workshops” or, at the high-school level, “peer review.” In Beyond the Writers' Workshop Carol Bly presents an alternative. She believes that workshopping’s tendency to engage in wry scorn and pay exaggerated attention to technical details, causes apprentice writers, consciously or unconsciously, to modify their most passionate work. Inspired by a philosophy of individuality and moral rigor, Bly combines ideas and techniques from social work, psychotherapy, and neuroscience with the traditional teaching of fresh metaphor, salient dialogue, lively pace, and analysis of other literary work in her pioneering new approach. She also includes exercises and examples in an extensive practical appendix.

This book is a practical, highly readable guide to teaching writing across a broad range of ages and grade levels (K-8). Each stage of the writing process is covered in detail, from setting a purpose for writing to drafting, revising, editing, and producing a "finished" product. The goal is to provide a comprehensive overview of writing development and best practices in teaching, richly illustrated with examples of student work. Teachers learn strategies and techniques to help students work independently and in groups to develop meaningful projects; master needed skills through engaging mini-lessons; produce various forms of fiction and nonfiction writing; and use literature as a source of inspiration and modeling. Special features include "Teacher's Tips" and quick-reference lists that reinforce key points and aid in instructional planning. An invaluable Appendix provides booklists for mini-lessons on a variety of thematic, stylistic, and grammatical topics.

Step into a classroom and “listen in” on the writing initiatives and motivations of students who are given significant choice and agency in the development of their writing. Discover why upper elementary children need ways to become literate as kids, not merely as prototypes of adults or teenagers. Filled with rich portraits of in-class writing interactions and challenges, this book highlights various themes that help teachers become better observers and more responsive to the complexity of writing in children’s lives. Key themes include drawing and popular media in children’s learning, the challenges of listening to students during conferences, the intersections of writing and relationships, the roles of sharing and publishing writing, and the importance of shaping a writing curriculum through dialogue. Book Features: Offers suggestions to help educators engage standards without overlooking students’ learning needs. Identifies approaches to enhance teachers’ expertise to support all writers, including those who fall outside usual expectations. Includes a writing process guide, examples of students’ work, and questions for reflection.

Incorporate writing instruction in your classroom as an essential element of literacy development while implementing best practices. Simplify the planning of writing instruction and become familiar with the Common Core State Standards of Writing.