The collaborative, or “group” essay concept, is a staple in business schools and college curriculums. It’s a strategy that on the surface may seem to work in encouraging group participation in the writing process, and there are certainly cases where this happens. However, it is a strategy that comes with both pros and cons in the secondary English Language Arts classroom.
Read MoreBreaking the writing process up into two powerful sides of the brain can help students be more effective in the writing process. Let’s look at four different techniques to make this happen in the high school English classroom.
Read MoreStart the year in writing with routines, rigor, and relationships by assigning a Letter to the Teacher. Here is your step by step walk-thru.
Read MoreIt’s no secret that COVID has caused significant skills gaps in education— but also in other key industries around the world. A recent article from the popular consulting firm McKinsey & Co says, “The urgency of addressing skill gaps is clear—and, across industries, more important than ever to do. Most respondents say that skill building (more than hiring, contracting, or redeploying employees) is the best way to close those gaps and that they have doubled down on their efforts to reskill or upskill employees since the pandemic began. The results also point to a shift in the most important skills to develop, which tend to be social and emotional in nature: for example, empathy, leadership, and adaptability.”
Read MoreCan essays simply be swapped out from an assessment? Let’s explore the ways in which writing skills can be broken down and evaluated in a variety of different formats.
Read MoreNeed a new idea for an argument essay? Ask your students to argue for their most influential person of the year!
Read MoreHelp students hone the skills of pulling together multiple sources of information and creating the kind of writing that combines rather than isolates.
Read MoreSet writing goals with your students to kick off the year and help your students grow as writers all year long!
Read MoreGrading essays, or any written work for that matter, can be time consuming. So, as writing teachers, it’s important that we find efficient strategies for being able to provide constructive feedback but in a timely manner.
Here are three strategies for providing high-quality feedback on student writing.
Read More3 Ways to start rhetorical analysis practice during the first weeks of school
Read More7 high-interest, practical bell ringers for the secondary ELA classroom
Read MoreThe curse of the red ink pen is real. If you’re like me as a teacher, I know that when I am grading my students’ essays— online or on paper— I feel the pull to edit every single mistake that I see on the page. I feel the need to edit every single comma error or sentence error as well as provide comments about the content of the writing.
Read MoreWe know as English teachers that writing workshop is a foundational approach to writing instruction in the modern classroom. But if you’re like me, I am always searching for new tips, tools, and resources for implementing writer’s workshop— to make it more manageable for me as a teacher as well as more approachable for my students.
Read MoreWe wanted to come together as a team of teachers to share some new ideas that are creative, important, and FUN for students. The goal is to hook students right at the beginning of the year so that they begin to build comfort and confidence as writers in your class.
Here are FIVE Writing Activities for B2S that Don’t Stink!
Read MoreSummer is such an amazing time to sit back, relax, and… catch up some great PD books! We, at Teach Writing, definitely recommend that you take some time this summer to relax and enjoy your well deserved break. But, we also know that teachers are never just on break. We are always thinking about that next school year. Even pool-side, we are gathering ideas, planning, and creating for our students. So, we wanted to work together to share a list of our favorite PD books for Writing teachers!
Read MoreWe have collected five of our favorite posts to inspire and empower as you plan your writing instruction. We each worked to share ideas that were true game changers for us as we developed our own writing lessons! These posts share ideas that made a large impact on our students, but also changed our own ideas of what writing instruction could be! We are excited to share these with you.
Read MoreThe world of teaching changed in a dramatic way due to recent events. Many of us are scrambling to teach completely online for the first time. This is a daunting task that raises many questions. As we work to navigate these solutions together, I have seen a sharing of ideas, resources, tips, and support from teachers all across the globe. Teachers are supporting teachers more than ever before. It makes me so proud of our profession! With this same sense of support, we, as members of the TeachWriting team, wish to offer you some suggestions for writing instruction as we all navigate these uncharted waters.
Read MoreRead about 16 high-interest writing assignments that middle school and high school students actually enjoy! #WritingActivities #MiddleSchoolELA #HighSchoolELA
Read MoreHow do we take the “encyclopedia voice” (Mariconda) many students come into the classroom having been taught, and turn it into Walt Whitman’s much-lauded “barbaric yawp”?
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