Writing is hard work. Teaching it can be even harder. As most teachers know, writer's workshop doesn't always go as planned, and many find there are obstacles that they consistently struggle with. In his role as a literacy coordinator and teacher, Mark Overmeyer has heard the same issues raised again and again by both new and experienced colleagues. When Writing Workshop Isn't Working: Answers to Ten Tough Questions, Grades 2-5 provides practical advice to overcome these common problems and get your writing workshop back on track. Acknowledging the process-based nature of the writing workshop, this book does not offer formulaic, program-based, one-size-fits all answers, but presents multiple suggestions based on what works in real classrooms. The ten key questions this book addresses include: How do I help students who don't know what to write about? How do I help students develop stronger vocabulary and word choice? How do I prepare my students for standardized tests without compromising my writing program? How should I assess student writing? How can I help my students use revision effectively? This book is a handy reference tool for answering specific questions as they pop up during the year. Overmeyer uses student examples throughout to help teachers envision these solutions in their own classes, and he includes an array of classroom-tested ideas for helping primary and intermediate English language learners. There may not be any easy answers to the complexities of writer's workshop, but by identifying and providing advice on the most common stumbling blocks one encounters, When Writing Workshop Isn't Working provides a solid groundwork—freeing up time and creativity for teachers to address the specific needs of their students.

This book explores the effectiveness of the workshop in the Creative Writing classroom, and looks beyond the question of whether or not the workshop works to address the issue of what an altered pedagogical model might look like. In visualising what else is possible in the workshop space, the sixteen chapters collected in ‘Does the Writing Workshop Still Work?’ cover a range of theoretical and pedagogical topics and explore the inner workings and conflicts of the workshop model. The needs of a growing and diverse student population are central to the chapter authors’ consideration of non-normative pedagogies. The book is a must-read for all teachers of Creative Writing, as well as for researchers in Creative Writing Studies.

A clear introduction for the teaching of language and communication.

Skill-building through potent instruction, day by day In these much-anticipated sequels to The Common Core Companion, Janiel Wagstaff and Leslie Blauman provide a collection of connected lessons and formative writing assessments that bring Monday-to-Friday clarity to the task of integrating reading and writing with ELA standards. In each volume, the 50+ lessons are divided into fi ve, week-long learning sequences addressing key literacygoals. A best-practice glossary, If/Then charts, unit-planning calendars, and other tools round out these essential references, both in book and online. Follow each sequence and week by week, you’ll build the instructional potency to help students achieve a year’s worth of growth as you integrate: Writing Narratives with Identifying Sensory Words in Text Research with Identifying Topic and Details Opinion Writing with Close Reading for Text Evidence Comparing and Contrasting with Publishing Using Digital Tools Informative Writing with Use of Text Features

Multimodal composition is a meaningful and critical way for students to tell their stories, make good arguments, and share their expertise in today’s world. In this helpful resource, writer, teacher, and best-selling author Angela Stockman illustrates the importance of making writing a multimodal endeavor in 6-12 workshops by providing peeks into the classrooms she teaches within. Chapters address what multimodal composition is, how to situate it in a writing workshop that is responsive to the unique needs of writers, how to handle curriculum design and assessment, and how to plan instruction. The appendices offer tangible tools and resources that will help you implement and sustain this work in your own classroom. Ideal for teachers of grades 6-12, literacy coaches, and curriculum leaders, this book will help you and your students reimagine what a workshop can be when the writers within it produce far more than written words.

Multimodal composition is a meaningful and critical way for students to tell their stories, make good arguments, and share their expertise in today’s world. In this helpful resource, writer, teacher, and best-selling author Angela Stockman illustrates the importance of making writing a multimodal endeavor in K-5 workshops by providing peeks into the classrooms she teaches within. Chapters address what multimodal composition is, how to situate it in a writing workshop that is responsive to the unique needs of writers, how to handle curriculum design and assessment, and how to plan instruction. The appendices offer tangible tools and resources that will help you implement and sustain this work in your own classroom. Ideal for teachers of grades K-5, literacy coaches, and curriculum leaders, this book will help you and your students reimagine what a workshop can be when the writers within it produce far more than written words.

Gotham Writers' Workshop has mastered the art of teaching the craft of writing in a way that is practical, accessible, and entertaining. Now the techniques of this renowned school are available in this book. Here you'll find: The fundamental elements of fiction craft-character, plot, point of view, etc.-explained clearly and completely - Key concepts illustrated with passages from great works of fiction - The complete text of "Cathedral" by Raymond Carver-a masterpiece of contemporary short fiction that is analyzed throughout the book - Exercises that let you immediately apply what you learn to your own writing. Written by Gotham Writers' Workshop expert instructors and edited by Dean of Faculty Alexander Steele, Writing Fiction offers the same methods and exercises that have earned the school international acclaim. Once you've read-and written-your way through this book, you'll have a command of craft that will enable you to turn your ideas into effective short stories and novels. You will be a writer. Gotham Writers' Workshop is America's leading private creative writing school, offering classes in New York City and on the web at WritingClasses.com. The school's interactive online classes, selected "Best of the Web" by Forbes, have attracted thousands of aspiring writers from across the United States and more than sixty countries.

If you've ever sat down to confer with a child and felt at a loss for what to say or how to help move him or her forward as a writer, this book is for you. If you are a strong teacher of writing but are not seeing results from your students, this book is for you. Authors Kristin Ackerman and Jennifer McDonough have been teaching writing for several years and know that conferring can be a murky and messy process-;perhaps the hardest component of all. Written from the lessons they've learned through hard-won classroom experience-;their mistakes and challenges-;Conferring with Young Writers is based on what Kristin and Jen call the three Fs-: frequency, focus, and follow-up. They've created a classroom management system that offers routine and structure for giving the most effective feedback in a writing conference. This book will help writing teachers-;and students-;learn to break down and utilize the qualities that enable good writing: elaboration, voice, structure, conventions, and focus. The authors also provide the knowledge and skills it takes to confer well, which will help you improve as a writing teacher and give your students the confidence to think of themselves as writers.

Help your students improve their language skills and become stronger readers and writers. In this timely book, literacy experts Amy Benjamin and Barbara Golub offer best practices for fortifying the writer’s workshop model with meaningful, relevant instruction in grammar. The book answers questions such as... What does a writer’s workshop look like and how does it fit into balanced literacy models? How does grammar fit into a writer’s workshop? How can you use natural language acquisition to transition children from non-Standard to Standard English patterns? How can you teach students to identify a complete sentence? What are effective ways to teach parts of speech? How can you build on nouns and verbs to teach adjectives, adverbs, prepositional phrases, and dependent clauses? In each chapter, you’ll find out exactly what teaching the targeted concept looks like in a workshop classroom. Examples are provided for different grade levels and can be adapted as necessary to meet your needs. This book is a No-Worksheet Zone. You’ll learnhow to present grammar using authentic text and talk, leading to more durable learning.

In A Closer Look, Lynne Dorfman and Diane Dougherty provide the tools and strategies you need to use formative assessment in writing workshop. Through Lynne and Diane's ideas, you will be able to' establish an environment where students will internalize ways that they can assess their own writing and become independent writers. Lynne and Diane share methods for collecting and managing information, and show practical, simple, and concise ways to document student thinking. In the accompanying online videos, they demonstrate conferences with individual writers, small groups, and whole groups. Quick, easy-to-manage assessment methods emphasize that formative assessment does not have to take a long time to be worthwhile and effective. Vignettes from classroom teachers, principals, and authors add a variety of perspectives and classroom experiences on this important topic. A Closer Look shows that when students are in charge of their own writing process and set and reach their own goals, writing becomes a vibrant, energetic part of the day. '