Writing should be for an audience other than a teacher, and for a purpose beyond getting a grade. Connecting their classroom experience to research about writing, as well as to framing documents in the field, two seasoned writing teachers distill the lessons they’ve learned about creating confident adolescent and young adult writers. Troy Hicks and Andy Schoenborn outline a fundamental stance to their approach—to invite, encourage, and celebrate students’ writing—that is then echoed in the book’s three-part structure. There are numerous classroom activities and assignments on topics from creating writing goals to supporting revision, examples of student work, and questions to guide teachers’ reflections. In this book for any teacher of writing, from middle school through college, readers are invited to try strategies and allow students’ voices to emerge, while discussing with colleagues how these approaches might work for them, too.
This text helps developing writers in the academy and beyond think through their writing process and develop strategies for styling their writing to meet the demands of a wide range of goals. The book imagines writing as an assortment of "outfits"— bundles of styles and strategies through which one approaches a writing purpose, such as writing focused on experimentation and growth or writing focused on a professional task. By assessing the outfits writers feel most and least confident in, and examining how to be more at home in the outfits that matter to them, this book helps students develop both specific skills and their overall identity as writers. Readers are guided through before-, during-, and after-writing strategies and techniques, including: freewriting, outlining, visual planning, and composing in multimodal forms. Readers are also introduced to the importance of setting clear writing goals and sharing their work in a variety of ways, both in preparation for classroom success through peer review and writing center visits, and beyond the classroom in virtual and in-person spaces. This book serves as a core or supplemental text for writing courses at the undergraduate, graduate, or high school level, or as a writing guide for individual readers.
From social media to school success—take student writing to the next level! Your students may not realize it, but they’re already writers. All those informal text messages, Instagram captions, and Facebook posts have given them skills they can use as a springboard to the formal, content-specific writing they’ll need for success in school, college, and careers. The key, of course, is practice—plus a little guidance from you. And you’ll be ready, no matter what subject you teach, because this essential reference is packed with relevant, contemporary teaching strategies that are easily customizable to work across content areas. Inside, you’ll find: Engaging exercises based in the kinds of writing students already do Versatile "parachute writings"—quick bursts of practice to drop into a day’s lesson Strategies for introducing academic vocabulary and making it stick Skill-boosting strategies for successful summarizing and using textual evidence Variations specific to all disciplines and content areas Students should be writing daily, in all their classes, and they should be writing a lot, both inside and outside school. With this practical guide, you’ll be ready to help them up their writing game—and make literacy relevant, valuable, and authentic.
With 50% new material reflecting current research and pedagogical perspectives, this indispensable course text and teacher resource is now in a thoroughly revised third edition. Leading educators provide a comprehensive picture of reading, writing, and oral language instruction in grades 5–12. Chapters present effective practices for motivating adolescent learners, fostering comprehension of multiple types of texts, developing disciplinary literacies, engaging and celebrating students' sociocultural assets, and supporting English learners and struggling readers. Case examples, lesson-planning ideas, and end-of-chapter discussion questions and activities enhance the utility of the volume. New to This Edition *Chapters on new topics: building multicultural classrooms, Black girls’ digital literacies, issues of equity and access, and creating inclusive writing communities. *New chapters on core topics: academic language, learning from multiple texts, and reading interventions. *Increased attention to issues of diversity, equity, and inclusion. *The latest knowledge about adolescents' in- and out-of-school literacies.
Teaching writing that is relevant to your students and their futures What kind of writing do we do beyond school? It certainly isn’t the well-known five-paragraph essay or tight iambic pentameter. In today’s workforce, the purpose of writing is to communicate complex ideas specific to career fields. Students need more than simply mastering academic writing, so Teaching Writing From Content Classroom to Career shows how to combine writing instruction teachers already share – language selection, tone, voice, audience, organization, and style – with meaningful writing tasks so students can connect classroom writing to the world of their work and their futures. Authors Maria C. Grant, Diane Lapp, and Marisol Thayre explain ways to show students how writing works in the world of work with Ready-to-go lesson plans focused on relevant, world-of-work writing tasks and formats An overarching rubric of key skills as well as student-self-assessment rubrics to make instruction and implementation crystal clear Downloadable and reproducible tools for both students and teachers for ease of implementation Exemplar mentor texts from the workplace in multiple disciplines that showcase writing’s essential connections to workforce readiness Suggestions for using AI to generate exemplar texts Examples of how to be a successful communicator who knows how and when to move in and out of different modes of language Full of tools, resources, and strategies that are easy to implement and seamlessly overlay school writing curriculum, this book sets students on the path to academic and career success through writing.
Modernize grammar instruction with language lessons that inspire and engage students! Grammar and language instruction has long been, in the words of Brock Haussamen in Grammar Alive!, "the skunk at the garden party of the language arts" that turns many eager learners into disengaged participants. This type of disengagement, and resulting student struggles, have long been the norm, not the exception, when it comes to grammar and language lessons. But why? Why does grammar—something so relevant and essential that we use it in the creation of every syllable we say, write, or think—often end up as one of the dullest and most disconnected parts of the ELA classroom? Good Grammar: Joyful and Affirming Language Lessons That Work for More Students seeks to answer that question and to offer practical, on-the-ground solutions for making grammar and language instruction more accessible, practical, and connected to students’ reading, writing, and most importantly, the deep well of language knowledge they bring with them already. At the core of the book are six key practices for creating language instruction that comes across clearer, sticks better, transfers easier, and ultimately instills a love of language, all while teaching major grammatical concepts. Written by a practicing classroom teacher, this book offers Ready-to-go lessons and a recommended sequence Explanation of essential grammar and language concepts for teachers who need to refresh their own understanding of grammar and language topics and concepts Over a hundred modern, engaging, wide-ranging, and diverse mentor text examples Suggestions on how to introduce important linguistic concepts into secondary classes, including lessons about how language develops; how to define, examine, and celebrate dialects/familects/idiolects; and protocols for discussing concepts like code-meshing and "correctness" Examination of broader trends concerning what works and what doesn’t work in regards to grammar and language instruction, with a goal of giving teachers the tools they need to create their own grammar and language curriculum that engages, inspires, and transfers more easily into student writing and life beyond the classroom walls. The title—Good Grammar—seeks to remind us that grammar doesn’t have to be boring or feel punitive. Instead, it can be a force for good for more students, affirming who they are, honoring the language expertise they bring with them, and helping them to bring their unique voices to the page.
"Because of its focus specifically on the needs of the secondary ELA classroom teacher (and students), this book in the Five to Thrive series takes a slightly different approach, focusing less on content and more on instructional philosophy and wellbeing. The five sections address some of the major shifts that have occurred over the past 5-10 years, specifically around engagement and motivation, equity and cultural relevance, building and sustaining community in the classroom, feedback and assessment, and teacher well-being. The authors each have strong voices on these topics, and their combined 40+ years in ELA classrooms - as well as the lessons learned during the pandemic year(s) - will help new and early career teachers to feel support in areas they may not have received pre-service instruction or practice in"--
Technology is integral to teaching in the English language arts, whether in-person, hybrid, or remote. In this indispensable guide, Troy Hicks shows how to teach and model "digital diligence"--an alert, intentional stance that helps both teachers and students use technology productively, ethically, and responsibly. Resources and lesson ideas are presented to build adolescents' skills for protecting online privacy, minimizing digital distraction, breaking through “filter bubbles,” fostering civil conversations, evaluating information on the internet, creating meaningful digital writing, and deeply engaging with multimedia texts. Dozens of websites, apps, and other tools are reviewed, with links provided at the companion website; end-of-chapter teaching points and guiding questions facilitate learning and application.
Where others have talked about new technologies and how they change writing, Troy Hicks shows how to use new technologies to enhance writing instruction. Chapters are organized around the familiar principles of the writing workshop: student choice, active revision, craft, publication beyond the classroom, and assessment of product and process. You'll learn to expand and improve your teaching by smartly incorporating new technologies like wikis, blogs, and other forms of multimedia. Throughout, you'll find reference to resources readily available to you and your class online.
What counts as professionalism for teachers today? Once, teachers who knew their content area and knew how to teach it were respected as professionals. Now there is an additional type of competency required: in addition to content and pedagogical knowledge, educators need advocacy skills. In this groundbreaking collection, literacy educators describe how they are redefining what it means to be a teaching professional. Teachers share how they are trying to change the conversation surrounding literacy and literacy instruction by explaining to colleagues, administrators, parents, and community members why they teach in particular research-based ways, so often contradicted by mandated curricula and standardized assessments. Teacher educators also share how they are introducing an advocacy approach to preservice and practicing teachers, helping prepare teachers for this new professionalism. Both groups practice what the authors call “everyday advocacy”: the day-to-day actions teachers are taking to change the public narrative surrounding schools, teachers, and learning.
