Above And Beyond The Writing Workshop

When writing workshops first blossomed in classrooms, its hallmarks were genuine curiosity, individual choice, quality conversations, and engaging children's literature. A joyous hum of intention, creativity, and craft enlivened the school day. Today's teachers are often faced with a range of obstacles, as new initiatives are embraced, mandates handed down, and scripted programs are purchased. Sometimes teachers must sacrifice the original principles of the writing workshop and lose the creative venue they provide. Above and Beyond the Writing Workshop is filled with original writing challenges designed to bring back the spirit of the original writing workshop model and encourage teachers to enhance it with invention, innovation, and inspiration. Teaching creative writing is not only possible, but an important process in their instruction. Author Shelley Harwayne invites teachers to keep the workshop spirit alive by: Encouraging professional conversations on classroom ideas and methods between colleagues; Developing writing cues that allow young writers to be inquisitive, outspoken, and independent; Showing how high quality writing can make a difference; Offering an inspired and stimulating outlet for students to express their passions. Harwayne's book will help teachers encourage students to write the world around them, which can generate more critical thinking and make for a more well-rounded child.

This book provides practical suggestions for teachers of writing. Framed within the context of writing workshop, the book examines the reasons for reading student work and provides various methods for helping students improve as writers.--[book cover].

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.

Tiered instruction for our neediest writers! Where does RTI fit into the writer’s workshop, especially for students who struggle or just aren’t engaged? Morris provides the answer with this user-friendly resource for implementing tiered writing instruction in Grades 2-6. Step-by-step strategies and rich classroom examples help you: Easily incorporate RTI within the writer’s workshop framework Nurture enthusiastic, confident writers with well-crafted, differentiated lessons Plan daily, weekly, and year-long lessons with low-stress diagnostic, formative, and summative assessments Save time with quick and effective progress monitoring techniques Reliably meet yearly AYP writing targets and build enthusiastic, skilled writers

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.

NOVELISTA is a friendly, straight-talking writing guide for people who want to write a novel but don't know how to begin. It asks all the important questions and gives a host of reassuring answers that demonstrate that anyone can write a novel - even you! To begin with, what the hell is a novel? It's basically a tiny world, where characters are born, live, and (sometimes) die. To write one all you need is a notebook and a pen - but along the way you'll want to learn about good writing habits, planning, mastering descriptions and dialogue and how to pull it all together. This book will guide you through the process and orient you towards the goal of publication. From absolute beginner to novelista, this book will change the way you write and think about writing.

Write Better Proposals Faster to Accelerate Your Writing Career! Whether you are a true beginner or a seasoned writer looking to secure more book contracts, The Weekend Book Proposal shows you how to take your best ideas and create powerful proposals--quickly and professionally. No need to spend months laboring over a proposal when in just a few days you can write one that will ignite the interest of agents and editors. Ryan G. Van Cleave presents the tools you need to craft an eye-grabbing proposal for your nonfiction, memoir, anthology, textbook, novel, and more. Jam-packed with proven strategies, nuts-and-bolts advice, sample queries and proposals, interviews with publishing experts, and "Hit the Gas" tips for speeding up the proposal process, The Weekend Book Proposal will show you how to succeed and prosper as a writer--and sell your books before you've even written them! The Weekend Book Proposal explains how to: • Write a catchy title and book description. • Create a compelling author bio and chapter outline. • Develop a targeted, engaging concept statement. • Build a strong marketing plan and endorsements list. • Structure your proposals based on those crafted by successful authors.