The Essential Writer S Notebook

This beautiful notebook, illustrated by the author's own paintings, provides the perfect opportunity for would-be writers, as well as those seeking a fresh approach to their work, to learn simple techniques that will help them master the basics of the craft. Inspired by the philosophy of Zen Buddhism, the book provides a complete step-by-step mini-course on how to write clearly and powerfully. Abundant lined pages can be used for writing practice.

Tap into your inner writer with this book of practical advice by the bestselling author of How Writers Work and the ALA Notable Book Fig Pudding. Writers are just like everyone else—except for one big difference. Most people go through life experiencing daily thoughts and feelings, noticing and observing the world around them. But writers record these thoughts and observations. They react. And they need a special place to record those reactions. Perfect for classrooms, A Writer’s Notebook gives budding writers a place to keep track of all the little things they notice every day. Young writers will love these useful tips for how to use notes and jottings to create stories and poems of their own.

With the generosity, thoughtfulness, and practicality we have come to appreciate from this extraordinary classroom teacher, Linda gives us the structures and models we need to invite every student we teach to think and act as a reader, writer, and artist. -Nancie Atwell Many teachers wonder how to juggle a writer's notebook and a reader's response log. Linda Rief ingeniously combines them both in the Writer's-Readers's Notebook. This veteran teacher truly walks the walk; she shows exactly how to make this powerful tool work in the classroom. -Ralph Fletcher The Readers-Writers Notebook is THE tool for all those concerned with adolescents and literacy. -Teri Lesesne Author of Naked Reading The Writer's-Reader's Notebook is the most essential learning and teaching tool in Linda Rief's classroom. More than an empty journal, it's a highly structured, specifically designed place where all students (English language learners, those with learning differences, girls and boys) connect reading, writing, and thinking. It's also where Linda can observe and encourage their learning. Now, in Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook, Linda shows you how this key resource in her English/language arts workshop has the power to help learners develop into articulate, literate citizens of the world. In Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook Linda guides you through the Writer's-Reader's Notebook: what's in it, why it's in there, and how to use it effectively with your students. She shows you how to use it to assess what students know, how they think, and how they can express themselves as writers and readers. Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook includes: descriptions of the reading and writing minilessons that Linda uses to get kids thinking in the notebook ideas for further invitations that engage adolescents in writing, reading, and drawing specific ways to use the lists and tools that are printed right in the Notebook dozens of reproducible examples of notebook pages by Linda's students that show the Notebook's multiple uses and that will help inspire your own students' writing and reading an annotated list of professional titles that will help further your knowledge of Notebooks and how to use them effectively in a variety of ways in your classroom. With a copy of the Writer's-Reader's Notebook and vital insights into its effectiveness, Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook includes everything you need to implement the Writer's-Reader's Notebook in any class and to help students begin the journey toward more thoughtful, purposeful literacy experiences. Read it and see why the Notebook should be at the center of your teaching. Purchase 5-packs of the Writer's-Reader's Notebook here.

For more than thirty years Natalie Goldberg has been challenging and cheering on writers with her books and workshops. In her groundbreaking first book, she brings together Zen meditation and writing in a new way. Writing practice, as she calls it, is no different from other forms of Zen practice—"it is backed by two thousand years of studying the mind." This thirtieth-anniversary edition includes new forewords by Julia Cameron and Bill Addison. It also includes a new preface in which Goldberg reflects on the enduring quality of the teachings here. She writes, "What have I learned about writing over these thirty years? I’ve written fourteen books, and it’s the practice here in Bones that is the foundation, sustaining and building my writing voice, that keeps me honest, teaches me how to endure the hard times and how to drop below discursive thinking, to taste the real meat of our minds and the life around us."

Presents tips for elementary and middle school teachers on how to use writing notebooks to help students develop skills and habits associated with good writing.

Get organized with planning your novel. This 149-page writer's notebook is perfect to help you capture the essence of your next story. Each page contains a prompt to help you collect and organize the essential ingredients for your next ten books. Includes a separate section to jot down all those brilliant ideas that you otherwise never remember!

Originally published: New York: Henry Holt, 2003.

Get organized with planning your novel. This 149-page writer's notebook is perfect to help you capture the essence of your next story. Each page contains a prompt to help you collect and organize the essential ingredients for your next ten books. Includes a separate section to jot down all those brilliant ideas that you otherwise never remember!