Observing a master teacher in action is like watching an artistic scientist (or scientific artist) at work. And the results, like great artwork or a scientific breakthrough, challenge and inspire. A school in Mobile, AL invited us to observe writing instruction taught by a teacher who attended a Writer’s Stylus course last summer. . . . → Read More: What Teaching Can Be
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I feel like a kid on Christmas Eve. My first book is about to be published, but the printing/binding process is taking longer than I’d like. (Don’t worry, this isn’t really about the book.) This period between final revisions and publication has given me time to reflect on the journey, and, as usual, my . . . → Read More: A Teacher’s Lessons from Writing, Part 1 A few times every year, I get to lead a professional development event known as “Writer’s Stylus.” Each time, including just last week, it proves to be an exciting experience. We begin the week thinking we already teach writing. We end the week as writers, producing an essay that has undergone multiple waves of . . . → Read More: Growing Personally and Professionally Produces Meaningful Results In his outstanding book, Writing Well, Mark Tredinnick (2008) offers the following insight: “In these times, more than ever, we need a little depth and care, generosity and poise. We need a little perspective and honesty and restraint. And politically, a little low-voltage rage. We need, in other words, to rediscover the syntax of . . . → Read More: Writing Well Matters Teachers as “Critics” The BBC used to produce a show in which an individual was taken from his normal surroundings and professional practices and placed in a month-long, immersion experience in a profession he dreamed of practicing. At the conclusion of the month, the individual faced a test. He or she had to interact . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 10: Teacher Expertise—”Critics” & Teachers Sufficient research exists to make the following claim: the most significant school-based factor influencing student achievement is the quality of the teacher in the classroom. An effective teacher increases a child’s achievement. An ineffective teacher decreases a child’s achievement. This seems like common sense, but perhaps we remain unaware of the magnitude of difference . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 9: Teacher Expertise—Writers & Coaches Revising, says writer and editor Susan Bell (2007), is “a conversation”—an interaction between the writer and text that generates waves of improvement in the text (p. 6). The writer approaches the draft as a critical reader and “converses” with what was previously written. The “conversation” initiates improvements in significant issues, such as the writing . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 8: Integration—Connecting Revision Elements Researchers describe our current writing instruction as being stuck in the eighteenth century with little real relationship to actual writing. A recent study found that students spent only about 15% of their time in school writing, and of that 15%, two-thirds was merely copying, word-for-word, in worktexts(NWP, p. 6). In many classrooms, students fill . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 7: Integration—Connecting Mechanics to Writing Consider the following findings from research: Author and teacher Gloria Houston found that students who wrote at the conclusion of every class regardless of the discipline (i.e., they wrote at the end of math class, science class, social studies class…) made greater achievement than their non-writing peers. Houston (2004) reports: “At the end of . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 6: Authenticity—Writing to Learn Many educators answer “The Writing Process!” when asked about how to teach writing. For many years, educators believed that if they just pushed students through five (or six, or seven…) prescribed steps, writing abilities would naturally develop: If we could just get students to brainstorm, and then draft, and then…Unfortunately, the writing process, as . . . → Read More: Transforming Substance into Significance, Part 5: Authenticity—Writing Process |
 
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