Stronger literature responses with the 6 Traits

Writing about your reading is a typical expectation in middle school writing. But beyond a summary of the reading, Language Arts teachers often work to develop students’ ability to respond to the literature. This might include drawing connections among texts, analyzing the text for figurative language, critiquing the text for a particular characteristic, using the text to support a specific opinion, etc. But what do you do when students repeatedly write weak literature responses? How do you elicit stronger ones?    read more...

Introductions to the “test lady�

Several teachers responded to my all-call for interesting "Test Lady" introductions. Here are some of the best:    read more...

Helping kids envision their audience

Students preparing for the writing prompt on any other standardized test need to know that they are writing to humans -- not machines. Explain to students that the scorer reads hundreds of prompt writings from other kids all over the state -- and then she comes to theirs. Encourage them to be unique, be different.    read more...

Increasing writer voice with an authentic audience

Pen-pal writing isn't all that unusual. Many teachers have older students write to students in younger grades. Or sometimes teachers set up pen pals with students from another school, even in another state. But what about pen-palling with a truck driver? Ever tried that?    read more...

Picture books to teach voice

Q: I think my students finally understand what voice is, but I don't know how to help them tap into it within their own writing. I'm looking for some picture books that would demonstrate different types of voice and then coordinating strategies to elicit writer voice. Any ideas?    read more...

Weaving strong word choice into morning routines

Part of the morning routine has been for the students to place their name stick in a pocket that describes how they feel that day. The "excited" pocket had been used so much that the paper pocket was falling apart. So they closed it for repairs for the rest of the year. This forced students to choose another word to describe how they felt.    read more...

Strategies for introducing voice

Remember, voice is more than just a writer’s personality on paper. It is the attitude the writer has for the topic he is writing about. When first introducing voice in the primary grades, typical words we define this trait with are feelings and emotions.    read more...

Idea-stretching writing strategies

When you need to break up a long writing project, literature study or research paper with a day or two of isolated writing experiences, you might try one of these strategies:    read more...

Giving the gift of words

In the final days before the holiday break, fourth grade teacher Claudia Jackson led her class in a dynamic activity that not only motivated students to write, but also helped them recognize the unique qualities of their classmates.    read more...

Anchor papers with voice

Teachers are always asking for strong writing samples and anchor papers to utilize within the classroom. Throughout my travels last month, I collected several pieces from teachers who were excited to share their students’ writing successes.    read more...