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Putting Everyday Life on the Page
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Putting Everyday Life on the Page
Inspiring Students to Write, Grades 2-7



November 2008 | 128 pages | Corwin

"A refreshing break from the rule-obsessed manuals that litter the educational marketplace. What better way to teach students to write than through their own experiences, their own senses, their own feelings of mystery, wonder, and excitement!"
—Thomas Armstrong, Author
The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing

"With pre-writing and observing activities, targeted lessons, and simple strategies that create a desire to write, Levitt shows us that teaching students to write better is not only possible but fulfilling and fun."
—R. James Stahl, Founder
Merlyn's Pen Magazine and the New Library of Young Adult Writing

Develop your students' enthusiasm and ability to write about what is meaningful to them!

Elementary and middle school students often struggle with how to choose and develop topics in their writing. In a conversational and humorous style, Marc Levitt demonstrates how to help students write effectively by drawing from their own diverse and rich experiences.

This engaging book offers a wealth of easily implemented ideas and activities to encourage a culture of writing in your classroom and teach writing by acknowledging and utilizing what your students already know. Illustrating how teachers can use a multisensory approach and exercise students' observational intelligence, the author emphasizes specific facets of the writer's craft:

  • Beginnings
  • Sequential thinking
  • Observation and description
  • Characters
  • Settings and endings

This book offers novice and experienced teachers a myriad of ideas to help them teach writing skills that translate to the general academic setting and foster a love of writing.


 
Preface
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Author
 
Introduction
 
1. Beginnings
 
2. Sequential Thinking
 
3. Observations, Description, and Colorful Language
 
4. Finding and Using Characters
 
5. Finding and Using Place
 
6. Motivating Your Students
 
7. Grammatical Conventions: Sentences, Paragraphs, Commas, and Periods
 
8. Encouraging a Culture of Writing in Your Classroom: Creating a Writer's Studio and Salon
 
9. Endings
 
Index

"This book has some of the strongest writing prompts and examples I have read in a long time!"

Brenda Lynch, Spanish Teacher
Madison High School, SD

"This book is packed with lessons ready for use."

Jim D’Acosta, Teacher
Fairfield Warde High School, Fairfield, CT

"This book is written from years of passionate experience in classrooms with students. It offers a multitude of great ideas for lessons."

Diana W. McDougal, Art Teacher
East High School, Cheyenne, WY

"Young writers often don’t grasp what they are being asked to do by their teachers. The author offers  many strategies to make abstract writing concepts more concrete."

Stacy Gardner Dibble, Fifth-Grade Teacher and Reading Coordinator
Prairie Elementary School, Worthington, MN

"Inventive and original, Marc Levitt's ideas actually put the fun back in writing—for teachers and for students."

Susan Ohanian, Senior Fellow
Vermont Society for the Study of Education

"A refreshing break from the rule-obsessed 'how to teach students to write' manuals that litter the educational marketplace. What better way to teach students to write than through their own experiences, their own senses, their own feelings of mystery, wonder, excitement, and dread! Let teachers everywhere use this book to make new Kafkas, Woolfs, and Ellisons, and to awaken in every student a love for making words that just sing off the page!"

Thomas Armstrong, Author of The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing

"With pre-writing and observing activities, targeted lessons, and simple strategies that create a desire to write, Levitt shows us that teaching students to write better is not only possible but fulfilling and fun."

R. James Stahl, Founder
Merlyn's Pen Magazine and the New Library of Young Adult Writing

"Lucky for all young writers, Levitt has turned his storytelling talents to talking to teachers in this practical and user-friendly book. Teachers across the curriculum will find Levitt's suggestions innovative and helpful as he describes how to transition students through the writing process. Always student-centered, Levitt invites us to keep children and their interests at the heart of writing."

Pat Cordeiro, Professor of Elementary Education
Rhode Island College
Key features
  • an easy, engaging read that will not be intimidating for novice teachers
  • rather than exercises and worksheets, the author provides a myriad of inspiring ideas, as well as information, about how to engage children in writing
  • shows teachers how to take advantage of their students' prior knowledge and encourage good writing "from the bottom up"

 

Sample Materials & Chapters

Preface

Introduction


Select a Purchasing Option


Paperback
ISBN: 9781412965323
$30.95

Hardcover
ISBN: 9781412965316
$73.95