Lessons That Change Writers

Rating:
Summary: I am a student featured in "Lessons that Change Writers"
Review: I attended the Center for Teaching and Learning my 7th and 8th grade years (2001-2002) while Nancie was writing this book. I have a few pieces of my writing in the book itself and I am on the cover; (James or "Jimmy" Morrill). Having been an actual student of Nancie I actually know the mini-lesson well. It truly is the best of the best.

Rating:
Summary: Writers Workshop- the missing manual
Review: I just discovered this book (we have a copy in our school) and used one chapter to teach short story writing to my 6th graders. Her lesson suggestions and reproduceables taught my students what was missing from their writing and how to improve it. The binder contains many quotes and handouts. They are well designed. For example, by filling out the one on their main character, my students had the germ of a real story and were ready to write. I had to adapt it a little, but the basic teaching ideas and structure was very helpful to me. It helped students make meaningful changes to their own writing.

Rating:
Summary: Writers Workshop- the missing manual
Review: I just discovered this book (we have a copy in our school) and used one chapter to teach short story writing to my 6th graders. Her lesson suggestions and reproduceables taught my students what was missing from their writing and how to improve it. The binder contains many quotes and handouts. They are well designed. For example, by filling out the one on their main character, my students had the germ of a real story and were ready to write. I had to adapt it a little, but the basic teaching ideas and structure was very helpful to me. It helped students make meaningful changes to their own writing.

Rating:
Summary: Invaluable
Review: Staring down my first year of teaching was daunting enough, let along figuring out how to teach my kids to become good writers. Lessons that Change Writers is an invaluable companion to any English teacher who wants to make real writers out of his students. The book is filled with super-practical lessons that cover every aspect of writing I could have hoped for along with wonderful examples written by Nancie's students. The vast majority of my students finished the year feeling confident about their writing skills; the progress they made was astounding. Students realized that writing was a time consuming process, and I learned that teaching writing in a meaningful way is also a TIME CONSUMING process. To teach in the way Nancie does, it requires a goodly amount of class time and an enormous amount of out-of-class time. However, it was worth it, and this book made me feel like an incredibly competent writing teacher. The rest of my English department will be using this next year. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Here, Here!
Review: This book (along with the revised "In the Middle") really helped me to "see" what I needed to do to enhance my writing workshop. Reading her, "What I was thinking. . ." and then seeing the words that she uses to teach the lessons made it seem like I was sitting right in her classroom. Of course the only thing better would be doing just that! Well worth the $ spent and immediately usable. I too am waiting for a similar volume that will lay open her reading workshop.

Rating:
Summary: Here, Here!
Review: This book (along with the revised "In the Middle") really helped me to "see" what I needed to do to enhance my writing workshop. Reading her, "What I was thinking. . ." and then seeing the words that she uses to teach the lessons made it seem like I was sitting right in her classroom. Of course the only thing better would be doing just that! Well worth the $ spent and immediately usable. I too am waiting for a similar volume that will lay open her reading workshop.