I vividly remember the first essay, a literary response prompt about The Miracle Worker, I assigned as a new teacher. As a class, we’d both read and watched the play, discussed it extensively, and completed hands-on projects; I didn’t think one small essay would be a problem. I blithely handed out the assignment, told my students to write, and collected their work on the due date. It was that simple-until I actually began to read their writing. (more…)

The second installment in our Author Series comes with many thanks to Sue Macy for allowing us to share her 10 Tips for Young Writers.

Sue Macy is an author and editor of books, magazine articles, and writing for the Web. Much of her work is for kids and young adults, and a lot of it is about sports. Her books include Girls Got Game: Sports Stories & Poems, Play Like a Girl: A Celebration of Women in Sports, Freeze Frame, and Swifter, Higher, Stronger, which received starred review from “School Library Journal” and “Booklist.” She is also on the board of directors of the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League Players Association, the group that organizes reunions and educates the public about the league.

You can learn a lot more about Sue, her books, and her interests on her website at http://www.suemacy.com/

It’s one of the oldest jokes in the book. “How do you get to Carnegie Hall?” asks a tourist lost in New York City. “Practice!” (more…)

Target Grade Level: All levels
Keys Concepts: Writing Process, prewriting, drafting, revising, editing
Contributed by: Stephanie Binckes. Stephanie Binckes is a former high school English and ELD teacher. As a fellow of the California Writing Project, she has worked as a writing coach and mentor throughout her state. She wrote this article to help teachers re-envision MY Access!® as a powerful tool that can be used to support students throughout the composition process.

When I first began teaching in the 1990s, “Writing Process” or “The Writing Process” was familiar jargon in the language arts classroom. However, it wasn’t until I went through a California Writing Project Summer Invitational that I began to fully understand, internalize and embrace a process approach to teaching writing.

A few years later, when I started working as a teacher consultant in school districts throughout Southern California, the mere mention of “Writing Process” was sure to spark a heated debate. Teachers loved it or hated it. Some saw process writing as the only way to teach; others saw it as a waste of time and a “feel good” approach that didn’t accomplish anything. I quickly assessed that those who had a strong aversion to process writing simply didn’t understand it, and I enjoyed the challenge of showing them what process writing actually is. (more…)

Target Grades: Middle-High School
Key Concepts: Writing on Demand, SAT^®, AP^®, state assessments, academic writing, college readiness
Submitted by: Kathryn S. Pabst, Lovejoy High School, Lucas,Texas Kathryn_Pabst@lovejoyisd.net

Kathryn S. Pabst currently leads the Pre-AP/Eng. II team at Lovejoy High School in Lucas, Texas—a unique district that has adopted the philosophy of “Pre-AP for All.” At Lovejoy, AP^® strategies are embedded in the curriculum to ensure a deeper and more enriched learning experience for all students. Kathryn’s passions are teaching writing—in all its complexities and nuances—and crafting and writing curriculum. In 2008-2009, Kathryn’s responsibilities will expand to include the teaching of AP Language. She will also be an AP^® presenter at the 2008 National Conference. Kathryn holds a GT Endorsement and earned her M.A.T. in 2004 from The University of Texas at Dallas. Her current goals include alignment for grades 6-12 and the initiation of a student literary magazine for her district. Kathryn also published a memoir, TAKEN, in 2003.

“Research and experience show that writers need three things: ownership of the form and subject of their writing, feedback from other writers, and time to draft and revise. Yet the harsh and confusing reality of today’s college-entrance and state-mandated examinations—or any test with an essay component—is that students, trained in writing workshops, go on the clock to compose a paper on an assigned topic, in a prescribed form, for which they will receive no feedback. …And their future depends on it.”
Anne Ruggles Gere, University of Michigan
(more…)

Dan Gutman is the author of more than 80 books, fictional and non-fictional, for both children and adults. His published works include The Homework Machine, The Million Dollar Putt, and Landslide! A Kid’s Guide to the U.S. Elections. He’s also published the & Me baseball card adventure series as well as the My Weird School series. We would like to thank Dan for allowing us to post his “Tips for Young Authors” in our Vantage community. You can learn more about Dan and his books and find some fun surprises on his Web site at http://www.dangutman.com.

Writing non-fiction…
If you have to write a report for school on a topic (say, the Civil War), it is really no different than what I go through when I write a book such as “Gymnastics” or “Baseball’s Greatest Games.”

The first step is to gather information. What I do, basically, is to try and find out everything I can about my subject.

For gymnastics, I went to the library to see what books had been published on the topic. I went through The New York Times Index and the Reader’s Guide to Periodicals to read articles written about gymnastics. I skimmed five years of International Gymnast magazine. I checked out gymnastic web sites. I interviewed gymnasts and coaches. (more…)

Target Grade Levels: All
Key Concepts: Writing process, narrative writing, MY Tutor feedback, Revision

Stephanie Binckes is a former high school English and ELD teacher. As a fellow of the California Writing Project, she has worked as a writing coach and mentor throughout her state. She wrote this article to help teachers re-envision MY Access! as a powerful tool that can be used to support students throughout the composition process.    

    One of the most common concerns I hear from teachers who use MY Access!® is that MY Tutor feedback is too general to be helpful for students.  MY Tutor was never designed to replace teaching of writing skills, but it does support and reinforce effective writing instruction.  By modeling with whole-class guided instruction, teachers can enable their students to use MY Tutor independently. Below, you will find a model lesson that demonstrates how to use MY Tutor feedback to teach students a specific skill: writing a detailed setting in a narrative piece. (more…)

Teaching Poetic Devices in Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son”
Target Grade Level: Middle School
Time: 2-3 class periods
Key Concepts: Literary Analysis, Reading Comprehension, Poetic Devices, Writing Process

Contributed by Dr. Madeline Pan. Dr. Madeline Pan has made a career of teaching English to students at all levels. As a district and school administrator, her emphasis was on providing professional development on research-based writing instruction to teachers at the middle and high school level. She thanks the 8th grade students in Red Clay, Delaware and Milwaukee, Wisconsin for their enthusiasm and well-written analytical responses for “Mother to Son” by Langston Hughes.

Teacher’s Reflection. Langston Hughes’ “Mother to Son” is a poem for all ages and a delight to teach because students “get it” very quickly. They like it at first, love it soon after, and quote it throughout the year. Better yet, they don’t balk at writing a literary analysis about the poem, even writing about it very well, regardless of whether they have had experience writing a literary analysis or not. (more…)

Tailoring a Narrative IntelliMetric™ Prompt: A Customized MY Access! ® Lesson on Daniel Keyes’ “Flowers for Algernon.”

Target Grade Level: Middle School
Time: 2-3 class periods
Keys Concepts: Narrative writing, Writing Process, Point of View, Character Analysis, Prompt Customization.

Contributed by: Stephanie Dixon. Stephanie Dixon is a former 8th grade English teacher, user of MY Access!, and TOSA (teacher on special assignment) support provider for teachers using MY Access! within her district. She used the following lesson with her students and was extremely pleased with their deep, insightful, and polished responses. She hopes that this lesson will connect with your students in the same way that it did with hers.

“Flowers for Algernon,” by Daniel Keyes, is a novella that is commonly taught in middle school English classrooms across the country. The story is creatively written as a series of journal entries composed by the main character, Charlie Gordon, who undergoes experimental surgery in an attempt to increase his extremely low IQ. As the story progresses and Charlie’s intelligence grows, he begins to accomplish tasks that were impossible for him to complete prior to his surgery. Perhaps for the first time in his life, Charlie experiences moments where he feels proud of himself. (more…)