Stenhouse Newslinks
October 10, 2006
C O N T E N T S
1) New from Ralph Fletcher: Boy Writers
2) PD Corner: Conferring with writers
3) Writing morning messages
4) No Politician Left Behind
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1) New from Ralph Fletcher: Boy Writers
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"The writing workshop would seem to be a perfect arena for boys,
tailor-made to their eclectic interests and boisterous energy.
What went wrong? (And why had it taken me so long to notice?) Boy
writers were floundering; at least they seemed to be. I needed a
reality check, and started talking with teachers around the
country. My conversations and interviews confirmed my initial
perception."
How can we create writing classrooms that are friendlier to boys?
In his new book Boy Writers, Ralph Fletcher explores the qualities
of boys as writers, how to give them more choices, and how to
engage them through classroom discussions, conferences, and
drawing. He tackles difficult issues such as gender differences,
violence and humor in writing, edgy language, and handwriting.
Boy Writers is filled with specific, practical ideas to try in
your classroom and includes a chapter devoted to answering tough
questions that many teachers may have about teaching writing to
boys. Throughout the book, Ralph draws on discussions and surveys
with dozens of teachers and students and his experience as the
father of four boys to provide insights on encouraging, connecting
with, and nurturing boys as writers.
Boy Writers will be available in print later this month. You can
browse the entire book online now:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0425.asp?r=n98
And you can listen to Ralph talk about how his surveys of boys
informed the book's development--especially with respect to choice
of genre, topic, and language--in this Author Conversations audio
podcast:
http://www.stenhouse.com/fletcherpodcast.asp?r=n98
Boy Writers: Reclaiming Their Voices
Ralph Fletcher * 200 pp/paper * 17.50
http://www.stenhouse.com/0425.asp?r=n98
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2) PD Corner: Conferring with writers
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*October Quote of the Month*
"Of writing well the source and fountainhead is wise thinking."
--Horace
Are you feeling that your student writing conferences are in a
slump? "Writing Conference Principles" from the new website Choice
Literacy is a quick reference that can help get conferences back
on track:
http://www.choiceliteracy.com/public/89.cfm
Writing is hard work. Teaching and sustaining writing workshop can
be even harder. As teachers know, writer's workshop doesn't always
go as planned, and many find that they consistently struggle with
the challenge of managing student writing conferences. Mark
Overmeyer shares strategies to effectively manage whole class,
small group, and individual writing conferences in Chapter 7 of
his book, When Writing Workshop Isn't Working:
http://www.stenhouse.com/0404.asp?r=n98
(Scroll down to the Chapter 7 link in the Table of Contents.)
"Conferring: The Essential Teaching Act," Chapter 14 of The
Writing Workshop (published by NCTE), provides tips for conferring
with students on their writing. Author Katie Wood Ray understands
that writing conferences can be tricky and encourages readers to
work through the hard parts. She points out, "Even if we feel our
teaching falls short of what we wish it could be in a conference,
it is still so significant that we sit down and talk to a child
about his or her writing." Read the chapter here:
http://www.learner.org/channel/workshops/middlewriting/p6_reading.html
(Click on the "pdf" text link after the book's citation.)
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3) Writing morning messages
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Many teachers write a message to their students every morning to
anchor the day's learning. The article "Good Morning, Learners"
from the Responsive Classroom website explains the goals of
morning messages and gives useful tips for creating them:
http://www.responsiveclassroom.org/articlelibrary/feature_50.asp
This article was adapted from the new book, Morning Meeting
Messages, K-6: 180 Sample Charts from Three Classrooms. You can
read the first chapter and browse nine sample charts here:
http://www.stenhouse.com/8917.asp?r=n98
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4) No Politician Left Behind
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Teri Lesesne, author of Making the Match and Naked Reading, offers
five suggestions for elected leaders who want to make sound
decisions about education reform in this piece from the Spring
2006 issue of SIGNAL Journal (International Reading Association):
http://www.kennesaw.edu/english/education/signal/PreviousIssues/
(Click on the "President's Message -- No Politician Left Behind"
text link at the bottom of the page, which links to a PDF file.)
Learn more about Teri Lesesne's books and read sample chapters:
http://www.stenhouse.com/rdlesesne.htm
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