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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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