Product Details

• Author: Ross M. Burkhardt
• Year: 2003
• Grade Range: 6-12

• Media: 312 pp/paper
• ISBN: 978-157110-358-1
• Item No.: WEB-0358

Getting adolescents to love writing is one of the most difficult tasks a teacher faces. But for nearly twenty years, something miraculous happened in an eighth-grade classroom on Long Island: not only did adolescents learn to love to write, they also learned how to write effectively and eloquently in a wide range of genres for multiple audiences.

In Writing for Real,Ross Burkhardt offers a wealth of writing strategies--collected over his career as a classroom teacher and key figure in middle level education--that give kids real reasons to write. By keeping the strategies grounded in the real world and in students' interests, kids become more engaged than they would from canned exercises. Teacher/student dialogues introduce concepts in an authentic setting. The strategies are also designed to be developmentally appropriate for young adolescents. Throughout the book, examples of student writing represent a range of developmental levels and a variety of forms, such as free-verse poetry, interior monologues, and personal essays.

Readers can regard this book as a toolbox, using strategies as they need them. The "In a Nutshell" sections at the beginning of chapters provide teachers with a blueprint for trying out these strategies in their own classroom. Or the book can be used as a guide for a complete school year curriculum for teaching writing. Readers will learn how to:

lay the groundwork for a writing community on the first day of school;
motivate kids to write;
get kids to care about the conventions of English, including grammar and mechanics;
help kids master specific forms from traditional genres and modes of writing to new forms of expression;
effectively model "the teacher as writer";
successfully organize writing groups;
deepen student response to writing;
use classroom publication to promote good writing;
connect writing to life through journals;
compose "occasional writing" to celebrate individuals and events.

Combining a deep passion for both teaching writing and educating adolescents, Writing for Real offers readers a window into a master teacher's classroom. Whether you work with struggling writers or kids who already love to write, these strategies will engage your students in meaningful tasks that teach them the thrill and power of good, effective, purposeful writing.

Table of Contents

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Contents
Part 1: The First Five Weeks
1. Writing for Real
2. Assertions About Writing
3. Day One: Getting Started
4. Day Two: The Distinctions
5. Free-Verse Poetry
6. Interior Monologues and Personal Essays
7. Anthologies and Writing Groups
8. Journals
Summary

Part 2: Writing and Learning
9. Letters
10. Anticipating the Unexpected
11. The Holiday Memory Piece
12. Lessons Learned
13. The Letter to Self
14. The Gift of Writing
15. The Essay Contest, the School Newspaper, and Responding to a Play
Summary

Part 3: Culminating and Reflecting
16. The Poetry Booklet
17. The Parent Writing Conference
18. The Individual Magazine
19. Writing for Closure
20. Reflections on Writing
Epilogue
Appendix: Sample Forms and Typical Assignments
Bibliography
Index

Ross Burkhardt
Ross became a teacher because "I found a profession that challenged me, used all of my skills, put me into daily contact with young people, allowed my creativity to emerge, and made a difference in the world."
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