Workshop: Using Picture Books as “Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons

Workshop: Using Chapter Book Excerpts as “Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons

Course Details: Yes, it’s back, due to popular demand. Participants will workshop with half a dozen NNWP presenters who created skill-based, picture book-inspired lessons that can be accessed on-line. Participants will bring a favorite picture book with them to the final class session and design a trait-based lesson to use in their own classrooms. Five lessons from participants will be chosen to be posted at the WritingFix website, and those five teachers will receive $100 in free picture books for their classrooms.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's Picture Book Lesson Homepage.

Next workshop offering: March of 2009

Course Details : Why should picture books get all the attention when such fantastic young adult literature is being written? Participants will workshop with half a dozen NNWP presenters who have posted trait-based lessons on-line that inspire student writers with powerful excerpts from great chapter books. Participants will bring a favorite chapter book with them to the final class session and design a trait-based lesson to use in their own classroom. Five lessons from participants will be chosen to be posted at the WritingFix website, and those five teachers will receive $100 in free chapter books for their classrooms.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's Chapter Book Lesson Homepage.

Next workshop offering: March of 2009

Workshop: Using Literature Excerpts and Classic Poetry as “ Mentor Texts” for Writing Lessons

Workshop: Song Lyrics, Video, and Podcasts to Inspire Powerful Writing

Course Details : Teachers will participate in half a dozen demonstration lessons that showcase innovative writing instruction that is inspired by excerpts from the classics of literature (Dickens, Steinbeck, Golding, etc) and great classical poetry (Shakespeare, Browning, Dickinson, etc.). The demonstration lessons will be trait-focused, and they will show how student writers, while imitating styles, ideas and techniques from literary models, can easily develop their own styles and ideas for classroom assignments. At the final session, class participants will outline a new writing lesson for their own classrooms, inspired by a piece of favorite literature.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's Literature-Inspired Lesson Homepage.

Next workshop offering: Fall of 2009

Course Details : Ready to establish a “Classroom iPod”? A classroom iPod belongs to the teacher, and from it, songs, videos, and podcasts can be played to inspire student writers. In this course, teachers will participate in half a dozen demonstration lessons that showcase innovative writing lessons inspired by media that can be played on a classroom iPod.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's iPod-Inspired Lesson Homepage.

Next workshop offering: March of 2009

Workshop: Writing Across the Curriculum Techniques: Wacky We-Search and Deeper Student Thinking

Writing is a tool that can (and should) be used in every classroom, no matter what the content. Students who can write about what they’ve learned are able to show their teachers exactly how deep they understand the topic. Well-crafted writing across the curriculum lessons and prompts help teachers find ways to make students think deeply about topics while showing what they understood about the day’s lesson.

This highly engaging course explores enjoyable ways to assign writing a cross the curriculum tasks, using Barry Lane’s 51 Wacky We-Search Reports and the NNWP’s Going Deep with Compare & Contrast Guide. Participants will each get a complimentary copy of both these excellent resources when they complete the course and propose a new lesson inspired by Wacky We-Search, HistoryFix, or the Comparison/Contrast Guide.

WritingFix lesson and resource collections that are explored during this inservice course:

• The Writing Across the Curriculum Homepage
• The Comparison/Contrast Homepage
• HistoryFix

Next workshop offerings: February and March of 2009

Workshop: Improving Narrative and Memoir Writing with 4th - 8th Grade Writers

Workshop: Improving Persuasive Writing Techniques with 4th - 12th Grade Writers

Course Details: Nevada's fifth and eighth grade writing examinations are well-known for prompting students to write a passage that is narrative in nature. In this course, we use two of Ralph Fletcher's books--How to Write Your Life Story and Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid--to explore authentic techniques that a published author gives to students who are writing to narrative prompts or creating longer memoirs. Using Fletcher's advice, teacher participants will craft both narrative passages and mini-lessons that can be shared with their students. Participants each receive a complimentary copy of both books when they have completed the course.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's Narrative Homepage.

Next workshop offering: March of 2009

Course Details: Persuasive writing is often a neglected genre in Nevada classrooms, and this course was designed to energize teachers to design student-friendly lessons that teach different types of persuasion. Using Barry Lane's book, Why We Must Run With Scissors: Voice Lesson in Persuasive Writing, participants teach two lessons from the book, discuss the lessons they've used, then create their own persuausive writing lesson, which is shared the final night of the course. Participants each receive a complimentary copy of Barry's book upon completion of the course.

Lessons used during this course can be accessed from WritingFix's Persuasive Homepage.

Next workshop offering: Fall of 2009