Here I am, a teacher by trade, winner of a college scholarship for writing, YET I still dreaded to teach my kids writing.
However, I knew I had to tackle this dreaded subject laboriously this year – my oldest was in middle school and it was time. So I did my research – I scoured the Internet for something to help convey to my boys that writing can be fun, it can be done on subjects they enjoy writing about, and they can learn to be strong writers.
I asked other teachers what they used and spent hours looking all over the Internet. It wasn't until I started poking at one of our local middle school teachers that she said the magic words, "I found a great curriculum and I want to use it – I just haven't put it to use in my classroom yet." It piqued my interest, and the next thing I knew – I was buying the writing curriculum AND the poetry curriculum.
I can not brag enough about this wonderful curriculum – Atwell's Lessons that Change Writers is a curriculum that may look pricey but it will carry you YEARS worth of writing lessons. And even then, you could do the whole curriculum again, and students will only glean more. I have taught this with a group of homeschoolers and it worked superbly in a group setting, and I also taught it with only my boys – it fit that need as well.
Nancie's lessons are well-written, easy-to-understand, and they are teachable whether you are a teacher by trade or not. I have finally found a way to teach writing that is do-able. This is from one homeschool mom to another because, to be honest, neither Heinemann nor Nancie Atwell even know I am saying it!
Becky Bilby can be found blogging on her personal blog, And Chloe Makes 6,or blogging about books at In the Pages.
Photo by radioflyer007
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