• tap into adolescents’ social and developmental needs • align your writing instruction with the common core state standard s • enhance your professional development PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs Laura Robb’s new middle school writing curriculum helps you:
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Laura Robb's new middle school writing curriculum - Heinemann
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• tap into adolescents’ socialanddevelopmental needs
• align your writing instruction with the common core state standards
• enhance your professional development
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
Laura Robb’s new middle schoolwriting curriculum helps you:
Laura Robb
• 4 decades of teaching experience
• acclaimed author of such titles as– Teaching Middle School Writers (2010)– Teaching Reading in Middle School (2nd ed. 2010)– Teaching Nonfiction Writing (2010)
• teacher trainer and coach
• one of nation’s top 20 educators byInstructor magazine
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
About the Author
teaching guide
• the research and professional understandings behind the series
• tips for using mentor texts
• guidelines for supporting students duringthe entire writing process
• strategies for addressing developmentalneeds
• plans for integrating the units into yourcurriculum
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
Professional Support
Resources cd-RoM
• a wealth of teaching tools support youthroughout the year
• student handouts include– mentor texts– writing guidelines– peer and self-evaluation forms
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
Professional Support
The lessons & tools needed to teach the writinggenres middle school students need most
Getting StartedUNIT 1: Establishing Foundationsstudents describe their writing life and learnfoundational practices
Narrative WritingUNIT 2: Writing a Short Memoirstudents use details, dialogue, and strong verbs as they describe an eventUNIT 3: Writing a Short, Short Story students fictionalize a true experience byshowing, not telling
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
8 Writing Units
ArgumentUNIT 4: Writing a Persuasive Essaystudents craft compelling arguments UNIT 5: Writing an Analytical Essaystudents develop a thesis about a text and support their position with details
Informational/ExplanatoryWritingUNIT 6: Writing an Informative Essaystudents focus on a topic and present supporting informationUNIT 7: Writing a Compare/Contrast Essaystudents compare real events to historical fiction
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
8 Writing Units
Free Choice WritingUNIT 8: Writing in Any Genrestudents move through the writing process relyingon their knowledge, interests, and past lessons
each unit
• teaches the full writing process from planning and drafting to revising and presenting
• builds on instructional mentor texts
• describes in details Laura Robb’s teachingmoves and language
• includes artifacts and management tips
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
8 Writing Units
instruction is assessment driven
• writer surveys help you learn about your students’ writing lives
• Laura models how to use negotiated criteria to guide and monitor students writing
• assessment strategies include peer & self-evaluations
• units conclude with tips for assessing students’ understanding and strategies for differentiating instruction
• professional study suggestions help you evaluate and enhance your own teaching practice
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
8 Writing Units
Mentor texts
• develop a mental model of the genre
• introduce the genre in each unit
• written by professional writers andstudents
• provided in a reproducible formatand in a projectable e-format
• additional mentor texts help you varyinstruction and match your students’ reading levels
PRacticaL Units foR teaching MiddLe schooL WRiteRs
The final bell rings. It’s the last day of school, and summer has finally come! Students don’t have to think about school for at least another 2½ months. That is the way it should always be. Schools should continue using the traditional calendar and not a year-round schedule. There are numerous downsides to year-round schooling. It has no positive effects on education, it adds to costs, and it disrupts the long-awaited summer vacation.
Contrary to the well-accepted belief, year-round schooling has no con-structive impact on education. Most year-round schedules use the 45-15 method: 45 days of school followed by 15 days off. Because of this, there are many first and last days of school. All those transitions disrupt the learning process. Also, there is no evidence of higher test scores. Due to that, many schools that change to year-round schedules end up switching back. For example, since 1980, 95 percent of schools that tried the year-round schedule changed back to a traditional calendar. It is obvious that changing to year-round schooling does not help students; therefore, why is the change necessary?
Like any other facility, keeping a school open requires a great deal of money. When a school changes to a year-round schedule, the costs skyrocket. Keeping school open in the middle of summer requires air conditioning, and that adds significantly to the school’s expenses. The usual utility bills grow because of the additional open-school time. Finally, teachers must be paid for all the weeks they are working. With all these factors, the cost of keeping schools open becomes immensely high. For example, a high school in Arizona had a cost increase of $157,000 when they switched to year-round schooling. Some schools may not be able to handle such increases, and other schools that can handle these expenses could be doing better things with the money. Is year-round school really where the money should go?
An important part of a child’s life is summertime. With year-round schedules, students would hardly have any time to relax. During the 15-day breaks, they would be thinking about their quick return to school. It would also be difficult to coordinate family vacations with parents’ work