“You gotta get with my friends”
Nelson Mandela called them his heroes, and Prince Charles said meeting them was the greatest moment in his life. How did the Fab Five get such famous friends? Probably because their songs were all about empowerment, friendship, and positivity—just like you!
As a writing teacher, what you want (what you really, really want) is to empower your students to be great writers. But here’s the story from A to Z: your students are at all different skill levels….and you haven’t yet cracked the code to getting them “with” each other during a writing lesson.
While some students need only a hot minute to write a 5-paragraph masterpiece…your struggling students need a lot more help to even write a single sentence.
You end up zigazig-ah-ing between desks, trying to help all of your students master the skills. You’re giving them everything, all the joy you can bring—and it’s exhausting you. (No wonder you feel like you don’t have the time to teach writing!)
Stop right now (thank you very much)
You’re racing so hard to keep your students together during a writing lesson…and you know it can’t last. So how do you get your act together and stop wasting your own precious time?
To get back your positivity, you need a new strategy: that of the writing masterpiece. With each writing unit (persona narrative, informational report, etc.), your students will have one masterpiece they work on. When it’s time for your students to practice the skill from your daily mini-lesson— have them do it inside the masterpiece. If your students finish practicing the skill before the timer goes off, they can turn to another piece of writing to work on! That keeps everyone as together as the Fab Five, their boyfriends, and their friends.
Who is the Not So Wimpy Writing Teacher?
Hi, I’m Jamie Sears. You may know me from such websites as The Not So Wimpy Teacher or TPT, or Facebook groups with the NSWT name. (Bonus points if you get The Simpsons reference!)
I help teachers overcome the challenges of teaching in the 21st century. I’m a wife, mother of 5 fantastic kids, education blogger, and curriculum author.
I’m particularly passionate about helping teachers up their teaching writing game. Why?
Because once upon a time, I really struggled with it. So I tried out different techniques until I found the ones that worked. I took those, added a few simple changes to my approach, and lo and behold, I had created the recipe for student writing success!
And now I too slam it to the left, shake it to the right, just like Posh, Ginger, Baby, Sporty, and Scary Spice!
Let’s keep the party going!
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be emailing you my top strategies and tools to free your mind of doubt and danger about running writing mini-lessons and workshops. You’ll transform from wannabe to superstar in no time at all!