Teaching a senior seminar on creative nonfiction led author Sarah Gompers to consider how she might help her students understand the concept of writing with vulnerability. All stages of the writing process must be explicitly taught, and this extends to something as basic as topic selection. When students are taught about vulnerability--what it is,…

This article serves as an invitation to see the way the teaching of biography-driven writing has been increasingly pushed out of the secondary English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum in favor of highly structured, formulaic, and impersonal writing, and how this is a setback for students in their preparation for college and career writing. The…

The author began using 1:1 screencast video assessment tools: nimble apps such as Movenote, Screencastify, and Snagit that attach to his browser and allow him to efficiently provide a far more valuable writing assessment experience for students than ever before. This article explains the many advantages of Digital Video (DV) Assessments, student…

A writing invitation the author has found useful is to ask students to identify indelible educational moments. They all have them, some positive, some damaging. The moments don't need to have taken place in school. They could involve outdoor as well as indoor schooling: a moment when they realized betrayal for example; a moment when they knew they…

When a teacher who fears writing poetry is forced to teach the skill, she discovers a new writing passion and a better way to reach her students.

The nonfiction letter offers students an opportunity to study a dying art while also gaining insights about people, places, and eras. Teaching students the value of letters teaches community, caring, and connection. Whereas reading great works of literature can and does provide insight into life's purpose and meaning, the nonfiction text of a…

The problem of teacher bullying via writing is all too common--and that in many cases, those doing the bullying are unaware of how their communications are being perceived. In this article, the authors call attention to writing decisions that may affect whether or not readers understand communications as bullying. Their goal is to raise awareness…

Effective writers--professionals and students--break traditionally taught rules frequently. So why teach students rules that writers don't actually follow? English teachers bear the responsibility of offering young writers guidance--of teaching them stylistics "rules." But as thoughtful writing teachers, they are also responsible for observing…

In this article, the author asserts that those who teach writing must regularly engage in conversations with "all" teachers about how their work with and on writing connects to work that students are doing across the entire curriculum. In other words, writing and writing instruction are not and should not be considered the sole responsibility of…

Pressure for students to produce writing perfection in the classroom often eclipses the emphasis placed on the need for students to practice writing. Occasions for students to choose, challenge, and reflect--to actually risk risking--are too often absent from conversations among students and teachers in countless English classrooms. Tom Romano…

Most every writing teacher can relate to the curse of reading yet another incoherent essay, the contents of which resemble an unorganized junk drawer of thoughts. Such essays cry out for a main idea. The remedy is a thesis, and teachers rightly take pains to help students discover this. Yet in spite of this, writing teachers ought to bear in mind…

In society, expertise bestows directive power--the authority to tell others what to do and how to do it, or simply to do it for them. In a school system that still operates on an authoritarian model, the author's expertise as a writer and teacher gives her directive prerogative when responding to student writing. Traditionally, teachers have used…

This article focuses on writing instruction and seeks to: (1) define the expectations of first-year composition (FYC) programs; (2) consider the factors shaping high school writing instruction; and (3) explore the gap between the goals of each. The authors have interviewed secondary writing teachers and college first-year composition instructors…

In this article, the author shares challenges of teaching writing in a virtual classroom. One of the challenges of online education--the often-asynchronous nature--also holds one of the strengths: the opportunity for a lesson to continue long after the classroom closes. The author's experiences online offer ways to rethink meanings of youth…

Sarah Irwin and Cyndi Knodle believe that by replacing the confines of content and form in writing instruction and assignments with ample "time and space for invention and arrangement, writing teachers can help to inspire student thinking rather than chopping it off to fit a required format." They elaborate on students' eagerness to be guided by a…