Heather is a former high school teacher and literacy coach. She taught English, history, and mathematics in a diverse range of high school and middle school classrooms in both Northern and Southern California. Her expertise is in curriculum design with an emphasis on literacy across the curriculum. Heather has consulted for schools and school districts throughout the country. She is the author of Thinking through Genre: Units of Study in Reading and Writing Workshops, 4-12 (Stenhouse, 2003). Heather received an MA at Stanford and a doctorate at the University of California, San Diego. She is currently an assistant professor at the School of Leadership and Education Sciences at the University of San Diego.
View Heather Lattimer's Resume/Vita, Publications and Workshops.
Level: 6-12
- Genre studies in the reading and writing workshop
- Literacy coaching
- Struggling readers and writers
- Reading and writing in the content areas
Thinking Through Genre:
Units of Study in Reading and Writing Workshops 4–12
Writing
Apprenticeship—This workshop examines how teachers can support students’ writing development by encouraging students to apprentice themselves to publish texts and experienced writers. Strategies to support student analysis and evaluation of text structure and writing craft are demonstrated. Sample lessons illustrate how to support students as they apply newly constructed understandings to own writing.
Genre-focused Writing—These workshops focus on teaching students to craft texts in particular standards-based genres using a writing workshop approach. Workshops can focus on an individual genre or a series of workshops can be presented on a variety of genres. Focus genres include Editorial–Persuasive writing, Memoir–Personal narrative and Features Article–Expository composition.
Reading in the Genres—These workshops provide teachers with strategies to help students develop multi-faceted understanding of texts in particular genres. Can be combined with workshop on writing in the same genre. Focus genres include:
o Editorial–Questioning the text
o Memoir–Making meaningful connections to the text
o Featured article–Synthesizing expository text
o Short story–Literary analysis: Focus on characters
o Fairy tales–Literary analysis: Focus on theme
o Media Literacy–Analysis and critique of popular media