NCTE offers consultants and services on writing instruction that when used together, provide extended learning opportunities for teachers and makes a positive impact on learning. These opportunities include the Adolescent Literacy Pathways Program, Web Seminars, Resource Kits and books on writing for study groups. Consultants are available to present one-day or multi-day presentations or provide year-round consulting. All workshops and presentations can be customized to meet your specific needs. Make your request today!
Revision Decisions: Revising with Writers, Grades 4-8
Consultant: Jeff Anderson
Adolescent and young writers alike cringe when they are asked to revise. How do they know what to do and when to do it? By creating a conversation about the craft of writing and applying specific strategies, we can begin to answer these questions.
Writing on Demand
Consultants: Leila Christenbury, Anne Ruggles Gere or Kelly Sassi
Teachers will learn strategies for following what they know to be best practices in teaching writing while still helping students prepare for writing tests. These strategies, designed to address specific features of writing on demand, can be incorporated into an existing curriculum. They adhere to the principle that test preparation and good writing instruction are not incompatible.
Brain-Based Writing Applications
Consultant: John Crow
This session allows participants to examine many of the grammatical devices that good writers use to create sentence variety--a vital component of a mature and sophisticated style. We derive inquiry-based analyses of these devices, demonstrate how to raise student awareness with hands-on activities, and provide suggestions for spiraling the concepts and for providing meaningful elaboration. We also cover things to do (and things not to do) when dealing with “non-standard” English dialects in the composition classroom.
Making Writing Happen—A Writing Across the Curriculum Workshop
Consultant: Jeffrey Golub
Students will write when (1) they have something to say, (2) they have an audience, and (3) they know they will receive feedback. In this workshop, designed for teachers in all disciplines, Jeffrey N. Golub describes and demonstrates several writing activities and instructional approaches to writing, all of which incorporate and utilize these three conditions. Participants in this workshop will learn how to structure their writing activities so that writing happens fluently, thoughtfully, enthusiastically.
Working with Writers Online
Consultant: Beth Hewett
Ideal for WAC or English professionals, this workshop uses the principles of investigation, individualization, immersion, association, and reflection to help educators respond to student writing in online settings. Beth introduces some of the characteristics of writing instruction through asynchronous and synchronous online platforms, and she provides examples and suggestions for responding to student writing in a variety of settings. Using models and providing online practice with the host institution’s software, she enables participants to work both individually and collaboratively to develop outcomes and to practice useful instructional responses.
Writing in a Digital Age
Consultant: William Kist
Audience: 6-12
This workshop includes an overview of what’s new in adolescent literacy, a quick overview of trends in helping struggling writers be better writers, what are “reading” and “writing” in the 21st century, and what are some assignments that teachers can give that will tap into these new literacies.
More . . .
Teaching for Understanding—Reading and Writing in the Content Areas
Consultant: Kathleen Kryza
Audience: 6-12 teachers
Would you like to promote ownership and independence with your students? Learn strategies for teaching students the vital reading, writing, speaking and listening skills that they need to become successful learners. These strategies are important for all learners, but a MUST for struggling students in the regular or special education classroom.
A Structured Process Approach to the Teaching of Writing
Consultant: Thomas McCann
Audience: 6–12 Teachers
The workshop offers ways teachers can design writing instruction that will allow students to learn about writing processes while they produce works that are readable. Through the use of several sample activities, the consultant will model what could be called a structured process approach to the teaching of writing.
Making Writing Instruction Tangible
Consultant: Katie McKnight
Audience: 6-12 teachers and teacher leaders
Several well known writing gurus offer models and ideas for teaching writing and grammar in context. It is often suggested that teachers use mini lessons as an instructional strategy for teaching grammar. The participants will learn how to develop effective mini lessons that integrate Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligences. These lesson integrate different learning styles and are designed to support all learners, regular education and students with special needs, in the inclusive classroom.
Teaching Writing / “Spice Up the Process”
Consultant: Susanne Rubenstein
Audience: 6 – 12 Teachers
Under the demands of state-mandated testing, writing instruction can become too methodical and template-driven. This workshop offers both veteran and new teachers the opportunity to expand their work with and understanding of the writing process. In a supportive atmosphere, participants experience, through their own writing, all stages of the process—prewriting, writing, response, revision, rewriting and publication—and discover how process writing contributes to students’ success both in the classroom and on standardized tests. More . . .