Write Now & Write On, Grades 6-12
37 Strategies for Authentic Daily Writing in Every Content Area
- Rebecca G. Harper - Augusta University, Augusta, GA, USA
Corwin Literacy
From social media to school success—take student writing to the next level!
Your students may not realize it, but they’re already writers. All those informal text messages, Instagram captions, and Facebook posts have given them skills they can use as a springboard to the formal, content-specific writing they’ll need for success in school, college, and careers.
The key, of course, is practice—plus a little guidance from you. And you’ll be ready, no matter what subject you teach, because this essential reference is packed with relevant, contemporary teaching strategies that are easily customizable to work across content areas. Inside, you’ll find:
- Engaging exercises based in the kinds of writing students already do
- Versatile “parachute writings”—quick bursts of practice to drop into a day’s lesson
- Strategies for introducing academic vocabulary and making it stick
- Skill-boosting strategies for successful summarizing and using textual evidence
- Variations specific to all disciplines and content areas
Students should be writing daily, in all their classes, and they should be writing a lot, both inside and outside school. With this practical guide, you’ll be ready to help them up their writing game—and make literacy relevant, valuable, and authentic.
Free resources
Hear This!
Take advantage of this step-by-step lesson plan focusing on visualization and hearing.
Attack or Defend Writing
This lesson introduces students to the idea of argument through Attack or Defend writing. This strategy allows students to practice taking a side while compiling evidence that supports their choice.
As Harper points out, writing is a superpower of the twenty-first century. If we want our children to flourish long-term, we must teach them to write. I am grateful that in this book I'm given a host of fresh ideas for getting my students writing purposefully and often. I'll keep this one very close to my planning desk.
You will want to have a full stack of sticky notes when you open up this book. It is full of practical strategies that will add not only purpose across your academic days, but also play, laughter, and fun. Combining humor and wisdom, Harper weaves in lessons and reminders about the different ways people write across platforms and genres. She moves from solid rationale to practical tactics, providing differentiation through modifications and extensions. With a predictable format, this book encompasses higher order thinking, expanding possibilities for engagement and expression for all learners. You will use up your sticky notes marking the pages you’ll want to bring to life in your classroom.
From quick writing strategies to summarizing techniques to vocabulary building to digital writing invitations, Write On & Write Now provides practical yet savvy strategies for any teacher who wants to increase student writing volume without sacrificing space in an already crowded curriculum.
Rebecca Harper’s book Write On & Write Now: 37 Strategies for Authentic Daily Writing is a gift to students and teachers in ELA and content classes. What Harper does will surely resonate with teachers: she offers writing suggestions that can easily be integrated into units of study across the curriculum. She’s organized the chapters around daily writing students should and can do: writing summaries, learning academic vocabulary, and digital writing, writing to share text evidence. Practical writing experiences combined with detailed directions and expectations for teachers will ensure that students will be writing daily in every subject and developing an ease with thinking on paper. In the last chapter, Harper builds teachers self-confidence by addressing, in great detail, common questions such as: How do I engage and motivate all students? How can I find the time in my schedule? What if necessary resources aren’t available? Teachers will appreciate Harper’s authentic voice and experience as well as the Appendix that provides teacher tips for specific writing suggestions. This book is sure to become a resource teachers continually turn to again and again!
Content-area teachers are asked to incorporate writing as a regular, often daily, practice. While that is obviously a good idea, what does such writing look like--and how much time will it take out of an already jam-packed curriculum? Harper clearly pondered those questions and then created quick and accessible ways to help teachers find the answers. Grab this book, take a look at the “Write Now and Write On” strategies on the first few pages, turn to the corresponding chapters, and watch your students happily (no kidding!) begin writing.