In this book, Witte, a teacher educator, and seven middle-level teachers share their approaches to teaching writing in the middle-school classroom. They discuss their approaches within the context of what it means for middle-school students to put their writing into the world, including teaching and fostering revision and how project-based learning changed one teacher’s approach; approaches for giving students the opportunity to take ownership of their writing to express their thinking about complex social issues and to solve problems through inquiry projects, including writing to build community and game design and writing projects; and approaches for writing to heal others and create change that addresses some of the world's larger issues, including conveying sympathy through writing and writing public narratives to build community. Each teaching approach is situated within the Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing statement of the National Council of Teachers of English and provides examples of how each teacher navigates their approach within these best practices. Annotation ©2020 Ringgold, Inc., Portland, OR (protoview.com)
Shelbie Witte and a diverse group of middle school teacher-writers share their approaches to mentoring, modeling, and facilitating middle level writers as they explore their places within our world.
Identifying writing as central to what makes us human, editor and teacher educator Shelbie Witte has gathered a diverse group of middle school teacher-writers who open widely the doors of their classrooms to share their approaches to mentoring, modeling, and facilitating middle level writers as they explore their places within our world. Early adolescents might be physically and emotionally in flux, but they are also multidimensional, multitalented creatures of curiosity, always pushing the boundaries of discovery and possibility.The seven educators whose classrooms are showcased in this book know that being a writer is being part of the world, and they lead their students toward the understanding that writing makes a difference, both in their own lives and in the broader world. Writing Can Change Everything invites all of us to consider how the principles outlined in NCTE’s Professional Knowledge for the Teaching of Writing position statement weave throughout the best practices on display as students write through creative self-expression, narrative, inquiry, and project-based learning.
