Category: Uncategorized
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The Power of Positivity in a Writing Class
Five years ago I was lucky enough to do the Oregon Writing Project with the incredible Linda Christensen, and during one of our sessions, a fellow teacher mentioned something about having a 50/50 blend of praise and constructive criticism when responding to student papers. The offhanded nature of the remark made it clear that for…
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The Importance of a Writing Sketchbook
Writing is dangerous. Silence leaves everything up the imagination. Spoken words fade as soon as uttered. But writing lasts forever as a concrete monument to one’s persona, knowledge, and ideas. It can be closely examined, dissected, and easily picked apart. This is a major issue for writing teachers because teens, while they may throw caution to…
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Why Your Students Should Write More (and How to Get Them to Do It)
Now that time has continued its march to the start of a new year, it is once again time for resolutions. In the cycle of teaching, this stage is actually one of the things I look forward to the most because it gives me another chance to look at the missteps of the previous semester and…
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Why Do So Many Students Not Like Writing?
Every semester I begin my writing classes by asking students to write a one page introduction letter that discusses their feelings and experiences surrounding writing. A pdf of the assignment is right here: The Story of Your Writing From these I tend to find my classes to be made up of the following:
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Why a Writing Instruction Blog?
I doubt if the memory will ever leave me. It happened on a sunny Monday in late September during my first year of teaching. On my desk sat a four inch stack of slightly crumpled computer paper–the first student essays of the year–covered in blue ink and ready to go back to the students. Over…
Matthew M. Johnson 