Just Teach Me, Mrs. K.: Talking, Reading, and Writing with Resistant Adolescent Learners

This book was very helpful to me as I developed a Writing Lab curriculum for 7th and 8th graders. The author gives a lot of insight about how to motivate and create rapport with reluctant writers. She serves as an example on how to make this type of student feel successful in an environment where he often faces nothing but failure. The advice on how to guide students to take ownership of their work and develop writing pieces of their own design was also helpful. Perhaps what I liked best was the honesty with which the book was written. The author never claims to "know it all", and shares many stories of her disappointments and failures.

Picking this book up while on maternity leave from teaching 7th grade English was a mentally refreshing and exciting experience. Through writing about her classroom approach, Mary Krogness revitalized my passion for teaching and gave me a new perspective on motivating all of my students -- especially the reluctant ones.I highly recommend this book for any middle level English/communication teacher.