Writers in Training

I use "Writers in Training" nearly every day teaching my 7th grade writing class. If you can get a copy, you can't go wrong.

This book was given to me by a relative of mine in order to help me through my first year as an English teacher. It has truly helped me teach my students to become detailed writers. In addition, it has made writing in my class a fun activity, rather than just a chore. The author presents daily ENTERTAINING writing assignments that are the base for writing expository, persuasive, and compare/contrast pieces, along with a research report. I have found this book to be very valuable and highly recommend it, so much so, that it will be a gift to one of my colleagues who will begin teaching English next year.

I've been using this book in various teaching situations ranging from one-on-one tutoring to mini-courses to classroom situations for over 15 years. PUT IT BACK IN PRINT. PROMOTE IT. It is the single best book on the teaching of writing I've ever seen. It gets right to the heart of what good writing is, shows how to give writers lots of practice in mastering the skill, shows how to give them practice in evaluating their own and others' work and builds real writing skills without the artificial exercises found in so many other books. There's nothing else like it around.

This book transformed my professional life. Having students write a short amount for homework every day and talk about their writing for 5 minutes a day dramatically improves their writing plus it lightens your load as a teacher. And the students start to realize that they can write to entertain each other. They get involved in their own and each other's writing. It is so much fun when students come in saying "Read mine!" or "Read Joey's." I highly recommend this book to English teachers from 4th to 12th grades.