Putting Everyday Life on the Page
Inspiring Students to Write, Grades 2-7
"A refreshing break from the rule-obsessed manuals that litter the educational marketplace. What better way to teach students to write than through their own experiences, their own senses, their own feelings of mystery, wonder, and excitement!"
—Thomas Armstrong, Author
The Multiple Intelligences of Reading and Writing
"With pre-writing and observing activities, targeted lessons, and simple strategies that create a desire to write, Levitt shows us that teaching students to write better is not only possible but fulfilling and fun."
—R. James Stahl, Founder
Merlyn's Pen Magazine and the New Library of Young Adult Writing
Develop your students' enthusiasm and ability to write about what is meaningful to them!
Elementary and middle school students often struggle with how to choose and develop topics in their writing. In a conversational and humorous style, Marc Levitt demonstrates how to help students write effectively by drawing from their own diverse and rich experiences.
This engaging book offers a wealth of easily implemented ideas and activities to encourage a culture of writing in your classroom and teach writing by acknowledging and utilizing what your students already know. Illustrating how teachers can use a multisensory approach and exercise students' observational intelligence, the author emphasizes specific facets of the writer's craft:
- Beginnings
- Sequential thinking
- Observation and description
- Characters
- Settings and endings
This book offers novice and experienced teachers a myriad of ideas to help them teach writing skills that translate to the general academic setting and foster a love of writing.
"This book has some of the strongest writing prompts and examples I have read in a long time!"
"This book is packed with lessons ready for use."
"This book is written from years of passionate experience in classrooms with students. It offers a multitude of great ideas for lessons."
"Young writers often don’t grasp what they are being asked to do by their teachers. The author offers many strategies to make abstract writing concepts more concrete."
"Inventive and original, Marc Levitt's ideas actually put the fun back in writing—for teachers and for students."
"A refreshing break from the rule-obsessed 'how to teach students to write' manuals that litter the educational marketplace. What better way to teach students to write than through their own experiences, their own senses, their own feelings of mystery, wonder, excitement, and dread! Let teachers everywhere use this book to make new Kafkas, Woolfs, and Ellisons, and to awaken in every student a love for making words that just sing off the page!"
"With pre-writing and observing activities, targeted lessons, and simple strategies that create a desire to write, Levitt shows us that teaching students to write better is not only possible but fulfilling and fun."
"Lucky for all young writers, Levitt has turned his storytelling talents to talking to teachers in this practical and user-friendly book. Teachers across the curriculum will find Levitt's suggestions innovative and helpful as he describes how to transition students through the writing process. Always student-centered, Levitt invites us to keep children and their interests at the heart of writing."
