text: When I think back about why I wanted to become a teacher, I remember an ambition I had to make a difference in the lives of others. A want to share my passion for the books that I loved. A desire to help people express themselves in new and powerful ways. These are ideals that I still hold after twelve years of teaching, amid different political landscapes and ever-changing initiatives.
  So, when I asked our blog editor for some topics to write about, I was taken aback by one of his suggestions: Can beautiful (or good) writing be taught?
  Of course! I immediately thought. What kind of a reading and writing workshop teacher would I be if I didn’t believe this, deep in my heart?
  Practice and Feedback
  “Practice does not make perfect. Only perfect practice makes perfect.”
  – Vince Lombardi
  I believe that the first thing you need to carve out and protect in your classroom is deliberate writing practice, coupled with feedback from an expert. An expert, as Penny Kittle reminds us, need only be a teacher who is a little bit better at writing than a student.
  Logging practice time in writing is important and necessary for getting all of the ideas out, but it is only the first step; teachers are only as good as the feedback they give to student writers, and feedback in the moment of writing is always the gold standard.
  Revision
  “Throw up into your typewriter every morning. Clean up every noon.”
  – Raymond Chandler
  Teaching and encouraging revision are also necessary components to the writing classroom. Modeling revision in your own writing shows students how to mine their writing for rocks, and how to polish these rocks into gems.
  Penny Kittle talks about taking photos of your writing work, which shows students the revision process in action. This also helps students to recognize that it is in small changes to our writing that we learn to get better.
  Learning through Mimicry
  “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.”
  – Charles Caleb Colton
  Recognizing, naming, and even copying good writing are all important pieces in the quest to shape good writers.
  Using mentor texts is one way to help students read like writers. Another way is to look at student writing samples, select the best as models, and then go through a process of naming what is good in that writing, as Ron Berger from Expeditionary Learning suggests.
  A paramount exercise for any student is to notice an author’s craft and imitate good writers. This can mean inviting students to “copy change,” compose sentences, or keep a notebook of favorite lines from books they’ve read.
  Practice, Practice, Practice
  “The writer’s secret is not inspiration – for it is never clear where it comes from – it is his stubbornness, his patience.”
  – Orhan Pamuk
  Student writers need to realize that good writing comes less from talent and more from repeated practice. And teachers of writing need to remember that good writers can be guided with deliberate practice and teacher modeling.
  Caroline Thompson (@TeacherThompson) taught middle school ELA for twelve years in Lake Orion before becoming a stay-at-home mom. She supports AARI teachers for Oakland Schools as an independent literacy consultant in the areas of digital media, professional development, and non-fiction resources. Caroline is a Reading and Writing Workshop advocate, a 2008 Oakland Writing Project Teacher Consultant, and a 2009 Oakland County Outstanding Teacher of the Year Nominee. She has a BA in English from Michigan State University and a Masters in the Art of Teaching Reading from Oakland University. She lives in Berkley with her husband and their two year old daughter.
  April 19, 2016 Tagged: Common Core, feedback, good writing, mentor texts, penny kittle, revision, writing Comment
  Penny Kittle – Literacy Webinar
  by Delia DeCourcy
  Revision: the Heart of Writing
  Thursday, March 3, 2016 7-9pm EST (optional discussion 8-9pm)
  recording Google Doc with all links
  It’s a no-fail zone: the writing notebook. Notebooks anchor the daily work in my classroom and lead students to improve voice and clarity in their writing. Renowned author and literacy advocate Penny Kittle will lead us in exploring how to use quick writes, re-reading, and revision to motivate students to invest more in their writing. Breathe life into your writing workshop with notebooks for gathering, thinking, and finding important things to write about.
  Follow up this webinar by attending Penny’s face to face workshop at Wayne RESA on April 8.
  Recommended Reading: Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing
  As a professional development coordinator for the Conway, New Hampshire, School District, Penny Kittle acts as a K-12 literacy coach and directs new teacher mentoring. In addition, she teaches writing at Conway’s Kennett High School and in the summer Literacy Institutes at the University of New Hampshire. Penny is the author of five books with Heinemann—Book Love: Developing Depth, Stamina, and Passion in Adolescent Readers (2013), Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing (2008) which won the 2009 James N. Britton Award from NCTE, Inside Writing (2005), coauthor (with Thomas Newkirk) of Children Want to Write (2013) and coauthor (with Donald H. Graves) of The Greatest Catch (2005) and Public Teaching(2003)—and she is a Heinemann Professional Development Provider.
  Tagged: literacy webinar series, penny kittle, revision, WAYNE Resa workshop, writers notebook, writing workshop
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  The Oakland Schools Literacy Team is made up of education consultants with expertise in content area literacy, special education, and English language arts. We provide professional learning, coaching, and consulting to K-12 teachers and administrators across Oakland County, MI. Our home is Oakland Schools Intermediate School District, a regional service agency that supports the work of public school personnel in 28 districts.