Inside Out: Strategies for Teaching Writing should be on every secondary teacher's desk. The book should be filled with highlighting and Post-it notes. I have read the first five chapters of the book, and I find many already prepared useful lessons. The lessons are relevant for what I want to do with my kids. One of the lessons would work wonderfully with the teaching demonstration we participated in today about our names. People's names are something with which I struggle. I think the ice-breakers and the naming activities will enable me to connect with my students more quickly and for the students to connect more readily too.
At this time, I'm completing Chapter 5 which concerns journals. In the past I've had my kids write in journals and prepare journals. Sometimes I burn out and don't want to continue with them. This chapter gave practical examples of grading and responding. I needed these ideas. I like the honesty the writers of the book include. For instance, the author included his distaste for responding to the journals sometimes and how he can hand it over to student responders for a different perspective. He also gives advice to quick grade with a simple grading scale of 1-5 or checks.
Overall, this is a practical book with practical suggestions I'll definitely use.
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What other specific strategies could you share? Were there any questions that you had? How could you connect these chapters to your own teaching?
For example, how did the names activity compare to what you currently do in your classroom?
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