Product Description

Writing Smarter! provides 106 detailed lesson plans with reproducibles to help students begin writing better immediately! These writing improvement materials are complete and self-contained, can be used with individual students or an entire class in any order, and are organized into 13 sections: Orientation, Description, Character Sketch, Sentence Structure, Personal Narratives, Persuasion, Research, Interviews, The News, Writing Letters, Short Fiction, Poetry, and Peer Editing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #220424 in Books
• Published on: 1998-12-07
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 416 pages

From the Back Cover
For English teachers in grades 7-12, this practical resource provides 106 step-by-step lessons with reproducibles to help all students begin writing better immediately. The lessons and activities can be easily adapted to any secondary program or text without creating extra work for the teacher.These writing improvement materials van be use with individual students or an entire class in any order. Each lesson plan is complete and self-contained, including objective, discussion guides and questions, homework options and reproducible activities, charts, lists, or samples to guide students in their own writing.

For easy use, all materials are printed in a big spiral-bound format that folds flat for photocopying of student activities and organized into 13 sections. Here is a list of section topics with sample lessons:

Orientation: Teamwork and Writing...Writing Portfolio...Notetaking...Thinking Skills and Writing

Description: Language of the Five Senses...Analyzing Adjectives...Strong Verbs...plus a verb usage quiz

Character Sketch: Description, Characterization, & Caricature...Figurative Language and Appositives...Prewriting into Paragraphs

Sentence Structure: Expanding the Sentence Core...Variety in Sentences...Verbals & Variety...plus a sentence structure mastery quiz.

Personal Narratives: Experience & Emotions...Description & Mood...Drafting the Personal Narrative

Persuasion: Persuasion & Precise Language...Supporting Your Opinion...Writing With Style

Research: Perception vs. Reality...Topic & Audience...Notes and Numbers—Gathering Research...Outlining

Interviews: Celebrities, Idols & Heroes...Guidelines for Interviews...Direct Quote vs. Paraphase

The News: The Five Ws...Facts vs. Opinions...Drafting the News Article...Class Newspaper

Writing Letters: Parts of a Letter ... Consumer Mail...Letter of Application

Short Fiction: Characters & Plots...Conflict, Climax & Resolution...Setting...Dialogue

Poetry: Poetic Language...Rhyme & Rhythm...Imagery...Gimmick Poems

Peer Editing: Prompts/Energizers for Introducing Peer Editing with guidelines and checklists

Complete with answer keys, writing guidelines and checklists, Writing Smarter! gives you a unique store of lesson plans to help students of all abilities become self-directed writers by building on their own personal experience and interests.

About the Author
Keith Manos (Master’s in English/Creative Writing, Cleveland State University), has taught English to grades 7 through 12 for over 19 years at four different high schools, and currently teaches at Richmond Heights (Ohio) High School.

Customer Reviews

Nice Collection of Lesson Plans
Writing Smarter includes 25 weeks' worth of writing lesson plans. Types of writing covered include description, character sketch, personal narrative, persuasion, research, interviews, news writing, letter writing, short fiction, and poetry. These lessons are presented in a step-by-step format and include ideas for debate, discussion, and peer review. Each lesson even offers a variety of homework options. Nearly every lesson offers reproducible handouts. The first chapter contains mini-lessons on parts of speech compatible with ideas presented in Weaver's Grammar in Context.

Fantastic for Teaching Writing skills!
I am so happy and thrilled that I decided to purchase this book. It was an impulse purchase but it has become one of my favorite tools to use in my classroom. I teach middle school Language Arts and I have found this book to be so effective. The lessons are organized and outlined and there are more than enough activities to enhance learning and ensure mastery.I highly recommend it! It makes lesson planning and teaching so much easier!

Good creative writing excercises, but could use grammar supplement
This book gives students the opportunity to write. Each lesson is approximately two pages for the teacher, with multiple "activities" and lectures to give to the class. Additionally, each lesson has one or two student handouts to reinforce the lesson's topic. I very much appreciate the creative writing component of the workbook-- lessons reinforce critical thinking and synthesis, as students must think up ways to describe items on the worksheets, come up with characters, think of plots, combine sentences, etc. The book makes writing enjoyable for students and challenges them to use their imaginations.

However, when teaching a writing course, I also find it important to reinforce the grammar at hand, and this book is not a grammar book. Although it occassionally hints at some rules of grammar in various lessons, it does not have handouts sufficient enough to reinforce these principles. For example, it will have a lesson on using clauses, or compound and complex sentences, but will not get into the fine point rules of clauses (such as what makes a clause dependent or independent-- or how some conjunctive adverbs like "however" or "thus" are often mistaken for subordinating conjunctions). My fear is that although it encourages students to write with variety, it does not attack the source of many of their erroneous habits such as comma splice errors, mistaking adverbs for conjunctions, etc. In "conjunction" with a grammar series, I think this book can be an effective tool, but on its own, in some instances, lacks more technical "rules" that can help students to improve their technical writing skills. Although the text often prompts teachers to share these "rules" in the lesson, they often do not have a handout for the students that is explicit enough to really cement the concepts into the student's minds.

Finally, I use this book with a group of 6th-7th grade students, for whom I believe it is appropriate. I would guess that it is not as useful for students above 9th grade, as the excercises may begin to feel too much like busy work and "imagination" practice.