Students who are BEGGING for more writing time? Yes, please! One easy key to increasing writing engagement and motivation is adding in an authentic audience.

Here's why you need to be leveraging this strategy, plus real 3rd - 6th grade project ideas from no additional prep all the way to the big leagues, major audience productions.

💻 Looking for more ways to take learning from ROTE to REAL? Grab the free video training here, plus a print-and-go planning template you can use tomorrow!

📍 The Navigator: Use this to find what you need most!

• (3:00) How I layered 4 disciplines in one skatepark project to maximize our class time
• (7:50) What are authentic audiences, and why are they helpful?
• (9:12) Engagement and motivation…are those the same?
• (12:30) Why this strategy is ideal for natural differentiation and instructional support for every learner
• (14:10) Gifted teacher pet peeve soapbox: our gifted and advanced learners need and deserve to have true opportunities to stretch their learning muscles as their peers, and more of the same work AIN'T IT!!
• (15:28) Higher order thinking skills are not often accessed in our teacher manuals, but here's how to fix it
• (21:05) Critical thinking vs. creative thinking
• (22:11) Let's jump into over a dozen actual PROJECT IDEAS FROM REAL UPPER ELEMENTARY CLASSROOMS! These are based on the 5 levels of authentic audiences in this Edutopia article.
• (37:07) My friend Mandy's epic 6th grade kindness crew that's been running for over 5 years!
• (38:40) Amy @theuniqueclassroom's 3rd grade persuasive paragraph activity for their local animal shelter
• (40:00) My friend Kayla's awesome marketing pitch project - Shark Tank style
• (41:45) Why this is also a great approach for embedded SEL lessons & life skills
• (43:50) Rachel's 5th grade March Madness letters to university teams that actually got replies!!

🔗 Links and resources from this episode:

• Free sample pages from Wendy Conklin's Strategies for Developing Higher-Order Thinking Skills in Grades 3-5
• The Write Thing: Kwame Alexander engages students in Writing Workshop, and you can too!
• Open House Reel 2022 - interdisciplinary project ideas (plus a 5th grade throwback in my highlights)
• Caption cards: an easy way to add in regular informational writing
• Padilla Periodical Student-created newsletter
• Shark News upper grade news crew
• Getting started with a school news crew on Edutopia
• We Are Teachers & USPS Pen Pal Project
• @Kellys_Classroom "SEAKers" Program
• @theuniqueclassroom Animal Shelter persuasive paragraphs
• Reedsy list of children's writing contests
• Get on the waitlist for the FREE virtual training on how to take your upper elementary lessons from rote to "REAL" - leave with 5 "purposeful project" planning templates and the tools you need to increase student engagement, boost motivation, and create lasting learning!

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