Getting Students to Write- Helping Elementary and Middle School teachers improve student writing.

By Melissa Morrison, Elementary, Middle School Writing Consultant, Literacy CoachEducation How To

Getting Students to Write- Helping Elementary and Middle School teachers improve student writing. episodes

January 16, 2024 Episode 48 The Writing Process Series: Effective Planning for Writers
If our goal is to grow independent writers, then we need to guide them in effectively cycling through the writing process in order to create clear, detailed and organized pieces of writing.
Effective use of planning, or pre-writing, is an integral step in student writing, and in order for a writer's planning to be worthwhile, it needs to be the right fit for them.
In this episode, you will hear my thoughts on traditional planning methods and why they are not supporting the idea of "teaching the writer, not the writing" as well as various strategies for ways students can plan their writing.
Happy Listening!
About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa
TikTok Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!
YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa
LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!
23 min
January 09, 2024 Episode 47 What Does Writing Mean to You?
Students and teachers are struggling with learning and teaching writing skills, and it is time for a change.
But what do we consider writing? What is focused on and valued in our schools during writing time?
This episode discusses the meaning of writing and how writing is often showing up in our classrooms. Melissa shares her views on what writing means to her and how to be sure we are hitting all aspects of writing in our instruction so that our writers learn and grow!
Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa
TikTok Follow Melissa for tips and support with writing instruction!
YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa
LinkedIn Connect with Melissa!
About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
34 min
January 02, 2024 Episode 46 All About Relationships- My word of the year!
Teaching writing is difficult, and there are so many aspects to consider.
My word of the year is Relationships, and since this idea was one that my special guest spoke about on the last episode, I thought I would talk about it more today!
If you and your students are struggling with writing time, the relationship between you and your students may be just the thing to transform!
About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
21 min
December 27, 2023 Episode 45 All Things Writing with Special Guest Jacob Chastain Pt 2
What another fabulous episode all about teaching writing with Jacob Chastain!
In this episode, we dig into a few sections of Mr. Chastain's book, Writefully Empowered, and he shares his thoughts on writing assessment, breaking the mold in writing instruction, conferring with your writers and more.
Quotes from this episode:
"The equality of outcome is different than equity of access."
"The standardization of what progress looks like misinterprets the growth of students."
You will be so happy you joined us for this episode!
About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
37 min
December 19, 2023 Episode 44 All things Writing with Special Guest: Jacob Chastain Pt 1
Calling all educators!
What a pleasure it was to speak with author, educator and podcast host Mr. Jacob Chastain.

Mr. Chastain's passion for students and for writing (and for student writers!) is clear and contagious, and is such an inspiration for all educators, regardless of the grade level or content they teach.

A few quotes from our guest:

"Not everyone is going to be a certain type of writer. Our job is to be their writing coach..."

"In real writing a lot of writing happens in the head before it ever comes to the page."

"Let's make our classrooms a place where writers can mingle, and they can get distracted, and they can live the writerly life. It's not just a free for all. We are still thinking about writing!"

"I was never going to get [my students] to retain those grammar things if I never got them to care about what they were writing in the first place."

If you are looking for help with teaching writing in a way that works for your students, this is the episode for you!

You can find Mr. Chastain on Instagram @heychastain, Facebook at Teach Me, Teacher and on each of his two podcasts: Teach Me, Teacher and Craft and Draft.

Also check out his two books; Teach Me, Teacher and Writefully Empowered

About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
35 min
December 12, 2023 Episode 43 Your Students are Writers RIGHT NOW!
There are several ideas of how to best teach writing. Some believe that the practice of having students write independently should not occur until a certain list of techniques is taught or modeled.
I respectfully disagree, and in this episode you will hear my reasons for being opposed to this practice, and what I feel is important in primary writing instruction and independent writing.

I hope this episode turns some of you into independent writing advocates!

Happy Listening!

About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
19 min
December 05, 2023 Episode 42 Thoughts on Common Practices
There is oh so much to consider when teaching writing, am I right?
Today's episode speaks to a few specifics that have come up time and again when speaking to and working with teachers of writing, as well as one common logistical issue for independent writing.

Underwriting and the use of whole class graphic organizers are two practices that have been used for a while, but I believe should be things of the past!

Listen in to hear what I know and believe about these two practices and suggestions for alternatives to both.

I also share a great tip from Michelle Ruhe of Coach from the Couch for how to handle all of the papers that come with independent writing!

About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
18 min
November 28, 2023 Episode 41 Don't Expect-Find Out!
I think writing teachers everywhere will connect to this episode!
We want to help our writers and we rely on our own assumptions to make choices and decisions for writing instruction.

But what if we allow our writers to show us what they need before we give them what we THINK they need?

If you want to Get Your Students to Write, listen in to hear about this teacher mistake with writing and how to avoid it!
About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
13 min
November 27, 2023 Episode 36 Part 2 Building a Positive Writing Classroom
Here is Part 2!
This one is all about providing Meaning and facilitating Collaboration.

In order for students to feel motivated to write, it must be meaningful to them. Creating meaning always comes back to authentic writing opportunities. Does that mean a writing prompt? NO!

Collaboration is vital for so many reasons! Writers will be able to: celebrate, work through problems, generate ideas and feel a sense of confidence from being able to help a peer or be celebrated for their writing!

Happy listening!

About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!
---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
15 min
November 27, 2023 Episode 35 Part 1 Building a Positive Writing Classroom
If we are hoping to help our writers to enjoy and be engaged in writing, what do we need to provide and facilitate in our classrooms?
This episode will cover two of the four aspects I feel are necessary for helping writers to feel confident and enjoy writing time: Belief in our Writers and the Energy of the Classroom.

Our students need to know that we believe they are able to write and write well in order to feel confident.

Listen in and learn ways to get your students to write!

About Melissa:
Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.
Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.
Teaching to Transform, LLC was founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.
If you would like to learn more or refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/teachingtotransform/message
13 min

About Getting Students to Write- Helping Elementary and Middle School teachers improve student writing.

From the publisher's feed

Are you a K-8 Elementary or Middle School ELA teacher wondering how to get your students to write? This podcast is for teachers looking for a way to revamp and transform their writing time! You don't need daily lesson plans or prompts-you just need to understand what writers need!