Welcome to a new series where we feature great books for language learners and teachers. This month we are featuring the book, Make Writing: 5 Teaching Strategies That Turn Writers Workshop Into a Maker Space, by Angela Stockman. This book transforms writing into an active hands-on experience. Students are encouraged to write as they create and invent. If you don’t have a makerspace in your classroom don’t worry, because Angela provides practical ideas for ways to create a makerspace.
Angela helps teachers develop better student writers by:
- Pushing our thinking about what writing is to begin with. We can’t reduce it to print. Especially now.
- Providing specific strategies that help kids write bit by bit, treating text as loose parts.
- Helping teachers recognize and engage the makers in their midst.
- Providing permission to get kids out of their seats and on their feet, where they can move, mix, and remix text in order to generate new ideas.
- Focusing on the culture we create in our classroom as well as the creative process, rather than perseverating on products.
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