Think Write Book

The Think Write Book incorporates sentence combining with features of various academic content areas, non-fiction, and "jumping off" points for further and more in-depth discussion and collaboration in the ELL classroom community. Students will be able to develop and strengthen their writing skills, specifically composing, revising, editing, and critical thinking. By mastering these skills, students will improve their syntax and fluency, and they will also acquire a stronger writer's vocabulary that will aid them in enhancing their overall written communication skills, academic writing assignments, and demand writing tasks found in various state-mandated standardized tests. Incorporating sentence combining with classroom activities, such as peer-review/peer-assessment, and writing workshops, will also promote very powerful data for teachers who are engaging in action research. Using the sentence combining activities in this book, along with writers' workshop activities, can provide teachers of English Language Learners and struggling writers with a means to conduct whole-group, small-group, and differentiated instruction as students continue their development of vocabulary and language necessary for academic success. Such activities will have the desirable effect of increasing ELL students' understanding and maturity in written expression, as well as their increased metalinguistic awareness and the use of rubrics, particularly those that target the conventions of writing.

Born in 1953 in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Ms. Mevs continues to be a passionate educator serving for more than 30 years in various capacities, including high school and university classroom instructor, teacher education program coordinator and manager, project director, principal, administrator, teacher trainer, and education consultant. Her areas of specialization are English/Language Arts, Supervision/Administration (Ed. Leadership), and Teaching English for Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). Ms. Mevs developed a love of reading, writing, and teaching at a very young age; her early-life role models include her parents, grandparents, and other relatives who were educators in various fields. A zealous advocate for the rights of English Language Learners (ELLs), Ms. Mevs continues to be inspired by her students (past and present), whom she identifies as her "courageous learners and heroes," and "the future inside the four walls of her classroom." One of her proudest moments was when she selected as the 2004 Hispanic Teacher of the Year for the School District of Palm Beach County in Florida. Throughout her teaching career, she has developed an affinity for curriculum and materials development, particularly at the 7 -12 grade levels. Ms Mevs has presented at various local, statewide, and national level TESOL conferences and has conducted many teacher training seminars/workshops over the course of her career. Having published several articles related to ESOL methodologies and assessment of ELL students, as well as cross-cultural education, Ms. Mevs has risen to the challenge by her family, friends and students to write and publish educational books and materials for English Language Learners.