Writing to Make an Impact: Expanding the Vision of Writing in the Secondary Classroom

Through ideas and practices straight from the classrooms of outstanding teachers, this lively resource illustrates writing that makes an impact on a reader, a writer, or a cause―writing that everyone wants to read. The book is rich with student work that shows how writing can make things happen in the world. The authors provide ready-to-use lessons that include a full range of writing, including poetry, narrative, petitions, proposals, emails, self-reflections, long-term projects, and critical analyses.

Book Features:

• Incorporates the voices and practices of many talented writing teachers.
• Employs an upbeat style with a clear, easy-to-follow framework.
• Encourages writing that changes minds, tells stories, calls for action, creates awareness or empathy, touches emotions, or promotes new thinking.
• Provides accessible teaching ideas, short exercises, and student models.
• Builds on students’ experiences with social media and their interest in social issues.

Sandra Murphy is former secondary teacher and professor emerita of education at the University of California, Davis. Mary Ann Smith is a former secondary teacher. She directed the Bay Area and California Writing Projects and served as director of government relations for the National Writing Project.