Writing to Persuade: Minilessons to Help Students Plan, Draft, and Revise, Grades 3-8

Janet Angelillo is the author of the Heinemann titles Whole-Class Teaching (2008), Writing to the Prompt (2005), and Writing About Reading (2003). She also wrote A Fresh Approach to Teaching Punctuation (2002) and Making Revision Matter (2005).

A middle and upper grades classroom teacher for years, Janet is a literacy consultant who has worked throughout the U.S. and Canada. She was a senior staff developer for the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project and worked beside teachers in New York city schools. Janet has taught advanced sections and given keynote addresses at the Teachers College Summer Institutes and other institutes around the country. She has also presented at many conferences, including NCTE, IRA, and the New York State, Connecticut, and Delaware Reading Associations.

Karen Caine is the author of, Writing to Persuade: Minilessons to Help Students Plan, Draft, and Revise (Heinemann, 2008) and a writing workshop consultant who works with upper elementary, middle, and high school teachers from across the US.

Karen taught for 15 years New York City schools before becoming a district staff developer and an instructor at summer institutes such as the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project Summer Institute. She served as the Director of Curriculum at private school in Atlanta and taught in the Masters in Teaching Program at Oglethorpe University. She is a frequent presenter at NCTE, Literacy for All, ASCD, and other national conventions.

In her presentations and classroom work, Karen gives teachers practical information and teaching strategies. The majority of her work focuses on:

• helping teachers design clear, rigorous, and engaging lessons
• teaching teachers how to have strong writing conferences that immediately lift the level of student writing
• showing teachers how to help students become better at revising their writing.

 Karen specializes in working with teachers in informational and opinion writing.