A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers, 5-8 (Workshop Help Desk)

Middle schoolers can be the masters of disengagement. Recognizing that all students, adept and struggling writers alike, lose steam at times and need a revitalizing jump start, Christopher Lehman offers effective, developmentally-appropriate fixes for addressing situations that frequently sidetrack or distract adolescent writers.

Organized as a practical on-the-go teaching reference, the first four chapters offer strategies for counteracting commonplace situations that can regularly spring up and disengage middle school writers such as:

• writers who seem to have an almost “allergic” reaction to the writing process
• writers who “cannot possibly find anything to write about”
• writers who “talk, talk, talk the writing time away”
• writers who need constant approval before moving on.

The final chapter offers an inquiry-based study guide that supports teachers in collaborating on and customizing strategies for reviving the disengaged writers in their learning communities.

A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers is part of the Workshop Help Desk series.

About the Workshop Help Desk series

The Workshop Help Desk series is designed for teachers who believe in workshop teaching and who have already rolled up their sleeves enough to have encountered the predictable challenges. If you’ve struggled to get around quickly enough to help all your students, if you’ve wondered how to tweak your teaching to make it more effective and lasting, if you’ve needed to adapt your teaching for English learners, if you’ve struggled to teach grammar or nonfiction writing or test prep…if you’ve faced these and other specific, pressing challenges, then this series is for you. Provided in a compact 5" x 7" format, the Workshop Help Desk series offers pocket-sized professional development.

For a comprehensive overview of the Units of Study in Opinion/Argument, Information, and Narrative series, including sample minilessons, sample videos, videos, frequently asked questions and more, visit UnitsofStudy.com.

Lucy Calkins is the author of the popular firsthand classroom materials Units of Study for Primary Writing and Units of Study for Teaching Writing, Grades 3 - 5, Units of Study for Teaching Reading, Grades 3-5, as well as several companion resources for literacy coaches and principals. In addition, Lucy is the author of numerous foundational professional texts, including The Art of Teaching Writing and One to One. She is the Founding Director of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University's Teachers College. For more than twenty-five years, the Project has been both a think tank - developing state of the art teaching methods - and a provider of professional development. In these capacities, the Project has supported hundreds of thousands of educators. Lucy is also the Richard Robinson Professor of Children's Literature at Teachers College, where she leads the Literacy Specialist program. Lucy and her husband John are the parents of two sons, Miles and Evan.

Christopher Lehman (Twitter: @iChrisLehman) is coauthor of Pathways to the Common Core (with Lucy Calkins and Mary Ehrenworth) and author of Energize Research Reading and Writing and A Quick Guide to Reviving Disengaged Writers. He is a Senior Staff Developer with the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project at Columbia University. Chris teaches and coaches in elementary and secondary classrooms throughout the year, supporting teachers and administrators in developing rigorous and passionate literacy instruction across content areas. His articles have appeared in Voices from the Middle, SmartBrief, Edweek and other popular blogs. He presents regularly at national workshops and conventions. Prior to joining the RWP Chris taught both middle and high school and was a literacy coach.A graduate of UW-Madison, he went on to receive his M.A. in Teaching at NYU and his Ed.M. in Education Leadership at Teachers College, Columbia University.