Writing Reminders: Tools, Tips, and Techniques

Like Reading Reminders, its best-selling companion, Writing Reminders is designed to be read on the run-between periods, while planning, even while teaching-to make every minute count in your classroom, to help you work smarter and more effectively. And like Reading Reminders, it features Jim Burke's best techniques, this time for teaching writing, complete with tools and tips on how to implement them. Every reminder is a result of his daily effort to solve the problems he faces in his classroom. And each one shows how it is possible to teach all students, as long as they make a genuine effort, to write clear, cohesive prose.

Look at the table of contents and in thirty seconds get an idea that will help you. Each reminder clearly states a technique in its title and includes:

• A Rationale-a brief explanation of what the reminder means and why it's important
• What to Do-questions to ask, activities to try, strategies to use
• Classroom Connection-sample assignments and student examples
• At a Glance-goals for writing in many genres
• Recommended Reading-sound investments for continued teaching of good writing.

Writing Reminders directly addresses standards-based instruction, too, providing techniques and assignments to hone students' skills in key areas and prepare them to succeed on important state tests. Built on a foundation of recent research into effective literacy teaching, the book offers a wealth of useful resources and processes that result in greater engagement and higher-level performance without "teaching to the test."

Regardless of the grade, the ability level, or even the subject you teach, you can find no better way to easily and quickly improve your writing instruction than to use Writing Reminders. And pair it with Reading Reminders for a complete reading and writing curriculum with ready-to-use techniques for effective teaching.

Jim Burke is the author of numerous bestselling Heinemann titles, including the English Teacher's Companion, Fourth Edition and What's the Big Idea? The question he's always tried to answer is "How can we teach our students better?" He seeks these answers daily through his work in his own classroom at Burlingame High School in California where he still teaches after twenty years. Facing the same constraints and challenges as every other teacher, Jim shares his creative solutions in bestselling professional titles with Heinemann such as Reading Reminders and Writing Reminders as well as through Heinemann Professional Development Services. As part of his commitment to helping teachers and learning how to use the latest technologies, he founded the English Companion Ning, described by Education Week as "the world's largest English department" and winner of several Edublog Awards for Best Social Network for Education. In addition to the EC Ning, Jim offers a steady stream of recommended resources through his website (www.englishcompanion.com) and Twitter (@englishcomp) where he is ranked in the top 100 educators to follow at the top within the online English teacher community. Jim serves on several national commissions related to adolescent literacy and standards, including the Advanced Placement English Literature and Language Course and Exam Review Commission with the College Board and the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) where he serves on the Content Technical Working Group, which advises PARCC on the national assessments being developed for the Common Core State Standards. In addition, he is a senior author on the Holt McDougal Harcourt Literature series. Jim has received numerous awards, including the NCTE Intellectual Freedom Award, the NCTE Conference on English Leadership Award, and the California Reading Association Hall of Fame Award. He served on the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Committee on Adolescence and Young Adulthood English Language Arts Standards. Through his work in the class and on such commissions, Jim Burke seeks not only to clarify but reimagine what English should be, honoring the past even as he works with others to create the future of the discipline he loves so much. Visit his website (www.englishcompanion.com) for more information.