What do you think?
Rate this book
Write Beside Them: Risk, Voice, and Clarity in High School Writing
Please join us in congratulating Penny Kittle for her 2009 NCTE Britton Award for Write Beside Them
"This book is about teaching writing and the gritty particulars of teaching adolescents. But it is also the planning, the thinking, the writing, the journey: all I've been putting into my teaching for the last two decades. This is the book I wanted when I was first given ninth graders and a list of novels to teach. This is a book of vision and hope and joy, but it is also a book of genre units and minilessons and actual conferences with students." -Penny Kittle What makes the single biggest difference to student writers? When the invisible machinery of your writing processes is made visible to them. "Write Beside Them "shows you how to do it. It's the comprehensive book and DVD that English/language arts teachers need to ensure that teens improve their writing. Across genres, Penny Kittle presents a flexible framework for instruction, the theory and experience to back it up, and detailed teaching information to help you implement it right away. Each section of "Write Beside Them "describes a specific element of Kittle's workshop:
Daily writing practice: writer's notebooks and quick writes
Instructional frameworks: minilessons, organization, conferring, and sharing drafts
Genre work: narrative, persuasion, and writing in multiple genres
Skills work: grammar, punctuation, and style
Assessment: evaluation, feedback, portfolios, and grading.
All along the way, Kittle demonstrates minilessons that respond to students' immediate needs, and her Student Focus sections profile and spotlight how individual writers grew and changed over the course of her workshop. In addition, "Write Beside Them" provides a study guide, reproducibles, writing samples from Penny and her students, suggestions for nurturing your own writing life, and a helpful FAQ. Best of all, the accompanying DVD takes you right inside Penny's classroom. Its video clips explicitly model how to make the process of writing accessible to all kids. Penny Kittle's active coaching and can-do attitude alone will energize your teaching and inspire you to write with your students. But her strategies, expert advice, and compelling in-class video footage will help you turn inspiration into great teaching. Read "Write Beside Them "and discover that the most important influence for all young writers is their teacher. Write Beside Them debuts as the field's most comprehensive, contemporary, and practical book on high school writing. Kittle not only tells how a skillful writing teacher operates, she shows you on the accompanying DVD, with clips of kids at work in every stage of a writing workshop. And all this glorious teaching happens with real, sometimes struggling kids who remind us of our own classrooms and students. Write Beside Them "is the whole package." -Harvey Daniels Author of "Content-Area Writing" and "Subjects Matter" Click here to view a sample video from the DVD.
"This book is about teaching writing and the gritty particulars of teaching adolescents. But it is also the planning, the thinking, the writing, the journey: all I've been putting into my teaching for the last two decades. This is the book I wanted when I was first given ninth graders and a list of novels to teach. This is a book of vision and hope and joy, but it is also a book of genre units and minilessons and actual conferences with students." -Penny Kittle What makes the single biggest difference to student writers? When the invisible machinery of your writing processes is made visible to them. "Write Beside Them "shows you how to do it. It's the comprehensive book and DVD that English/language arts teachers need to ensure that teens improve their writing. Across genres, Penny Kittle presents a flexible framework for instruction, the theory and experience to back it up, and detailed teaching information to help you implement it right away. Each section of "Write Beside Them "describes a specific element of Kittle's workshop:
Daily writing practice: writer's notebooks and quick writes
Instructional frameworks: minilessons, organization, conferring, and sharing drafts
Genre work: narrative, persuasion, and writing in multiple genres
Skills work: grammar, punctuation, and style
Assessment: evaluation, feedback, portfolios, and grading.
All along the way, Kittle demonstrates minilessons that respond to students' immediate needs, and her Student Focus sections profile and spotlight how individual writers grew and changed over the course of her workshop. In addition, "Write Beside Them" provides a study guide, reproducibles, writing samples from Penny and her students, suggestions for nurturing your own writing life, and a helpful FAQ. Best of all, the accompanying DVD takes you right inside Penny's classroom. Its video clips explicitly model how to make the process of writing accessible to all kids. Penny Kittle's active coaching and can-do attitude alone will energize your teaching and inspire you to write with your students. But her strategies, expert advice, and compelling in-class video footage will help you turn inspiration into great teaching. Read "Write Beside Them "and discover that the most important influence for all young writers is their teacher. Write Beside Them debuts as the field's most comprehensive, contemporary, and practical book on high school writing. Kittle not only tells how a skillful writing teacher operates, she shows you on the accompanying DVD, with clips of kids at work in every stage of a writing workshop. And all this glorious teaching happens with real, sometimes struggling kids who remind us of our own classrooms and students. Write Beside Them "is the whole package." -Harvey Daniels Author of "Content-Area Writing" and "Subjects Matter" Click here to view a sample video from the DVD.
250 pages, Paperback
First published May 9, 2008
50 people are currently reading
936 people want to read
About the author
Penny Kittle
17 books486 followersPenny Kittle teaches writers at Plymouth State University in New Hampshire. She is the author of Micro Mentor Texts (2022), 4 Essential Studies &180 Days (with Kelly Gallagher), Book Love (2013), Write Beside Them (2008), The Greatest Catch: a life in teaching (2005), and Public Teaching: one kid at a time (2003); she co-authored Inside Writing (2005) with Donald Graves and edited a collection of Graves' work with Tom Newkirk, Children Want to Write. She presents at writing conferences throughout the United States and Canada and sometimes much farther.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
But if you want the real story… she dances and sings along to really loud music in her car; she just ate all of the M&M’s out of her trail mix; and she is the first one to keel over when they do those balancing moves in Pilates.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews
December 31, 2021
A bit idealistic but inspiring. It caused me to look at grammar and writing instruction in a new way.
September 3, 2015
While I often share my own writing with students, I admit that I don't often talk through my process and craft with them - after reading this book, and I see how problematic that is. Penny Kittle makes a great case for talking craft and making it the centerpiece of the workshop model. Mentor texts aren't enough, much as I love them - students needs to see how a work comes to be, rather than seeing only the finished product. I definitely plan to pass along this book to my National Writing Project colleagues because I think it works beautifully as a supplement to books that advocate the use of mentor texts.
The only shortcoming I saw in the book is that Kittle advocates that teachers need to devote more time to reading student writing, and, while I would absolutely love to read and comment on multiple drafts of students' work, I don't know where I would find the time. Her answer to that question is that I should read drafts every night from my couch, but I want to know: who will be bathing my toddler, reading bedtime books, doing the dinner dishes, packing lunches for the next day? And God forbid we teachers are allowed a few minutes to ourselves! As a new mother recently returned to the workplace, I am trying my best to balance my students' interests and my family's needs (and maintain some semblance of sanity!), which is no easy feat. Perhaps Kittle should have also recommended that districts reduce teacher courseloads or class sizes to make the reading of multiple drafts a reality, but, instead, she puts the onus on teachers to magically make it happen with no support.
Ok...rant over. Outside of that, the book has many, many great ideas that are readily applicable to most ELA classrooms, and her voice is engaging and honest.
The only shortcoming I saw in the book is that Kittle advocates that teachers need to devote more time to reading student writing, and, while I would absolutely love to read and comment on multiple drafts of students' work, I don't know where I would find the time. Her answer to that question is that I should read drafts every night from my couch, but I want to know: who will be bathing my toddler, reading bedtime books, doing the dinner dishes, packing lunches for the next day? And God forbid we teachers are allowed a few minutes to ourselves! As a new mother recently returned to the workplace, I am trying my best to balance my students' interests and my family's needs (and maintain some semblance of sanity!), which is no easy feat. Perhaps Kittle should have also recommended that districts reduce teacher courseloads or class sizes to make the reading of multiple drafts a reality, but, instead, she puts the onus on teachers to magically make it happen with no support.
Ok...rant over. Outside of that, the book has many, many great ideas that are readily applicable to most ELA classrooms, and her voice is engaging and honest.
June 2, 2017
I lot of good ideas, but Penny Kittle's classroom conditions are, unfortunately, hard to relate to.
June 7, 2013
Penny Kittle's book, Write Beside Them, resonated with me from page one. Her writing, her thinking about the art of teaching writing (well) caused me to read, stop and ponder, read...Well, you get the picture. And this, from a teacher who has taught many grades but only as high as the seventh (and for one brief year, at that). And that's the beauty of Write Beside Them. Kittle's thinking is applicable to ALL teachers of writing.
At times affirming and at times instructive, Kittle reminds me why we are blessed to teach the art of writing. We can see the inner workings of student's lives/souls through writing. I know far too much about my kids thanks to writing workshop-and they would say the same about me. Many times, like Kittle, what I learn leaves me searching for words. But that is the true beauty, the true blessing of why we toil for untold hours outside the confines of our contracted hours. What we do matters.
The accompanying DVD as well as the student vignettes bring power and purpose to the task at hand. And that task, if you have to ask, is how teach writing authentically. Kittle isn't telling you how to teach writing--she is showing you. Ah. The golden rule of writing is present.
Highlighted, notes dutifully typed for future reference, and professional titles shelved on Goodreads, I find myself hungry for the beginning of the year. It's ironic that we are just now greeting the first days of summer. I will have to comfort myself in the knowledge that I will meet Kittle (again) at a writing conference later this summer. In the meantime, you can find me wistfully thumbing through the pages of Write Beside Them again.
HIGHLY recommended.
Aha Moments: *How simple is it to write THANK YOU on papers formally turned in? Simple, yet highly effective. It's the least we can do as teachers after someone has clocked untold hours and bore their innermost thoughts to. So simple. ^End notes-Don't we want our kids to be reflective writers? Don't we aspire to have kids tell us why they did a certain writing move, what proved challenging...Wouldn't that be helpful in guiding where we are to go next in instruction? Why haven't I done this? *We're never really done with certain writing pieces as "real" writers, so why do we cut off a time to turn in a final piece for our kids? Why not have ongoing revision turn ins, as Kittle proposes? The short (and honest) answer is that it is time consuming. Yet all valuable things in life are just that. *Final portfolio evaluations--duh. Of course. Simple again, yet so effective for both students and teachers alike. *Multi-genre is my new favorite genre.
I weep for my past students.
At times affirming and at times instructive, Kittle reminds me why we are blessed to teach the art of writing. We can see the inner workings of student's lives/souls through writing. I know far too much about my kids thanks to writing workshop-and they would say the same about me. Many times, like Kittle, what I learn leaves me searching for words. But that is the true beauty, the true blessing of why we toil for untold hours outside the confines of our contracted hours. What we do matters.
The accompanying DVD as well as the student vignettes bring power and purpose to the task at hand. And that task, if you have to ask, is how teach writing authentically. Kittle isn't telling you how to teach writing--she is showing you. Ah. The golden rule of writing is present.
Highlighted, notes dutifully typed for future reference, and professional titles shelved on Goodreads, I find myself hungry for the beginning of the year. It's ironic that we are just now greeting the first days of summer. I will have to comfort myself in the knowledge that I will meet Kittle (again) at a writing conference later this summer. In the meantime, you can find me wistfully thumbing through the pages of Write Beside Them again.
HIGHLY recommended.
Aha Moments: *How simple is it to write THANK YOU on papers formally turned in? Simple, yet highly effective. It's the least we can do as teachers after someone has clocked untold hours and bore their innermost thoughts to. So simple. ^End notes-Don't we want our kids to be reflective writers? Don't we aspire to have kids tell us why they did a certain writing move, what proved challenging...Wouldn't that be helpful in guiding where we are to go next in instruction? Why haven't I done this? *We're never really done with certain writing pieces as "real" writers, so why do we cut off a time to turn in a final piece for our kids? Why not have ongoing revision turn ins, as Kittle proposes? The short (and honest) answer is that it is time consuming. Yet all valuable things in life are just that. *Final portfolio evaluations--duh. Of course. Simple again, yet so effective for both students and teachers alike. *Multi-genre is my new favorite genre.
I weep for my past students.
July 25, 2014
8 hours was all I needed. Love it. Love that my professor assigned it. Love that I can use it this fall.
December 31, 2019
Challenging and thought provoking the whole way through. I have so many awesome ideas!
April 1, 2019
This book was so, so very helpful. As an Engish and Secondary Education major at my college, this is the first official work I've read specializing in my content area. There is so much depth to being a teacher, particularly when teaching and demonstrating techniques of writing. I want to implement so much of this in my own classroom someday. Writing is so important not just for college, but for life. For being better humans. You grow as you learn to write, and you grow when you teach it too. Jeez, like I said, this is the first time I'm reading something about how to *teach* writing. Now that I'm about to enter my senior year and go into student teaching, things are starting to feel so much more... in place. This book came at a good time--I needed this.
Thank you, Penny Kittle.
I also have Kelly Gallagher's "Write Like This," which I intend to read next in my free time (not an assigned text for my methods course, but who cares! Bring it on!). I also recently discovered that Kittle and Gallagher came out with a book together... I can only imagine that that's about as awesome as it gets.
Thank you, Penny Kittle.
I also have Kelly Gallagher's "Write Like This," which I intend to read next in my free time (not an assigned text for my methods course, but who cares! Bring it on!). I also recently discovered that Kittle and Gallagher came out with a book together... I can only imagine that that's about as awesome as it gets.
August 24, 2015
Why do we write? What can writing do for us? Why teach writing?
When mired in the daily grind of teaching, why we teach often gets lost. I don't mean the precipitating stories that turned us to teaching in the first place. I mean why we enjoy our subject area.
Kittle reminds us that while not every student is college-bound or career-ready, writing offers boundless potential for both career and personal advancement for both groups of students, but not when it is locked within the mire of five-paragraph essays and grammar worksheets.
Write Beside Them pushes teachers to use eclectic models on a daily basis and to draft their own work for students. After all, a chef would model a dish prior to teaching a pupil how to make it, right? This seems intuitive, but with a broad field like writing, it is easy to lose sight of this precept.
This type of thinking runs through every section of this book and shines especially bright in the section on multi-genre writing, where students spend time drafting meaningful pieces throughout the year, and then choose a topic to approach in a variety of ways--including the once-dreaded research project. (Of note is a particular student's gut-wrenching piece on bullying, an unfortunately clichéd topic. He breaks the cliché with startling originality.)
The book is not a catch-all lesson plan book, but rather a treatise asking writing teachers to evaluate their philosophies.
When mired in the daily grind of teaching, why we teach often gets lost. I don't mean the precipitating stories that turned us to teaching in the first place. I mean why we enjoy our subject area.
Kittle reminds us that while not every student is college-bound or career-ready, writing offers boundless potential for both career and personal advancement for both groups of students, but not when it is locked within the mire of five-paragraph essays and grammar worksheets.
Write Beside Them pushes teachers to use eclectic models on a daily basis and to draft their own work for students. After all, a chef would model a dish prior to teaching a pupil how to make it, right? This seems intuitive, but with a broad field like writing, it is easy to lose sight of this precept.
This type of thinking runs through every section of this book and shines especially bright in the section on multi-genre writing, where students spend time drafting meaningful pieces throughout the year, and then choose a topic to approach in a variety of ways--including the once-dreaded research project. (Of note is a particular student's gut-wrenching piece on bullying, an unfortunately clichéd topic. He breaks the cliché with startling originality.)
The book is not a catch-all lesson plan book, but rather a treatise asking writing teachers to evaluate their philosophies.
December 27, 2009
Here are my big take-aways from Write Beside Them:
1. Play is a very important component in learning how to write. (p. 37) (I don't need many excuses to play around with writing in class, but it's good to have reminders that it's not just goofing off.)
2. Making a list is a good way to get unstuck or a solid basis for a prewriting activity. (p. 137) Outlines can seem daunting or overly formal, but a list -- anybody can do a list. It's not as scary-sounding as an outline, but it can serve many of the same purposes.
3. I need to find more ways to provide in-process feedback rather than just final draft feedback.
4. Professional learning communities can be productive when they focus on the needs and interests of their members. This isn't a front-burner issue in Write Beside Them, but the several references to Penny Kittle's writing PLC showed me something important.
5. The workshop approach focuses on process, no doubt about it, but it can also feed the accountability bulldog when it comes to issues such as punctuation, documentation, etc.
6. Story and persuasion are the driving engines. Multigenre has enormous possibilities, and I need to incorporate more of those opportunities. (I'm thinking about how to do a multigenre approach to literary analysis.)
I'll be coming back to this book (and the DVD) frequently in the coming weeks and months.
1. Play is a very important component in learning how to write. (p. 37) (I don't need many excuses to play around with writing in class, but it's good to have reminders that it's not just goofing off.)
2. Making a list is a good way to get unstuck or a solid basis for a prewriting activity. (p. 137) Outlines can seem daunting or overly formal, but a list -- anybody can do a list. It's not as scary-sounding as an outline, but it can serve many of the same purposes.
3. I need to find more ways to provide in-process feedback rather than just final draft feedback.
4. Professional learning communities can be productive when they focus on the needs and interests of their members. This isn't a front-burner issue in Write Beside Them, but the several references to Penny Kittle's writing PLC showed me something important.
5. The workshop approach focuses on process, no doubt about it, but it can also feed the accountability bulldog when it comes to issues such as punctuation, documentation, etc.
6. Story and persuasion are the driving engines. Multigenre has enormous possibilities, and I need to incorporate more of those opportunities. (I'm thinking about how to do a multigenre approach to literary analysis.)
I'll be coming back to this book (and the DVD) frequently in the coming weeks and months.
December 18, 2016
Penny Kittle is the bomb. I'm using this book right now as part of a professional development course I'm teaching for 9th grade teachers to introduce the concepts of reading & writing workshop. This is verrrrry different from traditional high school teaching--what I appreciate about Kittle is her honesty. (I'm sure her students appreciate it too.) It matters a lot for the group of teachers I'm working with that Kittle is a high school teacher (I teach middle school, so I can only speak with that point of view). It also really, really matters that she is IN THE CLASSROOM TEACHING.
So most of what she talks about here I already do--but I did change up my classroom agenda a bit to try hers, and I do like it a lot. I'm still struggling with quickwrites and making those meaningful. I think what I like most, though, is that it is in many ways bringing me back to my Atwellian roots. I've had a lot of Teachers College training in the past few years (e.g. Lucy Calkins in her modern iteration), which I love and get a lot from--but they are not as choice-driven as I believe they should be. Heresy, I know. Thus the pseudonym.
So most of what she talks about here I already do--but I did change up my classroom agenda a bit to try hers, and I do like it a lot. I'm still struggling with quickwrites and making those meaningful. I think what I like most, though, is that it is in many ways bringing me back to my Atwellian roots. I've had a lot of Teachers College training in the past few years (e.g. Lucy Calkins in her modern iteration), which I love and get a lot from--but they are not as choice-driven as I believe they should be. Heresy, I know. Thus the pseudonym.
May 10, 2016
Book #32 of 2016.
Ugh, Penny Kittle, you are such an inspiration.
Kittle more tells you her stories of teaching than she gives specific strategies, but they are inspiring. All the same, I gleaned valuable insight from this book. In particular, I thought about how I view writing in the classroom, how to motivate my students to revise (which prompted another book purchase), and how I structure writing workshop time. Kittle does give excellent dialogues to use when conferring with students, and those conversations are events that I always feel should be natural but do not go as well as anticipated, so for that, I am grateful.
Most importantly, I was inspired by this book, and I read it cover to cover. Kittle is a storyteller, and it shows because I enjoyed reading this.
Ugh, Penny Kittle, you are such an inspiration.
Kittle more tells you her stories of teaching than she gives specific strategies, but they are inspiring. All the same, I gleaned valuable insight from this book. In particular, I thought about how I view writing in the classroom, how to motivate my students to revise (which prompted another book purchase), and how I structure writing workshop time. Kittle does give excellent dialogues to use when conferring with students, and those conversations are events that I always feel should be natural but do not go as well as anticipated, so for that, I am grateful.
Most importantly, I was inspired by this book, and I read it cover to cover. Kittle is a storyteller, and it shows because I enjoyed reading this.
July 14, 2014
I mined this book for both inspiration and solid teaching advice. It comes with a DVD full of classroom best practices and a wealth of resources. I couldn't give 5 stars, however, because I am struggling to adapt my teaching context to this example writing class. I teach 150 9th graders in an English I course. I want to have a rich writing course, but I am short on time and buried under required texts and mandatory tests. I appreciate Penny Kittle and would love to continue to learn from her, I am just left with way more questions than I would like.
August 3, 2008
This book REALLY helped me remember why I wanted to become a teacher - for me, this book got me back to the roots of my teaching philosophy. Just switching some gears in tutoring after reading this book showed a spark in my students. I am actually excited to start school!
August 13, 2008
I enjoyed this book, and it's filled with great ideas that I would like to implement. However, Kittle teaches a writing course in block scheduling, and I teach English in 40 minutes. It would be very hard for me to do everything she does, but I could pick and choose.
March 15, 2014
I wanted to read this book because I thought I could borrow some cool ideas for my classroom. What I didn't expect was that I am about to sit down and redesign my classroom to more effectively incorporate reading and writing. I have high hopes for next year!
October 10, 2016
Although this book is written for high school, I have taken away so many ideas for my middle school classroom. The DVD is added bonus for it gives us a peak inside Penny's classroom and notebook. This is certainly a book I will return to time and time again.
October 22, 2012
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I appreciate the heartfelt approach to teaching writing -- Kittle reminds us that students must be the center of instruction.
October 3, 2014
I need more teacher books like this in my life: honest, joyful, grounded in classrooms & people & lives.
July 27, 2016
Another fantastic and inspiring read from Penny Kittle, one of my favorite professional writers. I can't wait to implement some of the ideas from this in my classroom!
November 9, 2016
Any future English teachers should pick up a copy of this book. It is super inspiring, and it reminds me of all the good aspects of teaching.
October 19, 2019
I think that Penny Kittle offers some excellent strategies for both reading and writing for students at the junior high/high school level. Her mandate is to bring a joy for reading and writing while making it more accessible for students. It is worth having a look at this book if you teach Language Arts, or the Humanities.
May 18, 2019
Lots to think about. Kittle’s energy and passion are inspiring and regardless of how much of this book I incorporate into my own teaching, she makes me excited to get to work.
March 29, 2023
for every thought-provoking thing ms penny kittle says about teaching writing, she shares 4 long-winded personal stories i don’t care about
November 15, 2024
Going to reference this book my entire teaching career!!
August 21, 2015
What you will find in this book:
1. Inspiration to tap into what YOU are passionate about and use that for your writing (it's the only way you and your students will be invested in the process)
2. Callings to write every day
3. Moving student stories (lots of student voice here!)
4. A look at the foundation of Kittle's writing units and how they progress
5. A dvd that captures everything she talks about in a span of four days (videos also feel authentic and not heavily edited)
What You Will Not Find:
1. Any mention of how she prepares students to take standardized test writing (though in the dvd there is a form that mentions test writing as a genre)
2. Tons of handouts with graphic organizers
3. rubrics (she doesn't use them)
4. Samples of literary analysis (that is left for the American Literature teacher; Ms. Kittle has students do reviews of books they read as their primary response to reading)
5. A curriculum for a whole school year (Her course is about half a year and then reteaches it to a new group of students. Though I could see her curriculum extend easily to a whole year)
Kittle is a champion of protecting the writing process and understanding the beauty in the struggle. That said, my teaching conditions are different from hers, and I couldn't help but wonder: How would she work with a class of 97 students all year long? How would she try to honor the process in an assignment like a literary analysis (she does talk about the work of another teacher around this,but it's far too brief!) ? What would she choose to do in a 50 min. class?
Thankfully, she does give credit to lots of other teacher leaders that can provide answers to those questions.
1. Inspiration to tap into what YOU are passionate about and use that for your writing (it's the only way you and your students will be invested in the process)
2. Callings to write every day
3. Moving student stories (lots of student voice here!)
4. A look at the foundation of Kittle's writing units and how they progress
5. A dvd that captures everything she talks about in a span of four days (videos also feel authentic and not heavily edited)
What You Will Not Find:
1. Any mention of how she prepares students to take standardized test writing (though in the dvd there is a form that mentions test writing as a genre)
2. Tons of handouts with graphic organizers
3. rubrics (she doesn't use them)
4. Samples of literary analysis (that is left for the American Literature teacher; Ms. Kittle has students do reviews of books they read as their primary response to reading)
5. A curriculum for a whole school year (Her course is about half a year and then reteaches it to a new group of students. Though I could see her curriculum extend easily to a whole year)
Kittle is a champion of protecting the writing process and understanding the beauty in the struggle. That said, my teaching conditions are different from hers, and I couldn't help but wonder: How would she work with a class of 97 students all year long? How would she try to honor the process in an assignment like a literary analysis (she does talk about the work of another teacher around this,but it's far too brief!) ? What would she choose to do in a 50 min. class?
Thankfully, she does give credit to lots of other teacher leaders that can provide answers to those questions.
June 13, 2016
Not only does this inspiring book encourage me to help my students become better (and more authentic) writers, it also inspires me to become a writer myself. It is incredibly moving, eyeopening, uplifting, and at times frightening. As English teachers, the majority of us assign novels and 5 paragraph essays in response to those novels. This in itself does not breed quality writing. In fact, this type of formulaic, inauthentic writing stifles young writers, and let's face it, this type of writing is BORING. Most teachers do not want to read these formulaic essays because of the lack of creativity and good writing; students will not revise or polish writing they don't care about. Why are we beating our heads against the wall by assigning these essays? We need to breed process, creativity, craft, and content -- not just products. But how do we accomplish this? According to Kittle, we (teachers) must be writers ourselves and write beside our students. We must model our thought processes and writing processes with our students. We must model how difficult writing can be. We must model how to actually revise, and revise, and revise our work to make it better. Using both the writer's notebook and the writing conference effectively and meaningfully is the key to creating effective writers. "What power -- what importance -- lies in the blank lines of an open notebook. Go and fill yours. Then share" (236).
August 21, 2018
What an amazing piece of professional development. I honestly believe this might be the TRULY best book of PD I have ever read.
Penny Kittle is incredible. Her passion for what she’s doing shines through on every page and I love how real she is. She lets you know she has REAL students: they don’t always come in itching to write; they act when the cameras are running; they still pass notes and come to class late and don’t have their homework done just like all our kids. I love that she doesn’t stand on a pedestal and preach, and instead she’s just right there with us.
And the message - writing honestly does suffer so much in schools. It’s so incredibly hard to teach kids how to write well. I love this approach. And I love it because I haven’t tried it. You break your back trying to get kids to write a thrilling 5 paragraph essay analyzing the characterization in Macbeth and wonder why there’s no passion or voice in it. This approach is totally something I’m willing to try if it produces better writing because it’s kind of like...what do I have to lose? I can’t totally abandon my curriculum and literary analysis papers, but it gives me a lot of ideas to start sprinkling in, especially at the beginning of the year to teach some strong foundational skills. Thanks, Penny!
Penny Kittle is incredible. Her passion for what she’s doing shines through on every page and I love how real she is. She lets you know she has REAL students: they don’t always come in itching to write; they act when the cameras are running; they still pass notes and come to class late and don’t have their homework done just like all our kids. I love that she doesn’t stand on a pedestal and preach, and instead she’s just right there with us.
And the message - writing honestly does suffer so much in schools. It’s so incredibly hard to teach kids how to write well. I love this approach. And I love it because I haven’t tried it. You break your back trying to get kids to write a thrilling 5 paragraph essay analyzing the characterization in Macbeth and wonder why there’s no passion or voice in it. This approach is totally something I’m willing to try if it produces better writing because it’s kind of like...what do I have to lose? I can’t totally abandon my curriculum and literary analysis papers, but it gives me a lot of ideas to start sprinkling in, especially at the beginning of the year to teach some strong foundational skills. Thanks, Penny!
July 18, 2017
First, I want to say that very few books are given the title, “This book changed my life!” This book by Penny Kittle makes the list!
A former colleague of mine had told me that this book was better than Kittle’s Book Love – which I found very hard to believe. He was right! This book promotes WRITING and actually shows me how it can be done. Of course, all schools/curriculums would have to make adjustments, but, after reading this book, I am empowered to make this type of writing workshop work!!
Penny Kittle has become one of my mentors! I had the opportunity to meet her in Atlanta last November and it was so awesome to see someone who is just a regular teacher, but has incredible insight and creativity to do what others say cannot be done! She has pushed me to find change the word “impossible” to "I’m Possible"!
My next professional read is Kelly Gallagher’s Write Like This. It too has valuable lessons that I hope to incorporate into a new Writing Curriculum.
Five stars are not enough for this book!!
A former colleague of mine had told me that this book was better than Kittle’s Book Love – which I found very hard to believe. He was right! This book promotes WRITING and actually shows me how it can be done. Of course, all schools/curriculums would have to make adjustments, but, after reading this book, I am empowered to make this type of writing workshop work!!
Penny Kittle has become one of my mentors! I had the opportunity to meet her in Atlanta last November and it was so awesome to see someone who is just a regular teacher, but has incredible insight and creativity to do what others say cannot be done! She has pushed me to find change the word “impossible” to "I’m Possible"!
My next professional read is Kelly Gallagher’s Write Like This. It too has valuable lessons that I hope to incorporate into a new Writing Curriculum.
Five stars are not enough for this book!!
August 18, 2018
I do think there is great power to the workshop approach Kittle describes (and others like Nancy Atwell detail in minutiae). I think writing in a notebook and thinking about how writing surfaces has been profound. I think using mentor text as models for students and drafting with them is very important. I give feedback to writers in their drafting process. Usually directly on their google docs. The type of feedback I give probably will change after this. Looking at an author’s craft regularly in class will change as well. I will also try to hold writing conferences and maybe toy with giving students audio feedback next year.
One big difference that does impact my practice: I teach in California and rarely have fewer than 30 students in a class. I’ve had 40 students once. It’s hard to imagine how I would give feedback the way she does - on a rolling basis and even as the semester ends. I guess this is part of my struggle. I laughed when she said her turn around is 2-3 days. I’ve taken sick days to grade. I know this is not an excuse. I know Penny Kittle describes best practice.
One big difference that does impact my practice: I teach in California and rarely have fewer than 30 students in a class. I’ve had 40 students once. It’s hard to imagine how I would give feedback the way she does - on a rolling basis and even as the semester ends. I guess this is part of my struggle. I laughed when she said her turn around is 2-3 days. I’ve taken sick days to grade. I know this is not an excuse. I know Penny Kittle describes best practice.
August 28, 2018
Once again Penny Kittle has provided practical methods to make the entire writing process more relevant, inspiring and helpful for students and teachers. I never tire of reading her professional development materials because she is still knee-deep in the trenches of teaching and does not overlook or sugar coat the barriers that can make implementing changes hard. Her voice is authentic and real; you can tell she teaches with passion and you can sense how much she desires learning to be the focal point of her measure of success. Her stories of success revolve around how she witnesses students grow and gain confidence and this inspires me to keep pushing my students for more and to delight in their journey not just focus on the end result. Again, I cannot begin to express the respect I have for this teacher and I appreciate all her helpful suggestions and step by step ideas that can help me begin to make this a reality for my classroom too.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 172 reviews