Teaching Mindful Writers

by Brian Jackson

Teaching Mindful Writers introduces new writing teachers to a learning cycle that will help students become self-directed writers through planning, practicing, revising, and reflecting. Focusing on the art and science of instructing self-directed writers through major writing tasks, Brian Jackson helps teachers prepare students to engage purposefully in any writing task by developing the habits of mind and cognitive strategies of the mindful writer. Relying on the most recent research in writing studies and learning theory, Jackson gives new teachers practical advice about setting up writing tasks, using daily writing, leading class discussions, providing feedback, joining teaching communities, and other essential tools that should be in every writing teacher’s toolbox. Teaching Mindful Writers is a timely, fresh perspective on teaching students to be self-directed writers.

298 pages, Paperback

Published May 15, 2020

Reviews

[Kelly Sauskojus · Rating 5 out of 5]

can I say this is the best book on teaching writing I've read??? that feels like hyperbole but I don't think it is

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it did a great job of giving effective, practical advice for teaching writing. Its extremely effective at its task of preparing people to teach, which I think is much easier said than done. And its aware of its limitations— there are a lot of things you can only learn about teaching by doing it. I think Jackson did a good job of preparing people for the teaching of writing while managing expectations for how much of teaching can be taught. I also liked that he included research about what practices make the most effective writing teachers, things like studying and understanding rhetoric and comp theory, studying how to teach, but also teaching and reflecting. I think this is a must-read for anybody teaching writing.

[Laurie Langlois Denning · Rating 5 out of 5]

A delightfully written book that would help anyone interested in writing, but is an absolute must-read for First-Year Writing Instructors at the university level. This book is filled with excellent resources from writing prompt ideas to class organization, to best theories and practices. Jackson’s clever humor makes this reference book an entertaining read.

[Haven · Rating 3 out of 5]

can’t say i really enjoyed this—most of it seemed like common sense, but about every 20 pages or so i found something useful. i did appreciate the optimism and passion. overall, though, it was a fairly dull read.

[Hallie Elizabeth]

i can't even try to rate books i read for class. this was good tho

[Kylie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the only required reading that I actually did this year. Not a bad pedagogical approach to teaching writing, but not the most practical imo