5 Must-Read Professional Development Books for Writing Teachers
Summer is such an amazing time to sit back, relax, and… catch up some great PD books! We, at Teach Writing, definitely recommend that you take some time this summer to relax and enjoy your well deserved break. But, we also know that teachers are never just on break. We are always thinking about that next school year. Even pool-side, we are gathering ideas, planning, and creating for our students. So, we wanted to work together to share a list of our favorite PD books for Writing teachers!
Liz Taylor from Teach BeTween the Lines shares the text that has changed the ways she approaches grammar instruction.
Mechanically Inclined
By: Jeff Anderson
This text truly changed my approach to grammar instruction. This helped me to develop meaningful context for my students and leave those Daily Oral Language activities in the dust. This text also shares meaningful mentor text examples to show students grammar in action! Engaging activities, great anchor chart ideas, and purposeful direct instruction lessons have really improved student writing and has saved me a great deal of red ink, so to speak! Click on the image above to learn more about this text!
Melissa Kruse from Reading and Writing Haven shares one of her favorite PD books for developing writing workshop!
Strategic Writing
Deborah Dean
Writing Strategies is a great professional development book for any middle and high school teachers who want to think about ways to engage students with writing in a workshop framework.
Deborah Dean offers some inspiration for walking students through meaningful revision activities. This book contains ideas not only for the process of writing but also for developing life-long, enjoyable writing habits. Complete with note-taking ideas, mini-lessons, and inquiry writing, this book will help writing teachers to provide relevant lessons that go beyond stereotypical academic writing assignments.
Lauralee Moss from Language Arts Classroom shares the follow text with all of her teacher friends!
The Writing Revolution
Judith C. Hochman
Natalie Wexler
If you’re looking for more reasons why teaching grammar in ten minutes does not work, the The Writing Revolution will help you along your path as a writing and grammar teacher. When students see grammar as a problem rather than as a tool, they will naturally approach writing fearfully. They will be afraid to make a mistake.
Instead, use grammar to help students articulate their messages. This book provides scaffolded steps to help students see the important role grammar has in their writing. Students will be eager to apply grammatical concepts rather than memorize them. Finally, the steps in The Writing Revolution will help you meet writing and language standards together. I can’t recommend this book enough!
Meredith Dobbs from Bespoke ELA shares one of her favorite PD books called 180 Days by Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle for planning writing unites from narrative to multigenre research projects.
180 Days
By: Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle
180 Days is an excellent resource for mapping a year of reading and a year of writing. These two essential skills can be quite challenging to navigate, and this textbook provides a framework for organizing the process that is approachable for all teachers. I personally love the student exemplars in this book and the fact that it takes reading and writing workshop all the way through the process to reflection. This is a must-have text for any reading and writing teacher!
Amanda Werner from Amanda Write Now shares a book that can transform your writing classroom into a place where students are engaged in becoming real world writers.
Project-Based Writing
Liz Prather
Project Based Writing will absolutely change the way you teach writing. Liz Prather shares a step by step sequence that allows students to take ownership of their writing lives. Students go through a six week “project cycle” where they generate loads of ideas based on their interests, pitch an idea to their classmates, determine goals for their project, consider who their audience will be and the form their writing will take and so much more. There is so much inspiration in this book!
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