Alright, I'm making my way through all of the Ralph Fletcher stuff, and I'm really enjoying its setup of writing workshop. I teach 11th grade, and my main problem with the Fletcher stuff is that it is geared toward the younger set. I'm looking for suggestions for texts on writing workshop for high school age kids. It seems with reading/writing workshop that I have a hard time not teaching down to my kids and keeping the rigor up to the fairly high standards of my school.

Thanks in advance!

I see that WRITE BESIDE THEM (Penny Kittle) is still on your "to read" pile. Do you have a copy, or are you a dependent clause waiting for Santa Claus to bring one? (I'd share my copy, but Massachusetts and Arkansas aren't exactly neighboring states).

Oh. And welcome to the brother- (and sister-) hood. Of workshop teachers, I mean.

NE,

I'll get a copy of that book for sure. I have some funds available for purchasing titles. Any others that you highly recommend?

BTW, I'm teaching a Creative Writing section this year that is absolutely awesome. I can't believe how powerful it's been to just sit down and write with these kids. Of course, it's an elective, so we can really devote ourselves purely to creative writing without having to worry about comprehensive coverage of the frameworks. The most exciting part about the whole endeavor, though, has been that it's motivated me to dust off my trusty pencils and once again become a serious writer (actually my undergraduate degree was in creative writing).

P.S. I am holding out like Davy Crockett for "all right" being two words. There's only one other soldier left, however, and the supplies (unless you're talking cannonballs and fallen plaster of Texas) are dwindling! What's worse, everyone around me seems to be speaking Spanish (or am I dreaming?). All right, so I'm losing the war. Still -- must... go... on. For the Disney movie, if nothing else! Alright? All right!

P.P.S. Psyched to hear about your renaissance, Boyd! I write, too. Except whenever I send my stuff to publishers, the ms. comes back with vomit stains on it. Slightly discouraging, as you might imagine.

I liked THAT WORKSHOP BOOK but it's a K-8 book. Still, all the stuff you read in there is doable for high school, too. That's the thing about work shopping. You can walk into any grade and do your magic using its basic precepts.

I just added it to my currently reading pile, but I'm digging into Mechanically Inclined by Jeff Anderson this afternoon. It looks promising, but it has its work cut out for it if it's going to improve that area of my teaching.

Mechanically Inclined is good stuff if you want to hone your grammar. I was at a 6-Traits seminar once that Jeff led and he's a pretty funny guy. Grammar is his thing. That and mentor sentences (showing kids examples of what's written WELL so they can emulate it vs. showing them examples with mistakes to be corrected).