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Writing Through the Tween Years: Supporting Writers, Grades 3-6
It's not easy being a tween. A lot of us are either in a tunnel or a bridge. A lot of us don't know who we are. Instead of following Barney's advice, we end up doing what popstars do.
—Kelley, age 10No longer little children, but not yet teenagers, tweens are beginning to see themselves as autonomous while still struggling to understand where they fit in. It can also be an awkward time for teachers who cherish the hilarious and poignant personalities of tween writers, but feel pressured by a new emphasis on testing in the intermediate grades. Many teachers have virtually abandoned writers' workshops in favor of formula writing and prompts, even though these workshops may be essential for understanding the emerging competencies and personalities of eight- to twelve-year-olds.
Bruce Morgan and Deb Odom teach together at a school where formula writing and test preparation led to stagnant writing scores, student boredom, and teacher discouragement. They worked with their colleagues in grades 3–6 to make some dramatic changes in their collective writing instruction. These changes included a return to their roots as writing workshop teachers, but with new twists. The teaching staff drew up new common standards for writing assessment and achievement. The revised writing programs also involved integrating insights from reading strategy instruction with a renewed emphasis on the basics of writers' workshop: student choice, teacher modeling, revision, and using quality children's literature as mentor text.
Writing Through the Tween Years documents how teachers can get back to the joys of teaching writing in a literature-rich, thoughtful environment. There may be no better way to understand and reach tween writers.
—Kelley, age 10No longer little children, but not yet teenagers, tweens are beginning to see themselves as autonomous while still struggling to understand where they fit in. It can also be an awkward time for teachers who cherish the hilarious and poignant personalities of tween writers, but feel pressured by a new emphasis on testing in the intermediate grades. Many teachers have virtually abandoned writers' workshops in favor of formula writing and prompts, even though these workshops may be essential for understanding the emerging competencies and personalities of eight- to twelve-year-olds.
Bruce Morgan and Deb Odom teach together at a school where formula writing and test preparation led to stagnant writing scores, student boredom, and teacher discouragement. They worked with their colleagues in grades 3–6 to make some dramatic changes in their collective writing instruction. These changes included a return to their roots as writing workshop teachers, but with new twists. The teaching staff drew up new common standards for writing assessment and achievement. The revised writing programs also involved integrating insights from reading strategy instruction with a renewed emphasis on the basics of writers' workshop: student choice, teacher modeling, revision, and using quality children's literature as mentor text.
Writing Through the Tween Years documents how teachers can get back to the joys of teaching writing in a literature-rich, thoughtful environment. There may be no better way to understand and reach tween writers.
160 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
May 12, 2026
It was a good reminder of the power of relationships and choice when motivating tweens. It also gave me some new ideas for how to incorporate grammar and mechanics on a more fluid basis in my instruction.
October 21, 2007
After finishing this book I made sure to write down some of the more pertinent ideas in my teaching journal. I liked the way this teacher/author approached writing in the classroom. He shared many of my same philosophies. Writing should not be a chore, but a passion. I especially liked the idea of the students using what he called, "living books" where the kids would keep a record of their lives each day. I think the trick to doing this is to give kids a very fixed and limited time to write in them each day. Students then go back to these living books for topic selection during writer's workshop. The author also emphasizes that teachers write too, which I wholeheartedly agree with. I wrote with my students a lot at the beginning of our writer's workshop. It's a good way for them to get to know you and also show them your thought processes as a writer. Read this book if you are struggling with teaching writing in your classroom. It will give you inspiration!
April 25, 2011
Well written, easy to read. Too much repetition. Gives some good practical procedures to use in the classroom. Enjoyed the book and will use some of the information in my classroom.
March 29, 2017
Truly inspiring.
In the interest of full-disclosure I should mention Bruce is my Instructional Guide at my school. In the 12 years since writing this book he has continued to work with learners of all ages (myself included) so I could hear him speaking to me as I read his words.
It was purely by accident that I got a copy of his book, it was in a box of donations, and I laughed when I saw the name - how many Bruce Morgan's could there be? So, it was delightful to discover that this was in fact the same Mr. Morgan I had the privilege to work with.
It's interesting to see a lot of the same issues and stresses that come from teaching this age group are still the same a decade later, from the special needs of emerging adults to the politics of state testing, and it was truly inspiring to hear the stories and the suggestions of how to handle those issues while also still teaching students to love and value their own writing.
There are great examples and suggestions in this book but it really is a call to action, the final page literally had me tearing up. I definitively needed to read this over Spring Break because I feel motivated to return to school and end the year with some of the inspiration I just received. Thanks Bruce.
In the interest of full-disclosure I should mention Bruce is my Instructional Guide at my school. In the 12 years since writing this book he has continued to work with learners of all ages (myself included) so I could hear him speaking to me as I read his words.
It was purely by accident that I got a copy of his book, it was in a box of donations, and I laughed when I saw the name - how many Bruce Morgan's could there be? So, it was delightful to discover that this was in fact the same Mr. Morgan I had the privilege to work with.
It's interesting to see a lot of the same issues and stresses that come from teaching this age group are still the same a decade later, from the special needs of emerging adults to the politics of state testing, and it was truly inspiring to hear the stories and the suggestions of how to handle those issues while also still teaching students to love and value their own writing.
There are great examples and suggestions in this book but it really is a call to action, the final page literally had me tearing up. I definitively needed to read this over Spring Break because I feel motivated to return to school and end the year with some of the inspiration I just received. Thanks Bruce.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews