1. By Laura Robb

2.  Robb interviewed many of middle school
students and found that most of them had a
very active outside-of-school writing life.
Some of the examples students gave her
included:
 Mysteries
 Stories about animals
 Detective stories with many chapters
 Poems
 Sports
 Drawing pictures

3.  The students were asked what do they like
best about writing and their responses
illustrate a strong desire to communicate
feelings and ideas.
 “There are so many things I like! Mostly it’s
the way writing gets my feelings out. It
makes me feel refreshed. It’s a way of
expressing myself, and makes me feel proud
of myself.”
 “Writing poems is who I am. I find out more
about friendships, what’s happening to the
earth, why I like or dislike things. I have to
write every day.”

4. “…middle school is a time when writing is a
more central, more steadying need of
adolescents than many educators have
recognized.”

5.  Nine out of ten students do some kind of
outside-of-school writing
 More girls do three or more types of writing
outside of school than boys.
 Seven out of ten students who write outside
of school have not told their teachers about
their outside-of-school writing lives
 Students who have a teacher who encourages
them to write in school are likely to write
outside of school.

6.  Not only does blogging invite students to post
their opinions about topics, issues, local, and
world news, but it also demands quick
processing of reading and fast thinking for
responding.
 Establishing a class blog is an excellent way
for students to find topics for journal
writing, have quick conversations, and
engage in writing and posting book reviews.

7.  About half the students surveyed write on
blogs at home and/or in school
 At school, students used blogs to write about
books they read and respond to questions on
diverse topics that the teacher or peers
posed.
 Students in grades 7 & 8 blogged a great deal
more than those in grades 5 & 6

8.  Six needs of teaching Middle School Writers:
 Responsibility: Students want to take on real
responsibility and control over their learning.
 Relationship: Teams of students can collaborate
throughout the writing process.
 Relevance: Middle school students want a reason to
write.
 Inquiry: Infuse writing class with opportunities for
students to wonder about self, feelings, friends, school,
family, relationships, and issues about justice in their
community and beyond.
 Choice: It can drive students’ motivation to hit on the
right topic, genre, and audience.
 Hope: It’s hope that nudges adolescents to pick
themselves up and work to move beyond failure. They
dare to write about topics they care about.

9.  Post and review your workshop schedule: students like
knowing that they will be conferring or editing their
writing
 Present explicit teacher demonstrations: focused 5-10
minute lessons.
 Reserve a chunk of time for students to write: at least 30
minutes
 Use writer’s notebooks: use them as aplace for students to
collect ideas for their writing. This could include pictures,
songs, poems. Consider setting aside five to seven minutes
at the start of students’ writing time so they can gather
ideas in their notebooks. Robb suggests doing this three
times a week.
 Use the time when students are writing to confer with
students whose names you’ve written on the chalkboard.

10. Use Mentor Texts to…
 Inspire students to write their own personal
narrative, poem, etc.
 Allow students to connect or relate to the text
 Generate ideas for students to write about
 To introduce a specific subject area

11.  Generate questions relating to their own lives
 Generate questions and musings that would
in turn help them:
1. Find a topic
2. Brainstorm ideas
3. Create a plan
4. Begin crafting personal narratives
and poems

12.  Change and Loss
“How do I deal with the death of a parent,
pet, friend, silbling, or relative?”
 Relationships: Insight into Self
“Why do some relationships work and some
fail?”
 Coping With Fears- “What do I fear?
 Pressure:Inside and Outside
Influences:
“Why do I need so much approval from
peers?”

13. 1. A text that is familiar to the students, or they
have heard before
2. Material that captivated you and compelled
you to share with your students
3. Texts that students choose to share and
study

14. “Knowing I can revise-make my piece better-is the
real part of writing. I try my best on the first draft.
But I always have to rewrite and add details”

15.  Rubrics:
-Students receive a 1, 2, 3, or 4. 4=A, 3=B, 2=C,
1=D, 0=F
-Students feel hopeless and not hopeful when
they continue to receive 1‟s and 2‟s.
-Locks teachers and students into specific
statements
-Student: “Just give me an „F‟, I don‟t have to
write then”
-Teacher: “Your hopeless, so I‟m not giving
you extra time”

16.  Criteria:
-Can and should be negotiated between
teacher and students
-Incorporate what student‟s are learning and
what they‟ve shown they can do in writing
class
- Students have a better idea of what is
expected of them because they helped create
the criteria.

17.  Teacher can reflect on whether a few students
or the entire class had difficulty meeting one
or more criteria; then use this data to make
re-teaching decisions
 Can easily see what students wrote well and
what areas require revision
 Still room for negotiation in conferencing.

18. 1. Let the writing rest
2. Read the writing out loud
3. Use questions to edit and revise
4. Use the numbering strategy
5. Reread the brainstorming and plans
6. Use the criteria to self-evaluate an early draft
7. Rewrite parts related to the criteria
8. Confer early in the process
9. Edit for writing conventions
10. Have the teacher read

19.  Chapter 2: Improving Students’ Creative and
Analytic Writing
 Chapter 5: Making Powerful Writing Happen
Day to Day: Lessons that Work
 Chapter 7: Conferring: Answering Middle
Schoolers’ Need to Collaborate
 Chapter 8: Writing Conferences in Action
 Chapter 9: Analytical Exchanges Online: Blogs
and Beyond