Smart Writing

“Having powerful reasons to write and a teacher who motivates— a teacher who’s tuned into the emotional and academic needs of young adolescents—is a tough order. But it can be done and it makes all of the difference to middle school writers.”

—Laura Robb

In her groundbreaking Teaching Middle School Writers Laura Robbshowed teachers how to use adolescents’ interests and motivations to enliven and personalize their academic writing. Robb’s new Smart Writing series builds on this foundation offering practical writing units that are uncommonly attuned to middle school writers’ social and developmental needs.

Providing the language and lessons she has honed over 45 years in the classroom, Robb’s eight units of study will help you craft writing instruction that:

• taps into adolescents’ desire for responsibility, relationships, and choice
• guides students step by step through the writing of memoirs; short, short stories; and persuasive, analytical, informative, and compare/contrast essays and free choice writing
• aligns with the Common Core’s writing genres
• includes engaging, age-appropriate mentor texts
• is assessment driven and incorporates self and peer evaluations.

Smart Writing components:

• The Teacher’s Guide offers practical tips for using mentor texts; shows how the units fit into a variety of schedules; and explains the benefits of developing writing criteria for teachers and students.
• Each of the 8 units of study (5 books) lays out 4 to 6 weeks of instruction and provides the lessons, mentor texts, tools, and grade-specific writing criteria needed to teach the full writing process.
• The Resources CD-ROM offers print and video resources including mentor texts, criteria charts, evaluation forms, and student handouts.
• The compact Smart Writing Handbook reinforces important lessons and offers tips, rules, and guidelines for students writing on their own.