Maria Colleen Cruz

"The author helps teachers see how making mistakes are part of the learning process and should be accepted as appropriate for their students as well as for themselves"--

A Teacher's Guide to Learning from Mistakes

Risk. Fail. Rise.

Lucy Calkins

In A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers Colleen Cruz shows how to stop struggling with writers who struggle. You'll find effective support for students who say: I'm not a good writer; My hand hurts; I don't know how to spell; I don't have anything to write about; I never get to write anything I want to write; I'm done. A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers is part of the Workshop Help Desk series. About the Workshop Help Desk series The Workshop Help Desk series is designed for teachers who believe in workshop teaching and who have already rolled up their sleeves enough to have encountered the predictable challenges. If you've struggled to get around quickly enough to help all your writers, if you've wondered how to tweak your teaching to make it more effective and lasting, if you've needed to adapt your teaching for English learners, if you've struggled to teach grammar or nonfiction writing or test prep...if you've faced these and other specific, pressing challenges, then this series is for you. Provided in a compact 5" x 7" format, the Workshop Help Desk series offers pocket-sized professional development. For a comprehensive overview of the Units of Study for Teaching Writing series, including sample minilessons, sample videos, curricular calendars, overview presentations, frequently asked questions, and information on the companion principal's guide and the Workshop Help Desk series visit unitsofstudy.com.

A Quick Guide to Reaching Struggling Writers, K-5

When It Comes to Reading, Writers Have an Advantage. We know that writing skills reinforce reading skills, but what's the best way to capitalize on this beneficial relationship? By flipping the traditional "reading lesson first, writing lesson second" sequence, Colleen Cruz ingeniously helps you make the most of the writing-to-reading connection with carefully matched, conceptually connected lesson pairs. The result is a healthy reciprocity that effectively and efficiently develops students' literacy skills. Backed by long-term academic and field research, Writers Read Better: Narrative presents a series of 50 tightly interconnected lesson pairs that can be implemented either as a complete curriculum or as a supplement to an existing program. Each pairing leads with a writing lesson, used as a springboard for the reading lesson that will follow. Throughout the book's four sections, organized to help you teach tightly aligned lessons and units on reading and writing narrative, you'll discover • Kid-friendly approaches to virtually every matter of craft, including symbolism, tenses, the role of first and last words, dialogue as character fingerprint, giving weight to what's important, and much more • Clear guidance on the intention of each lesson, the type of narrative genre it's ideally suited for, and step-by-step plans • Sample teacher language for introducing and coaching each lesson • Mentor text excerpts to use as models for personal narrative, memoir, and story writing • Tips on building and organizing a contemporary classroom library filled with inspiring, illustrative texts, and how you can incorporate the tools, technology and media available in your classroom to make each lesson most effective • Sample student work, online videos and other supporting resources Complete with practical suggestions on adapting the lessons to suit the particular needs of your classroom as well as individual students, Writers Reader Better: Narrative offers a solid foundation for giving your students the advantage of powerful, transferable literacy skills.

Narrative

Writers Read Better

Veteran teacher and author Colleen Cruz has seen it all and done it all in the writing classroom-and she's got something to admit: this is hard work. Real hard. In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher she takes on the common concerns, struggles, and roadblocks that we all face in writing instruction and helps us engage in the process of problem solving each one. From dealing with writing workshop skeptics to working with students both gifted and challenged, and of course combating that eternal barrier-lack of time-Colleen offers tried-and-true strategies to address and overcome obstacles. For the struggles unique to you, she includes a "Name Your Monster" section that helps you identify your own individual roadblocks and even offers sustainable support through her blog, colleencruz.com. "We can't solve all the problems we're faced with in writing instruction," Colleen promises, "but we can choose how to respond to them. And our responses will make all the difference." What makes you unstoppable, or what's stopping you? Connect with Colleen on her blog at www.colleencruz.com/blog.htm or on Twitter, #unstoppablewritingteacher.

Real Strategies for the Real Classroom

The Unstoppable Writing Teacher

This series of books is designed to help upper elementary teachers teach a rigourous yearlong writing curriculum.

Maria Colleen Cruz

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