Overview - WRITING SMARTER
Product Type: Book
Author: Keith Manos
Number of Pages: 400 pages
Reproducible: Yes
Reading Level: [UNKNOWN]
Age Appropriate Level: Middle and Secondary Education, Adult, Special Education
Copyright: 1999
Students can begin writing better immediately with Writing Smarter!, an exciting and motivating collection of 106 step-by-step activities in writing, editing, and analyzing. Written for English teachers in Grades 7-12, the highly flexible lessons and activities can be easily adapted to any secondary program or text without creating extra work. Ideal for use with individual students or an entire class. Students of all abilities can become self-directed writers using the store of practical lesson plans contained in the book.
Each lesson plan is complete and self-contained, can be used in any order, and contains objectives, discussion guides, questions, homework options, and reproducible activities, charts, lists, and samples. The activities build on each student's own cultural background, dominant learning style, and current interests. The lessons are organized into the following 13 sections:
Orientation.
The section establishes evaluation and grading policies and introduces thinking skills and how these relate to writing, a writing portfolio, and cooperative learning. Reproducibles such as the Writing Chart assist revision skills.
Description.
The section begins with identifying both Standard and Non-standard English and then introduces the parts of speech, concrete words, and sensory language for a descriptive essay.
Character Sketch.
The section continues the work on description, plus develops skills on writing characterization, developing a caricature, employing figurative language and appositives, and recognizing proper paragraphing skills.
Sentence Structure.
In this section, the emphasis is on understanding effective sentence structure, the various types of sentences, and emphasis and variety in sentences. Avoiding run-ons, fragments, and wordiness in sentences is also covered.
Personal Narrative.
Students are encouraged to write personal narratives with activities such as "When and How and Why?" and "Events and Emotions."
Persuasion.
Students get practice in recognizing precise language and dangerous language, supporting opinions, developing a thesis, writing an introduction and conclusion, and more.
Research.
Packed with reproducible activities, the research process is covered in "Facts and Sources," "Topic and Audience," "Bibliography," "Notes and Numbers," and more.
Interviews.
Students learn the interview process with "Celebrities, Idols, and Heroes;" "Talk Show;" "Direct Quote vs. Paraphrase;" and more.
The News.
Eight lessons in journalism are presented, starting with the basics and concluding with ideas for developing a class magazine or newspaper.
Writing Letters.
The section covers parts of a letter, consumer mail, letters to the editor, letters of application, and more.
Short Fiction.
This section and the Poetry one that follows round out the offerings in different aspects of each form, accompanied by examples of good writing. Both sections contain lists of places students can submit their work for publication.
Peer Editing.
The final section focuses on how to introduce and use peer editing in the classroom. This section offers five-minute prompts for peer editing and time-saving reproducibles such as "Peer Editing Guidelines," three peer editing checklists, and a peer editing model.
Special Features
The book is printed in large, spiral-bound format that allows for easy photocopying of the reproducibles. The appendix contains additional reproducibles ("Guidelines for Writing Compositions" and "Teacher's Checklist for Writing Assignments"), plus a complete Answer Key.
About the Author
Keith Manos earned his master's degree in English (creative writing) from Cleveland State University. He has taught writing to grades 7-12 for 20 years at four different high schools. His students' poetry, fiction, and essays have earned them awards and recognition after being accepted for publication in local and national magazines.