You may not have had said this out loud, but I know it has been in the back of your mind.

It is there each time you make a decision to:

-provide a structure graphic organizer for planning

Or

-have students "check in" before moving ahead in the work

In this episode, I encourage teachers to consider the purpose of their fear and provide less structured guidance, allowing students to make errors as part of their natural learning process.

I highlight the importance of observing each student's individual writing abilities and using those observations to guide our instruction. By focusing on each student's unique path of development, we can better facilitate a love for writing and help them grow authentically.

This episode will encourage you to let your students BE WRITERS!

00:49 Common Teaching Practices in Writing

02:08 Understanding the Fear of Mistakes

03:34 Embracing Individual Writing Paths

04:53 Learning from Mistakes

05:30 Sports Analogy for Writing Development

08:09 Encouragement for elementary and middle school Teachers

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

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