Hello everyone! These days, positivity is difficult to come by. It might be easier than this time last year, but I think most of us can agree that we aren’t living in the best of times… because of this, many of us are struggling to create a positive school culture in our classrooms, and community at large.
Jim Van Allen is here to help us realize we can change this trajectory, and work together to create spaces WE ALL want to be in, students and staff alike. Through the power of collective belief and teacher efficacy, we can all put in the effort to foster healthy school environments.
This episode is sponsored by Heinemann—the leading publisher of professional books and resources for educators—and their professional book, Writing Unbound: How Fiction Transforms Student Writers by Thomas Newkirk.
Writing Unbound is about the value of writing fiction in secondary classrooms. Tom Newkirk asks a tough question: if reading fiction is the center of most English classrooms, why is writing fiction often ignored? Why do we separate fiction reading and
fiction writing?
Tom argues that when our writing curriculum is too analytical, students think of “writing” as impersonal, formulaic, and…well…boring. He says that opening a door to fiction writing can ignite students’ interest and convince them of the value of writing. He even argues that allowing kids to write fiction will improve their analytic writing.
Learn more about how fiction can transform student writers. Visit Heinemann.com to download a sample from Writing Unbound.
