Listen in to another fantastic conversation with authors Irene Latham and Charles Waters.

Both share their experiences and strategies for making writing an effective an enjoyable activity for both teachers and students.

The discussion includes:

• personal journeys as writers
• the significance of collaboration
• the importance of creating a safe and encouraging environment for student writers.

Irene and Charles highlight their upcoming book 'For the Win,' which focuses on contemporary athletes and pivotal moments in their careers.

This episode is a valuable resource for teachers seeking to inspire and improve their writing instruction methods.

Books mentioned:

Dictionary for a Better World

Can I Touch Your Hair?

For the Win

About Irene Latham:

Irene Latham is the author of many books for children, including novels, poetry, and picture books. Winner of the 2016 ILA Lee Bennett Hopkins Promising Poet Award, she writes poetry inspired by nature, art, and the experience of being human. Together with Charles Waters, she's written Dictionary for a Better World and Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship, which was named a Charlotte Huck Honor book and a Kirkus Best Book of 2018. Irene lives on a lake in Alabama where she does her best to "live her poem" every single day by laughing, playing the cello, and birdwatching. Read more about Irene on her website.

About Charles Waters:

Charles Waters is an author, children's poet, anthologist, actor and educator. His book Mascot (co-written with Traci Sorell) won many awards including the the American Indian Youth Literature Award Honor and the Jane Addams Children's Book Award Honor. His books (co-written with Irene Latham) include: Can I Touch Your Hair? Poems of Race, Mistakes and Friendship; Dictionary for a Better World: Poems, Quotes and Anecdotes from A–Z; African Town; winner of the Scott O'Dell Award for Historical Fiction; Be a Bridge; and the anthologies The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets and If I Could Choose A Best Day: Poems of Possibility.

He believes poetry for young people is one of the world's greatest inventions alongside the creation of fire, the wheel and various breakfast foods.

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

It often seems that with writing, the first instinct for teachers when seeing a writer have difficulty is to hold them to what they are able to do correctly-to limit them to what they can do well.

But isn't that only preventing them from making progress as writers?

In this episode, I discuss the importance of placing your focus on the writer, not the product by allowing students to experience productive struggles in their writing journey and have the opportunity and room to grow instead of being boxed in to a small area of perfection.

If you are an elementary teacher or middle school teacher wondering why your struggling writer isn't growing, this may be the episode for you!

**Teachers! We want to hear from you! We want to hear your story, experience, aha moment or insights related to Getting Students to Write! The more we share, the more we learn together, the more we can accomplish for our writers!

Click the link below and record a voicemail. Your story may be featured on the podcast:)

Send a voice message to GettingStudentstoWrite

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 founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

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

Where are the periods? Why isn't this capitalized? You teach it, but it doesn't show up consistently in their writing. UGH!

In this episode, we take a fresh look at teaching grammar and punctuation and the expectations we have for our writers.

You will hear:

• the idea of viewing grammar as a craft
• including grammar instruction in reading and writing
• connecting grammar and mechanics instruction to authentic writing
• ways to help students "edit" throughout the drafting process

Previous Episodes on Grammar and Editing:

Episode 105 with Patty McGee

Episode 50 and 51

**Teachers! We want to hear from you! We want to hear your story, experience, aha moment or insights related to Getting Students to Write! The more we share, the more we learn together, the more we can accomplish for our writers!

Click the link below and record a voicemail. Your story may be featured on the podcast:)

Send a voice message to GettingStudentstoWrite

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 founded by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

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