Home : Professional development
for writing teachers
Online courses for teachers
Develop your professional skills
My live, online courses for writing teachers and their students
emphasize thesis + support (or persuasive pattern) expository
writing — the nonfiction writing required in academic and
workplace situations.
English language arts teachers and homeschoolers seeking professional
development in fall 2009 can choose from these online courses:
If you know what online courses and professional development workshops
sponsored by organizations like the National Council of Teachers
of English cost, you'll see my workshops at $25 for a 75-minute
session are a bargain. Besides you get me as the facilitator;
NCTE can't match that!
By the way, if you would like me to deliver
one of these online courses to your faculty group or other organization,
contact me about discounted rates for groups of 10 or more.
English language arts teachers lag behind
math and science teachers in their use of informal writing activities
to engage students, foster learning, and provide quick feedback.
As a participant in the professional development workshop Crafting
Informal Writing Prompts, you will learn how and when to
use informal writing in the ELA classroom with students 13
and older by actually using writing prompts in the session.
Crafting Informal Writing Prompts is a 75-minute
live workshop. The fee is $25 (US) per participant. To register
for this workshop, click here.
To inquire about rates for having me deliver this workshop for your
group or organization, click here.
Teachers can reduce their workload by crafting
good writing prompts that address issues within their discipline.
Learn the tricks of crafting authentic writing prompts for
topics other than literary works in my two-session workshop
on crafting formal writing prompts. After you learn what makes a
good ELA prompt, you will either find or develop prompts for
both competent and not-yet-competent writers on a range of topics
within the English language arts curriculum. At the end of the workshop,
you'll receive copies of all the participants' prompts.
Crafting Formal Writing Prompts consists of two 75-minute
live sessions. The fee is $50 (US) per participant. To register
for this workshop, click here.
To inquire about rates for having me deliver this workshop for your
group or organization, click here.
The five paragraph essay has has been the
standard tool for teaching writing for centuries: its predictability
makes it appropriate for developing competent writers.
By applying some creativity, you can use the standard formula five-paragraph
essay to teach critical thinking skills and encourage
creativity in student writers 13 and older.
In the workshop Get Creative with the 5-Paragraph Essay,
you will learn how to slip requirements into writing prompts to
ease competent student writers into expanding their repertoire of
writing strategies in ways that have true real-world applications.
Get Creative with the 5-Paragraph Essay is a 75-minute
live workshop. The fee is $25 (US) per participant. To register
for this workshop, click here.
To inquire about rates for having me deliver this workshop for your
group or organization, click here.
Colleges and employers want students who are
able to bring creativity to bear on real world problems. They have
very little use for imaginative writing.
In the workshop Shape Creativity in Nonfiction Writing,
you will learn simple, easy ways to promote creative thinking in
ways that kids who hate Jane Austen and poetry readings will find
useful and perhaps even enjoyable. The same tricks will help highly
imaginative youngsters apply some of their inventiveness in practical
ways.
Shape Creativity in Nonfiction Writing is a 75-minute
live workshop. The fee is $25 (US) per participant. To register
for this workshop, click here.
To inquire about rates for having me deliver this workshop for your
group or organization, click here.
Lectures, worksheets, and exercises for
plagiarism prevention have little effect unless students have mastered
the correct way of using sources. Learn three strategies
to make sure your students 13 and older can use sources correctly.
The anti-plagiarism strategies I will show you can be used by teachers
in any discipline. However, the examples I use in this workshop
are drawn from English language arts.
Plagiarism Prevention is a 75-minute live workshop.
The fee is $25 (US) per participant. To register for this workshop,
click here. To inquire about
rates for having me deliver this workshop for your group or organization,
click here.
Course schedule
Two places to find out when my online courses and workshops are
scheduled are
-
The events calendar (link in navigation menu at left)
-
Writing Points, my free monthly ezine (sign-up
in at left)
Please register at least 24 hours before a course is scheduled
to start; 48 hours is even better. That allows me a little time
to notify everyone of the location and any other information they
need. Thank you for your courtesy in this regard.
I'll send you "an invitation" (the URL of the class session)
24 hours before and invoice you through PayPal.
Time zone note
I live in the Eastern time zone in the US where
we observe Daylight Savings Time. You can check a time
zone calculator to see what time the online courses will be
delivered in your time zone. Plug in "New York, New York"
as my city, and the date and time of the first class session to
get the class time where you live.
How the online sessions work
I teach my online courses in a cyberspace classroom at WiZiQ.com.
The courses include presentations and discussion. They usually include
informal writing as well.
In order to participate, you will need
Ideally you should have a microphone so you can participate
orally as well as through text. Conversation makes the sessions
more interesting.
For the informal writing activities, a text editor like
Notepad works best. If you use Word, WordPerfect or similar
sophisticated word processing programs, you must save your work
as a text file before you can share it online.
Group pricing available
Want me to offer one of these professional development online courses
just for your faculty, organization or group? Contact
me to discuss your needs. I offer discounted rates for groups
of 10 or more if you handle the registration and I have to issue
only one invoice.
Published 15-Jan-2009; revised 31-Jul-2009
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