• Step-by-step strategies, with crib sheets, for struggling writers

• Times skimmer helps you find news pegs

• Students are not the center of the universe

• Hands-on understanding of essay structure (subscriber bonus)

• Note from Linda: New FAQs page, revised search page

Writing Points presents: teaching struggling writers
Step-by-step strategies, with crib sheets

Students who struggle with writing benefit from having written directions that tell them step-by-step how to do various aspects of their writing assignments.

Not only must directions be written clearly and simply, but they must be formatted for struggling writers who have difficulty when confronted with a mass of type. Format helps include:

• White space to set off items.
• Bullets.
• Numbered items.
• Icons to indicate activities the student must do.

For more on this topic, see Gersten, R., Baker, S., & Edwards, L. (1999). Teaching expressive writing to students with learning disabilities: A meta-analysis. New York: National Center for Learning Disabilities. Search WorldCat to find a library near you that has the publication.

Writing Points presents: free resource
Times skimmer helps you find news pegs

An easy way for you to run through what's going on in the world and find current news stories that may provide a useful news peg for today's lesson or assignment is the New York Times skimmer. It's easy to get the gist of a story. Click a headline to go to the long version of anything that interests you.

Incidentally, writers and public speakers often use a news peg in their introductions. You might want to have your students look for examples and try the technique in their own writing.

Writing Points presents: teaching tip
Students aren't the center of the universe

Students may be forgiven if they get the impression writing is all about sharing their feelings and experience. The topics English teachers consider suitable for student writing are typically egocentric.

Help students learn about real-world writing by reading what various post-high school writing situations require. From accountants to zoologists, every professional group has something to say about communication skills its members need.

Have students research college standards and professional standards on the websites of colleges and professional organizations or by following people in various professions on Twitter. It will be an eye opener, especially for "creative writers."

Writing Points presents: subscribers-only bonus
Hands-on understanding of essay structure

The most visited page at You-Can-Teach-Writing.com is the one about the essay outline template. Folks are looking for plug-and-play simplicity; they probably go away disappointed when they find I expect them to create the template. However, just because I'm a mean, nasty curmudgeon doesn't mean that requiring people to make their own template is a bad idea.

If you want Joshua and Caitlin to understand how the parts of an essay go together, one of the easiest ways to achieve that goal is to have Joshua and Caitlin develop their own templates so they see the structure.

The latest subscribers-only bonus is the directions for having students build a template from a simple table in Word, Open Office, or some other word processor. Besides giving hands-on kids a way to understand essay structure, doing the template also helps them learn a computer application that is useful beyond English class.

Writing Points presents: a note from Linda
New FAQs page, revised search page

Before You-Can-Teach-Writing gets any larger (it's 300+ pages now), I'm taking some time to upgrade or develop features to make using the site easier.

I began by updating the search page. Before your only option was to search just You-Can-Teach-Writing. Now you will find inks to a variety of databases that contain research-based information about teaching writing and other education topics. The expanded options include ERIC, JSTOR, WorldCat, and Google Scholar and What Works Clearinghouse. As time permits, I'll expand the search options even more.

I added a FAQs page to answer frequently asked questions about policies, information locations, and troubleshooting problems.

Also new are a page about how to get reprint permissions and one about buying advertising on You-Can-Teach-Writing.com.

You can get to the FAQs page and search page from the link in the light teal stripe at the bottom of each page, just above the copyright notice, or from the left hand navigation menu.

The next issue of Writing Points should be released March 15, no providence preventing.

Until then, keep your pencil sharp.

Linda Aragoni