Building Strong Writers in Middle School: Classroom-ready Activities That Inspire Creativity and Support Core Standards

Book with CD-Rom

How can educators of middle school students promote writing that builds authentic language arts skills? By engaging young people in meaningful literary activities that relate to their lives. This book features twenty-four classroom-ready lessons that
incorporate adolescent interests into writing assignments supporting Common Core State Standards for English Language Arts. Complete with step-by-step directions and student examples—and developed and tested in public and private classrooms with students of varying abilities—Building Strong Writers in Middle School can help inspire students to explore their personal thoughts and beliefs while building proficiency in core language arts concepts. With writing now being required across the curriculum, teaching language arts at the middle school level is more important than ever. Reproducible handouts included on CD-ROM.

Deb Delisle has been an educator for more than thirty years and currently serves as Ohio’s State Superintendent of Education. Prior to that, she was a school superintendent, a curriculum director, an elementary principal, a teacher of primary and middle school kids, and a K–12 gifted coordinator. She serves on the Executive Committee of the Council of Chief State School Officers and is coauthor of Growing Good Kids and numerous articles on gifted child education and reform-based education.

Jim Delisle, Ph.D., has taught gifted children and those who work on their behalf for more than thirty years, including twenty-five years as a professor of special education at Kent State University. The author of more than 250 articles and fourteen books, he is a frequent presenter on gifted children’s intellectual and emotional growth.