The Write Direction: A New Teacher's Practical Guide to Teaching Writing and Its Application to the Workplace

The Write Direction is an innovative book that guides teachers on how to teach writing, including the connection to the writing students will encounter once they leave school. The book examines the importance of teacher as writer, classroom environment, writing process, and six traits of writing and how teachers can implement these concepts.

The Write Direction connects classroom writing instruction to the world students will face once they leave school and enter the workplace.  The authors believe that students need to explore and practice writing assignments that better prepare them for the writing they will undertake once they leave school.  Unfortunately, many teachers do not know what types of writing employers in the business world expect their employees to be able to produce.  Therefore, every chapter provides specific activities for teachers to undertake as they work to improve their writing instruction.  Suggestions for incorporating appropriate writing assignments that connect to workplace writing are also included.  The book also provides suggestions for managing the crucial issues facing new teachers in today’s classroom: testing, grading, and long-range planning.

Table of Contents

Introduction                                                                                                       p. 1

Chapter 1. The Proverbial Piano Falls on Our Heads                                      p. 4

  Fred’s World:

·         How Fred found himself in such a mess

  Lynna’s World:                                                                                               p. 13

·         How Lynna found herself in a state of shock

Chapter 2.   Fundamentals                                                                              p. 20

  Fred’s World:

·         How the National Writing Project found and saved Fred

  Lynna’s World:                                                                                               p.28

·         Why we need to write effectively in the workplace

·         Differences between professional writing and academic writing

·         Sins of business writing

·         Effective characteristics of professional writing

Chapter 3. Writing Environments                                                                        p. 43

  Fred’s World:

·         Miss Beavers and Miss Hudson

·         Teacher as Writer

·         Sharing our Writing

·         Allowing Students Privacy Not to Share

·         Setting Rules for Feedback

·         In God–and the Teacher–We Trust

  Lynna’s World:                                                                                               p.58

·         Writing documents in the workplace

·         Collaborative writing

·         Electronic communication

Chapter 4. Keeping it Simple: Writing as a Process                                              p.79

  Fred’s World:

·         The Musical Connection

·         Experience

·         Pre Writing and Revision

·         Drafting and Revision

·         Conferencing and Revision

·         Teacher-Student Conferences

·         Student-Student Conferences

·         Revision, Revision, Revision

·         Editing

·         Publishing

·         A Final Thought

  Lynna’s World                                                                                                p. 114

·         Planning

·         Drafting

·         Revising

Chapter 5. Six Traits                                                                                          p.128

  Fred’s World:

·         Albert Einstein’s Short Lived Golf Career

·         Key Ingredients

·         Ideas

·         Organization

·         Voice

·         Word Choice

·         Sentence Fluency

·         Conventions

·         Teaching the Traits

  Lynna’s World                                                                                                p.177

·         Clarity

·         Format

·         Tone

·         Vocabulary

·         Style

·         Error Free/Document Design

Chapter 6. Assigning is Not Teaching                                                     p. 217

  Fred’s World:

·         A Quick Look at the Problem

·         Purpose and Audience

·         Narrow the Topic

·         Models, Models, Models

·         Monitor Points

  Lynna’s World:                                                                                               p. 226

• Independent Writers
• Monitor Points
• Case Studies

Chapter 7. Practice, Practice, Practice                                                   p. 233

  Fred’s World:

·         Major League Baseball

·         What to Practice

  Lynna’s World                                                                                                p.239

·         Relevance of Assignments

·         Practice a Variety of Assignments

·         Practice Editing and Revising

·         Visuals

·         Ethical and Legal Considerations

·         Multicultural Communication

·         Sample Assignments to Practice

·         A Goodbye from Lynna

Chapter 8. Complaints from the Teachers’ Lounge                                              p.262

·         Avoiding Depression: How to Get Through the Stack of Papers

o        The Daunting Truth

o        Four Options to Save Your Sanity

·         Test Prep

o        No Child Left Behind

o        Rule #1: Don’t Teach to the Test

o        Rule #2: Don’t Start Talking about the Test During the First Month of School

o        Rule #3: Model, Model, Model

o        Rule #4: Students as Assessors

o        Rule #5: Practice, Practice, Practice

·         Planning Your Year

o        Panic

o        Ask and You will Find: Anchor Papers

o        The Curriculum

o        Elementary Grades: Intermediate

o        Secondary Grades: Middle School

o        Secondary Grades: High School

o        A Final Thought

o        Teacher’s Checklist for Lesson Planning

Conclusion                                                                                                           p. 298

List of Illustrations

Figure 2-1: Effective Characteristics

Figure 4-1: Traditional Writing Process Model

Figure 4-2: New Writing Process Model

Figure 4-3: Business Writing Process

Figure 4-4: Business Writing Organizational Patterns

Table 5-1:  Analytic Rubric:  Trait of Ideas

Table 5-2:  Holistic Rubric

Figure 5-1: Audience Response Determines Pattern of Organization

Figure5-1.1: Sample Recommendation Letter (Neutral/Positive Message) using the Direct Pattern

Figure 5-1.2: Sample Recommendation Letter (Neutral/Positive Message) using the Indirect Pattern

Figure 5-1.3: Sample Claim Letter (Negative Message) using the Indirect Pattern

Figure 5-1.4: Sample Claim Letter (Negative Message) using the Direct Pattern

Figure 5-2: Organizational Patterns in Body of Documents

Figure 5-3:  Five Ways to Make Readers Angry

Figure 5-4: Letter with Negative Tone

Figure 5-5: Memo with Negative Tone

Figure 5-6:  Examples of Non-Discriminatory Language

Figure 5-7:  Examples of Wordy Phrases

Figure 5-8:  Fluent Sentences

Figure 5-9: Most Important Writing Skills, As Ranked by High School Teachers and College Instructors

Figure 5-10: Example of Poor Web Page Design

Figure 5-11: Example of Effective Web Page Design

Figure 6-1: Claim Letter to Landscaping Company

Figure 7-1: Checklist for Revising Business Messages

Appendices                                                                                                                              

            Appendix 1: Classroom Lesson Ideas

            Appendix 2: Direct-Indirect sample letters

            Appendix 3: Sample Gantt Chart

            Appendix 4: Job Search Documents

            Appendix 5: Recommended Books about Teaching Writing

            Appendix 6: Recommended Writing Websites

Fred Wolff worked in public schools for 24 years, 19 as a classroom teacher.  For the past eight years he has worked with teachers across the U.S. and in numerous international schools helping to improve student writing.  Fred has received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars, a Fulbright to study education in Japan, and most recently wrote and co-produced an hour long documentary about Holocaust survivors in his home state of New Hampshire. 

Lynna Garber Kalna has a unique balance of 30 years experience in the academic and corporate environments, including teaching in the public school system and at a private college, as well as working as an educational consultant, freelance magazine writer, and corporate trainer. Lynna, who has received numerous awards including Professor of Merit and Professor of Distinction, serves as a keynote speaker for various organizations.

What educators are saying about The Write Direction 

“I would whole-heartedly recommend this book. I think that it is especially useful to beginning teachers because it incorporates into one place the wealth of expertise and experience a teacher needs to be effective. It takes lots of reading, years of experience and loads of training to attain the levels of these authors’ understanding.” --Coby Troidl, North Collins CSD, North Collins, NY

“I don’t know of another book that addresses [these]same issues. [The Write Direction]gives teachers a lot to think about in terms of teaching the principles and practice of good writing without being prescriptive. Good writing in school leads to better learning and higher grades therefore more opportunity. This is a message that all teachers need to get.”  --Clare Oderman, Cedar Park Middle School, Portland, OR