Welcome to WritingFix
interactive lessons and thought-provoking resources for classrooms where writing is taught, not just assigned
Can WritingFix Make it to 3 Million Hits this Year?
On October 31, we made it to 2.3 million hits. On November 16, we made it to 2.5 million. Will 2008 be the year that WritingFix surpasses 3 million hits? We're hoping so. We are so grateful to the teachers, writers, and students who have already discovered us and who continually use our resources.
If you know teachers who haven't discovered our free-to-use website yet, tell them to check us out before December 31. In their own small way, they might help us make WritingFix history in 2008!
WritingFix Presentation at NCTE Conference: November 23
WritingFix's Webmaster--Corbett Harrison--and WritingFix's iPod Project Coordinator  --Rob Stone--will be speaking (albeit briefly) at this year's National Council of Teachers of English Conference in San Antonio, Texas.
At session M.03, "Using New Technologies to Inspire Heartfelt Writing"
(11:30 a.m. on Sunday, November 23), Corbett and Rob will be discussing WritingFix's new collection of iPod-inspired poetry prompts.
They're sharing the session with two other technology-based writing projects, and they'll be happy to hang around after the session to answer specific questions or just talk about WritingFix. Come by and let them know you use the WritingFix website! The first ten teachers who tell them they love the WritingFix website will receive a free copy of one of the NNWP's print guides.
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Seven Special WritingFix Features:
(posted for November and December)
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After years of being asked by our local teachers and librarians, we've finally created a bibliography page that features all of the mentor texts featured here at the WritingFix website. Click here (or on the picture above) to access this great new resource. Hover over the titles to shop for best deals on these books at Amazon.
Our bibliography page features three sections: 1) a listing of every picture book that has a lesson or prompt based on it at WritingFix; 2) a listing of every chapter book that has a lesson or prompt based on it at WritingFix; 3) a listing of every mentor text cited in the Northern Nevada Writing Project's awesome 196-page workbook for teachers: The Going Deep with 6 Trait Language Guide.
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Meet Carol Gebhardt, our Northern Nevada Writing Project Teacher Consultant who serves as "page host" for our growing collection of Writing Across the Curriculum resources that help teachers and students think deeper about similarities and differences during the writing process. Click here to access Carol's growing page of lessons and resources on this important topic.
Inspired by the research of Robert Marzano, Carol has worked with teachers since 2007 to explore better use of comparative thinking during writing instruction, and her team's resources and ideas can be accessed from WritingFix's Compare and Contrast Thinking Homepage. |
 In Northern Nevada, we're offering a new inservice class for teachers who are interested in Writing Across the Curriculum. Each class participant receives a complimentary copy of Barry's wonderful book, which provides fifty-one creative and clever techniques for having students report out (with writing) on information they have learned. As a requirement to earn their credit, teachers can propose original Wacky We-Search Report, the best of which will be featured on WritingFix's Summarizing (instead of Plagiarizing) Homepage.
If you're a teacher who celebrates creativity and who thinks school should be more fun, we think this book for teachers is one of the best $15.00 you will invest in your classroom this year!
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For the 2008-2009 school year, WritingFix is supporting an on-line network inspired by Roni Schotter's excellent picture book Nothing Ever Happens on 90th Street. We are still surprised at how many upper elementary and middle school teachers we meet who still don't own a classroom copy of this quality classroom "mentor text." When we share it aloud with teachers at our workshops, posing the question, "So how would you use this text as a classroom tool to inspire better writing?", we always receive incredible and original answers. Visit our Mentor Text of the Year Homepage to access shared ideas from teachers who are using this book to inspire better writing from their students. |
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Click the image above to see all the winners at the Writer's Digest website.
Nominate us again for 2009 by addressing an e-mail to: writersdig@fwpubs.com |
Teaching voice? Here's a mentor text you need to display and share in your classroom! Voices in the Park by Anthony Browne shares an afternoon's events at a park from four unique perspectives. No plot or theme or main idea to distract your students...just a fascinating way to examine the trait of voice. WritingFix gives this new-to-us picture book five stars!
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The very best lessons at WritingFix are featured at the Northern Nevada Writing Project's
Writing Lesson of the Month Network
Here's something that 2700 teachers from around the world already know: the most popular and most inspiring writing lessons from WritingFix become part of this special network sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project.
If you want fast access to some of the very best that WritingFix has to offer, join the NNWP's Writing Lesson of the Month Network. |
WritingFix's Continued Philosophy: Interactive Choices Inspire Writers
from Corbett Harrison, WritingFix's webmaster
We all appreciate choices in life. In the classrooms where I learned to write, often I had little or no choice when writing was assigned to me. "Write a report about this topic," "Make sure your essay addresses this theme," and "Follow this format when writing your paragraphs" were mandates I remember from school that stifled me as a writer.
When I became a teacher, I allowed my students to make choices when they selected topics and approaches for papers and assignments. I taught them writing skills, and they applied those skills to the topics that interested them. My classroom of writers thrived in my choice-based, workshop approach to the teaching of writing.
When creating this website for writers, students, and their teachers, I was determined to make choice the theme that made this resource-based website different. As you explore and use WritingFix's resources, watch for the choices each resource offers young writers.
A fine example of one of our interactive, choice-based writing prompts is below: the interactive plot creator, which was one of the first twenty prompts that began WritingFix in 2001.
a writingfix original choice-based idea generator
Our Interactive Plot Creator
Instructions for student writers: A story plot can be designed once three elements have been determined by the writer: 1) setting--where the story will take place; 2) character--who will "star" in the story; and 3) conflict--what situation will keep your character's situation interesting to your reader. Press the three buttons below until you have a combination that would launch a great and original story.
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Quick access to what's most popular and what's new at WritingFix:
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 Lesson Title: Leads for a Most Embarrassing Moment
Mentor Text: Chapter 1 from The Watsons Go To Birmingham--1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis
Focus Trait: Organization
Support Trait: Idea Development
(Click on the book cover or lesson title to access this new lesson.)
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This Month's "Hidden Treasure":
(a golden lesson that only a few teachers are using)
 Lesson Title: The Wacky "I will not..." Chalkboard Assignment
Mentor Text: 51 Wacky We-Search Reports by Barry Lane
Focus Trait: Idea Development
Focus Skill: Translating research into one's own words
(Click on the treasure chest or lesson title to access this hidden treasure.) |
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Lesson Title: Poems of Apology
Mentor Text: This is Just to Say by Joyce Sidman and a poem by William Carlos Williams
Focus Trait: Sentence Fluency
Support Trait: Idea Development
(Click on the book cover or lesson title to access the entire lesson.)
This writing lesson was e-mailed on November 1st to all members of our Writing Lesson of the Month Network ! You too can join this free network by clicking here and then following the directions for signing up. |
Prompt Title: The Idea Game
Focus Trait: Idea Development
Skill: Memorable Details
(Click on the picture of the penguin or the title to access this prompt.)
This story prompt was e-mailed on November 1st to all members of our Writing Lesson of the Month Network ! You too can join this free network by clicking here and then following the directions for signing up.
Teachers: Share a teaching idea or a student sample inspired by this prompt and receive a free gift from WritingFix. See the bottom of the Idea Game page for details! |
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The ten most popular destinations for teachers and students at WritingFix:
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2) The WritingFix Picture Book Lesson Collection:
   
Over 60 original lessons inspired by our contributors' favorite picture books.
Click the image above to be taken to the collection. |
Interactive prompts and word games designed to inspire the younger writers. |
Original 6-Trait resources featured here, with access to each trait's own homepage.
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Inspired by the NNWP's Reading in the Content Areas Guide and the Writing Across the Curriculum Guide, this WritingFix page celebrates techniques for putting research and notes into one's own words.
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Free access to tools and resources we're developing in Northern Nevada to help our students better succeed with the constructed response questions on our state and district tests.
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Great ideas for writing can originate in our brain's right hemisphere, where randomness reigns. Come play one of our our interactive right-brain prompts, and let one of our
right-brain friendly prompts shape an idea for your entire brain to write about.
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Great ideas for writing can originate in our brain's left hemisphere, where logic and structure are great friends. Come play one of our our interactive left-brain prompts, and let one of our left-brain friendly prompts shape an idea for your entire brain to write about.
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Complete lessons and poetry prompts featured at the Northern Nevada Writing Project's long-running Piñon Poetry Festival are featured at this page.
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Copyright 2008 - WritingFix and the Northern Nevada Writing Project- All Rights Reserved
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November's Featured Writing Lesson:
