Getting It in Writing

The Quest to Become Outstanding and Effective Teachers of Writing

Edited by:
Deborah M. Stankevich, University of Arkansas

Published 2011

Sixteen teachers. Sixteen journeys. All on a quest to become outstanding teachers of writing. All taking different paths to acquire and hone those skills that make a teacher effective. From kindergarten to college, teachers are faced with the daunting task of instilling the art of writing in their students. From creative writing to research, the art of writing incorporates the writing process to create the inking of our thinking. These 16 teachers from across the nation have traveled a long and arduous path to seek and to reach for the methods and strategies that will make them successful writing teachers. These are their stories.

CONTENTS
Foreword, Christian Z. Goering. The Journey to Discovery, Deborah M. Stankevich. The Sonata Allegro of a Writing Teacher, April Brannon. Teaching the Art of Writing: A Journey to Learn How, M. P. Cavanaugh. My Journey: Teaching All Students the Joy of Being Writers, Cheryl Cormier. The Journey to Become a Writer Then a Teacher of Writers, Helen Eaton. To Write Is To Know, Jessica Fragale. The Journey, Gary French. To Be a Good Writer, Anne Smith Gleason. My Quest From Personal Journals to Non-Fiction Extravaganza, Kim Kendrick. Revolution and Evolution: My Career as Writer and Teacher, Sharla Keen-Mills. Finding the Writer, Carol Malaquias. Show Me a Cover Story: Forays into Teaching Writing to Reluctant Writers, Faith-Ann McGarrell. Journey of a Lifetime, Vickie Moriarity. Teacher, Writer, Rebel: A Parallel Journey, Elaine J. O’Quinn. The McEssay: Choking the Voice out of Student Writers, Kurt Reynolds. Writing Workshop: One Teacher’s Journey, Deborah L. Smith. No Bad Writing, Deborah M. Stankevich. Those Who Made the Journey.

REVIEWS
"Getting it in Writing, edited by Deborah M. Stankevich, brings together diverse teacher voices sharing a common passion: writing. In this collection of 17 personal essays, readers journey with authors into classrooms where dynamic writing processes are underway. Throughout this journey, chapter authors chart their own paths as writers, describe their initial experiences teaching writing to students, and share memories of students who inspired paradigm shifts." Brian Kissel in Teachers College Record

"This volume, edited by Stankevich (Univ. of Arkansas), is not a book about the National Writing Project (NWP), though its origins and philosophy come directly from it. The NWP operates in all 50 states and territories from sites based at universities and colleges. It is suggested that the NWP is the nation's most successful K-12 professional development project. The NWP has two central principles: teachers make the best teachers of teachers and writers make the best teachers of writing. With this in mind, Stankevich and other solicited stories from teachers describing how they became excellent writing instructors. Within the book, the teachers tell their evolution complete with inital successes, key concepts, joys, barriers, logistics, confessions, reflections, instructional components, and frustrations. Teachers write of their own experiences and of teaching writing, mostly in the upper elementary grades and beyond. The book concludes with biographies of all contributors. Summing up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduate, graduate, and research collections." M.I. Baker James Madison University in CHOICE