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For those of us who are teachers of writing, or participating in the Writers' Workshop training this year, here is a resource that may be helpful as we navigate teaching the literary essay. This comes from a Michigan school district, but is based on the Writers' Workshop model. This particular unit is sixth grade, but it lists expectations and areas of focus for a range of grade levels. Teachers can also find resources for various grade levels by searching around the main site. I love that it also outlines several useful mentor texts. I haven't read them yet, but certainly plan to as I start my planning of the literary essay unit.

This is a short lesson developed for Pearson to consolidate some clear, useful structures for activating students in the classroom. Some of it is definitely more geared towards Language Arts, but it's worth a look for approaches to take in any class, and is a good reminder of some of those methods we learned back when we were learning to teach.

This is a great site for teachers to teach students about copyright and begin conversations about intellectual property.

I've been using this site with middle school student for a few years to help teach copyright. It's written in kid-friendly language (middle school) and has lots of resources for teaches who might need a refresher course for themselves. There is an interactive quiz that sparks lots of conversation around intellectual property and fair use. The site is easy to navigate though beware there seem to be a few broken links.

Thanks for sharing this Robyn, I found this site informative and I like that the language is appropriate for middle schoolers. I just took the "Copyright Challenge" quiz and ended up learning a few things! For example, I didn't realize that an essay you write is protected by copyright law as soon as you write it down because that makes it "Fixed in a Tangible Form of Expression." I understand that Fair Use is a defense to copyright infringement but I am still a little unsure about how much of a work you can use before it can no longer be defended by fair use. I guess there is no easy answer to that question because it depends on the situation. I can definitely see myself using the interactive quiz with my students.

I heard this on the way to soccer this morning. It speaks to the idea of "fake writing days" that create for the sake of data. - Steve. "Want to do well on the essay portion of the SAT? Just make it up! Scott Simon speaks to English professor Anne Ruggles Gere of the University of Michigan who says that the college entrance exam is turning out a generation of bad writers who are fast and loose with the facts."