Engaging Reluctant Writers

by Mike Alpert | Oct 21, 2022

Many students lack confidence when it comes to writing. Whether it’s due to a lack of past success or low motivation, it can be hard to get students excited about their own potential. In this course, veteran teacher Tom Puterbaugh shares his experiences teaching nearly every writing-based high school course over decades in the classroom. From mixing modes and genres to incorporating relevant voices and audiences, any secondary educator who’s concerned about literacy will learn plenty of strategies they can implement with their own students immediately.

Participants will receive a certificate of completion reflecting a total course time of 60 minutes (1 hour) and course completion on a provided transcript.

Course Content

Tom’s Background 4:37

From helping a friend apply to grad school to working with individuals taking their U.S. citizenship test, hear about how Tom fell in love with teaching writing and how he approaches it daily in his high school classroom.

Building Better Writing Assignments 4:51

Tom explains how he fights apathy by creating writing assignments that are irresistible to students.

Writing About “The Good Place” 4:05

Find out how Tom helps students get past that initial bout of writer's block by using a variety of mediums.

Using Audience Strategically 7:06 Sample Lesson

The writing will not be as good if the writer's audience is the teacher. Tom shares his approach to finding authentic audiences and how to plan for them in advance.

Mentor Texts 4:57

Why are mentor texts to important? Tom explains and shares several of his favorite mentor texts.

Effective and Timely Student Feedback 6:35 Sample Lesson

Effective and efficient feedback requires some preparation. Tom outlines his process based on several different scenarios that frequently occur in the classroom.

Writing Conferences with Students 3:38

Help students identify their writing struggles and work through them together. Quality attention to individual students is priceless.

Final Feedback 4:10

How does gratitude factor into providing students with feedback? Understand Tom's philosophy and how he suggests changes in a way that reinforces student growth.

Motivating All Students to Write 6:01

Students show up in our classrooms with varying levels of confidence about writing. Learn how Tom helps students untangle bad associations with writing and move forward with better experiences.

Mixing the Modes 3:43

Really good writing is seldom only narrative, argumentative, descriptive, etc. Learn how to make writing come to life for students by mixing things up.

Student Choice & Multi-Genre Projects 4:43

For big assignments, Tom optimizes student engagement through the combination of student choice and multi-genre research projects.

Bonus Videos

Helping with College Entrance Essays 1:50

How should I respond when a student asks for help with college entrance essays? Hear how Tom has tackled this scenario countless times.

Grammar Thunderdome 3:12

How do you get students to love grammar? Make a post-apocalyptic game with dramatically high stakes.

Engaging Reluctant Writers – Final Quiz