"I don't know what to write about!" is what is heard in classrooms all over.

In this episode, Melissa emphasizes the importance of supporting students in having the independence to generate their own ideas for writing.

She discusses the negative impacts of consistently providing students with topics and offers practical strategies to help students generate ideas on their own. When students are involved in creating their own topics, their engagement is increased.

Highlighting the significance of understanding the purpose behind different types of writing, Melissa provides techniques such as:

• using emotions
• studying the world around them
• making lists of their most important things in life
• asking big questions
• and taking inspiration from reading

This is such an important episode for all writing teachers from Kindergarten to High School!

About Melissa:

Melissa is an enthusiastic educator and continuous learner with over 19 years' experience in education. Her passion and expertise is transforming writing programs so that teachers are confident in writing instruction and student writers thrive! She strongly believes teachers are the key to effective instruction and their writers are their best resources.

Melissa knows that too often, explicit writing instruction is pushed aside in elementary education, and she feels it is her calling to help schools make it front and center, providing teachers with the knowledge and support necessary to implement effective and engaging writing instruction.

Teaching to Transform, LLC was started by Melissa in 2018 and partners with school districts to provide professional development in writing instruction.

If you would like to refer Melissa to your district, check out her website below!

Website and Blog Read the latest blog posts and find out more about services provided by Melissa

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YouTube Find out more about teaching writing as you watch webinars and model lessons taught by Melissa

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