13 November

Applying the Jane Schaffer Structure

Posted by Alejandra Correa
Categories Blog, Formulaic Writing, JSWP Methodology, Modes, Planning and Preparation, Ratios, The Chunk

Good morning Dr. Louis, I am having my students complete outside reading before they come to class and as a way to support their comprehension and prepare them for a quick reading quiz, I am going to have them write …

11 December

The Biography Ratio

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories Blog, Expository, Ratios, The Chunk

Hi. My name is Melissa. I was trained by you last school year with junior high and high school teachers of Ennis ISD. My seventh-grade students are writing a biography about an author. I’m requiring them to use the Jane …

19 May

The CD:CM Ratio: It’s All Relative.

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories Blog, Ratios, The Chunk

Dear Dr. D’, What do I tell my department when they would like to change the ratios from what they were taught? Frustrated Department Chair Dear Frustrated, Your question is one which I address on a regular basis; and, now …

07 April

The Vertical Vision: Hitting on All Cylinders (PART IV OF IV – Writing)

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories Blog, Commentary, Concrete Details, Core Literature, Embedding Quotations, Grammar, JSWP Methodology, Modes, Ratios, The Chunk, Vocabulary

Dear Teachers, Today is the fourth blog in a four-part series called “Hitting on All-Cylinders” (HOAC). The series began with one of my colleagues asking me how to get everything done in a given year. In other words, her Scope and Sequence (S&S) …

13 March

The “What” and the “Why” of Writing

Posted by Dr. Deborah E. Louis
Categories Blog, Commentary, Concrete Details, Formulaic Writing, Ratios
Comments 0 comment

Dear Dr. Louis, I recently gave my students the following prompt: “Write an essay explaining why hard work is necessary to be successful.” My District Coordinator told me that [the students’ responses] were not showing the “hard work” required in the …

29 March

Teaching Expository/Informational Writing: Summarizing and Analyzing Non-Fiction Text, including the Research Paper

Posted by Deborah Louis
Categories Commentary, Concrete Details, Expository, JSWP Methodology, Planning and Preparation, Ratios, The Chunk, Workshop Descriptions
Comments 0 comment

This workshop is two days, 5 hours each day (not including lunch). Day 1 is a prerequisite to Day 2. The morning of Day 1 covers part of the same content as Teaching the Paragraph in ELA and Content-Area Classes; …