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I facilitate professional development workshops on both writing and differentiated instruction.
I really love teaching writing to students of all ages, and I've heard I'm pretty good at it, but lately I seem to enjoy presenting to teachers even more.
Working for both Nevada's Northwest Regional Professional Development Program and the Northern Nevada Writing Project, I have been so fortunate to have the time to study educational research on two topics for which I have genuine passion: writing and differentiated instruction. I have had time to translate that research into workshops that I have revised and honed over the years.
I humbly believe that the workshops I present are both useful and of high quality. Me? I've sat through some poorly planned and boring professional development in my past, so I go out of my way to make sure those who participate in my trainings and workshops are engaged in the topic. We laugh, we think, we talk, and we learn.
There are a lot of professional developers whose workshop style can be simplified with one of my favorite rhymes: sit and get. I don't like sit and get. I want workshops that are interactive, workshops where participants have a chance to talk to each other as much as they are talked at by a presenter.
The other rhyme I love to apply to typical teacher workshops is spray and pray; this rhyme usually applies to a professional development experience that has been poorly planned by a school leader, one who hasn't embraced the research that says professional development needs to be long-term through thoughtfully-planned follow-up activities. |
| On this page, you'll find overviews of all the workshops I present to teachers, as well as access to more detailed pages that contain resources from these workshops. |
If you appreciate my website's free materials, like the ones on this page, please help me keep it running!
At this resource page, I sell several classroom packets of materials that I hope you'll consider purchasing. All proceeds keep this website online. |
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 One more rhyme. This is the rhyme I created to apply to the workshops I facilitate: make and take. I believe if you leave a professional development workshop with something new that you've created--a lesson or resource--then you are much more likely to use and remember the information that was presented during the inservice.
So...be warned...if you come to one of my workshops, we purposely interact and create stuff that can be applied to our classrooms.
I say "be warned" because I occasionally encounter a teacher who prefers the old sit and get style, and I don't want those teachers coming to me. Those teachers slow me down and they slow down the other participants.
If I sound like the presenter your staff needs, please e-mail me using my contact page. During late August and early June, I am contracted in Northern Nevada to present the workshop you see below. During my summers, I am often available to travel to and present in other districts and schools. My week-ends, during the traditional school calendar, are also available.
My summers tend to "book" quickly; they're usually full by February. If you are hoping to bring me to your district, you'll have better luck if you plan ahead. I can be e-mailed with questions you may have about any of the trainings below.
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Workshop: Seven Elements of a Crafted Writing Lesson |
Workshop: Writing Across the Curriculum |
a 16-hour Workshop:
Differentiated Writing Instruction with the "7 Elements"
 I began creating this training in 2005 by observing and interviewing a dozen amazing teachers who absolutely loved to create new writing lessons for their students. Not only did these teachers enjoy designing instruction, but their students--all of their students--found writing time to be one of their favorite parts of the school day. I created a list of seven teaching elements that I'd found strong evidence of in all of these teachers' instruction, then I created a training to challenge teachers' thinking about these seven elements. This training asks teachers to self-rate their current use of these seven techniques, then to spend a school year working with their grade levels to improve their skills with as many of the elements they feel they can focus on while remaining true to quality instruction. My participants collaborate to create new lessons that incorporate the seven elements.
Click here to access the page of online resources that I use during this training.
This has quickly become the most popular training I have ever offered to teachers. Each school year, I bring this entire workshop to half a dozen schools, and I present smaller pieces of it during dozens of workshops and local Nevada conferences.
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an 8-hour Workshop:
Writing Across the Curriculum
 I believe that all 3rd-12th grade teachers--no matter what content they focus on--should both assign writing and should teach elements of quality writing. Language arts teachers should teach more elements than anyone else, but language arts teachers should not be the only ones assigning and explaining writing to students.
My Writing Across the Curriculum workshops challenge all teachers to find ways to both teach and assign writing. When students are writing and hearing about quality writing in all of their classes, they become stronger writers and deeper thinkers.
Click here to access my resource webpage (stored at the WritingFix website) where I store most of this workshop's most popular materials.
Twice a year, I offer my W.A.C. workshops to Northern Nevada teachers in the form of sixteen-hour inservice classes. I also present smaller pieces of the workshop during on-site workshops and at local Nevada conferences. I hope the materials I have shared here inspire all teachers (not just the ones in my class) to consider how they are assigning and teaching writing in all content areas. |
Workshop: Improving Narrative Writing for 3rd-12th Graders |
Workshop: Mr. Stick, the Margin Mascot |
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 For almost twenty years, the state writing examination in Nevada has had students respond to a prompt that is assessed using four of the six writing traits. The majority of the prompts assigned to our writers have been narrative in nature. "Write about a time you were disappointed" is an example of the type of prompt we often see.
Some teachers drill & kill their students with practice prompts right before the test, but my wife, Dena, and I think there is a better way to authentically prepare students to excel on their writing tests. We both believe if narrative and memoir are strategically taught as a genre (and taught well!) starting in primary grades and continuing until eighth grade, if this happens, then the test will take care of itself. This workshop, that we co-designed, helps teachers understand what a well-designed, differentiated unit on narrative writing looks like. It teaches participants to thoughtfully design tools that help all students find a better degree of success with narrative.
To access this workshop's on-line resources, click here. This course's materials are stored at the WritingFix website. |
In 1996, after completing an amazing and intense summer institute sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing, I was inspired to finally integrate a writers workshop in my classroom. I'd read about this type of class environment, and I wanted it to work. It took me three years of experiments before I finally got it right in 1999. I have never looked back. Writer's workshop, in my opinion, is the only way to go.
The first challenge I faced, when learning about Writer's Workshop, was how to help my students value their journals. Up until then, my students simply went through the motions of writing in journals; they didn't care about them. Knowing that a successful workshop would require a tool for students to begin creating "seed ideas," I introduced a mascot to my students' journals: Mr. Stick. In a short amount of time, my students learned to care about their journals and their writing took off. Mr. Stick proved to be inspirational...and fun.
Click here to access my on-line resources for this workshop, which are stored at WritingFix.
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Workshop: Improving Persuasive Writing for 3rd-12th |
Workshop: Teaching Authentic Revision |
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 Mr. Borilla--my fourth and fifth grade teacher--taught me to love the act of writing. Up until Mr. Borilla, I had thought writing was about spelling and handwriting, two skills that I seriously lacked as a youngster. Mr. Borilla didn't excuse me from those two skills, but he taught me to realize I had a skill that overshadowed both of them: voice. Mr. Borilla read my silly stories aloud to the class, and somehow he knew when to pause and which words to emphasize so that my stories were funnier when heard.
In 2009, inspired by Barry Lane and Gretchen Bernabei's humorous take on voice and persuasive writing in their book Why We Must Run with Scissors, I created a new workshop for Northern Nevada. In it, we explore both voice and persuasion, and participants walk away with their own copy of this marvelous book. I now offer this workshop regularly because I believe teachers need to be reminded to design lessons that promote voice and persuasive skills.
To access this class's on-line resources, click here. This course's materials are stored at the WritingFix website. |
 In my Seven Elements Workshop, we talk some about revision, but in light of all else that we do, we simply don't have time to talk enough about this extremely important step of the writing process. I don't think many teachers think enough about teaching revision, so in 2008, I created a sixteen hour off-shoot of my Seven Elements Workshop that "goes deep" with this important topic.
Let's face it, when we teach writing well, all lessons tend to take longer than we had thought they would take to teach. When our lessons go long, what's usually the first thing to skim over to get us back on schedule? Revision. Revision is not checking spelling and writing the draft neater, and it is more than adding a few flowery adjectives in front of neglected nouns. Revision is a series of craft skills that need to be taught well. Barry Lane's Reviser's Toolbox is the book that helped me begin to understand this. We refer to heavily during my revision workshop, which I now offer multiple times yearly.
To access this class's on-line resources, click here. This course's materials are stored at the WritingFix website. |
Workshop: Representing Educational Philosophies On-line |
Workshop: Teaching Related Traits |
a 2-hour Workshop:
What do you Believe about Teaching that Needs to be Shared?
 In 2001, I created the WritingFix website for the Northern Nevada Writing Project. Over the years, it has become a wonderful, internationally-recognized resource that shares the philosophies of Northern Nevada teachers about writing. Many of my own lessons have been stored at WritingFix, and they succinctly represent the beliefs I have as a writing teacher.
In 2006, I decided to branch out and create my own website, a place where just my ideas and educational philosophies could be focused on. I was inspired to do this by other educators who were doing the same. You are currently on that website.
I have come to the conclusion that educators who intelligently represent themselves and their classrooms online have the potential to shape the future of education in a positive way. In 2009, I began hosting two annual workshops designed to inspire my fellow educators to represent themselves on line.
To access this workshop's on-line resources, click here. |
A new workshop coming for 2011! Check back soon! |
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