As
a professional development coordinator for the Conway, New Hampshire,
School District, Penny Kittle acts as a district-wide literacy
coach and directs new-teacher mentoring. In addition, she teaches
writing at Conway's Kennett High School. Penny is the author of
two other books with Heinemann—Inside Writing (2005), coauthored
with Donald H. Graves, and Public Teaching (2003)
"Penny
Kittle is an extraordinary teacher who writes. And because she
has taught in classrooms ranging from first grade through high
school, these short essay-stories show the full range of what
it means to teach today."
Don
Graves has this to say about Penny Kittle, having seen her at
work. He also believes that it is in the shared story, teacher's
and student's, that solutions exist in an era that maximizes measurement,
that sees scores and standards as the norm. Penny sees way beyond
the numbers. She appreciates faces, lives, passions, and very
difficult personal struggles. And she responds in her teaching
and writing.
With this
captivating collection of 19 essays, Penny takes us straight from
her classroom to our own hearts. Penny wrests from the teacher's
life—its trials and triumphs, frustration, fury, and fun—all
the emotional data that opens up her mind to good, solid instruction.
It also frees her, making her ever-willing to lay herself open
to her students. She writes with them, seeks their help, and teaches
them by example—showing them exactly what the function of
writing is, and how to think, understand, and read differently
as writers themselves. Penny's mentor, Donald Murray, interviews
her at the end of her book. He asks how, as a mother, wife, and
teacher, she found the time to write and what she has learned
as a published writing teacher.
Read Penny's
stories and be reminded of the importance of your work as a teacher.
Think of the stories of your own you could tell. Notice how you
will observe your students differently. Cheer for their accomplishments,
and your own, as you tackle the difficult work of learning together.
Part
writer's notebook and part sourcebook, My Quick Writes
includes more than sixty of Donald Graves' favorite and most effective
prompts for practicing and reflecting on your own writing processes.
Graves and Penny Kittle walk you through how to do Quick Writes
and the role they play in their own writing and teaching. Then
they offer you ample personal space for doing them yourself. You'll
try out new ideas, techniques, and genres.
In addition, Graves and Kittle present seventeen prompts to try
with your students. With these prompts, you'll connect the experience
of doing Quick Writes on your own to your students' experiences
with them, while at the same time helping children prepare for
timed writing tests without giving over your writing workshop
to test prep.
My Quick
Writes is the hands-on way to practice and reflect on your
writing process as you implement the apprenticeship model for
teaching writing described in Inside Writing. Even if you don't
consider yourself a writer, join Donald Graves and Penny Kittle
and learn more about your writing and that of your students with
My Quick Writes.
