Texts & Materials

Texts & Materials

I tailor my lessons to the learning styles of each student, so the materials we use to explore writing and critical thinking vary from student to student depending on age, level and interest. For middle- and high-school students, here are some of my standbys. (Keep scrolling down to view examples of classic texts other Savvy Young Writer students have gotten engaged with.)

Handbooks for Grammar, Technique and Development

Diana Hacker’s A Writer’s Reference is my favorite overall writing handbook. It’s the most popular handbook used in colleges across the United States — not surprising, since its clear explanations and superb organization make it the easiest-to-use handbook I’ve ever come across. When my students reach an appropriate skill level, I generally recommend this text across the board.

Here’s the link to buy it from Kepler’s in Menlo Park(an independent bookstore)

Here’s the link to buy it from Barnes & Noble

Diana Hacker’s exercises to accompany the handbook above. Again, the exercises are superb.

Diana began creating these materials for her own students at Prince George’s Community College in Maryland where she taught for over thirty years before her death a few years ago.

Here’s the link to buy it from Kepler’s in Menlo Park (an independent bookstore)

Here’s the link to buy it from Barnes & Noble

A classic, all-around writing reference manual. Its assertion: one must first learn the rules to break them. Short and easy to read.

Here’s the link to buy it from Kepler’s
(an independent bookstore)

Here’s the link to buy it from Barnes & Noble

Written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Donald M. Murray, this text moves students through the writing process as students find a focus, choose a genre, develop a draft, and find a voice. Its tone is inviting and examples right on point. He demystifies the process of writing and makes it feel accessible to anyone who wants to give it a shot.

Buy it here from Kepler’s in Menlo Park
(an independent bookstore)

Buy it here from Barnes & Noble

This guide is a dense, jam-packed reference guide to everything technical you could want to know about poetry.

Depending on the student, I begin with this text as early as fourth grade. Kids’ minds are built for poetry.

Buy it here from Kepler’s in Menlo Park
(an independent bookstore)

Buy it here from Barnes & Noble

Insights on the Creative Process

Writing Magic: Creating Stories That Fly, by Gail Carson Levine

Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life, by Ann Lamott

The Right to Write: Invitations to a Writing Life, by Julia Cameron

Impro: Improvisation and the Theatre, by Keith Johnson — modifying exercises for writing

Critical Thinking and Analysis

A small sample of some texts I’ve used with students over the years to build writing and critical thinking skills. Many of these have followed student interests — you can note the variety. Subject matter that lights a spark in the eyes of a student is always my subject matter of choice.

The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Julius Caesar and Macbeth, by Shakespeare

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

The Republic, by Plato

Hind Swaraj, by Gandhi

A Call to Conscience: The Landmark Speeches of Martin Luther King, edited by Clayborne Carson and Kris Shepard

Stories by O. Henry

Newsweek, The San Jose Mercury, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, Harpers, The Economist, Ms. Magazine, etc…

Susan B. Anthony, various speeches

Poems by a variety of poets, such as

Adrienne Rich

Mary Oliver

Robert Frost

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Walt Whitman

Oliver Wendell Holmes

Wendell Berry

Emily Dickinson