Hey, Mike Alpert!

Hey, Mike Alpert!

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Hey, Mike Alpert!
For Your Staff PD Video Highlight - October
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For Your Staff PD Video Highlight - October

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Mike Alpert
Oct 06, 2024
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Hey, Mike Alpert!
Hey, Mike Alpert!
For Your Staff PD Video Highlight - October
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Hi friends,

It’s October already! Can you believe it?

As I did last month, I’ll be sending out a “For Your Staff” video highlight on the first Sunday of each month. The goal is to highlight one of the many videos offered to paid subscribers. Something they can share with their staff that features real strategies from real teachers to use in real classrooms. This is just the thing for a staff PD meeting, department meeting, or PLC time.

If you’re already a paid subscriber, you know that when you log in, you have immediate access to ten “For Your Staff” videos (with more to be added), including pre-made Google Slides with discussion questions for your staff. All videos feature real, full-time classroom teachers discussing their best practices on a variety of topics and at different levels.

Even though we’ve already given you access to this content, we’ll continue to send out a monthly email highlighting one of the videos and the featured teacher.

Note: If you’re already a paid subscriber and haven’t logged in to our membership site yet, see the details at the end of this email to get logged in right now!

Hey, Mike Alpert! is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.


October’s Highlight

Paid subscribers - See below for access to this video.

Building Better Writing Assignments

In this month’s video, we’ll hear from Tom Puterbaugh. A seasoned writing teacher who has taught just about every secondary English course, Tom tackles how to make writing enticing for students, especially those who may bristle at the thought of an essay. He also provides a concrete example of how he uses this approach with a specific text that your teachers can try on their own immediately. And let me tell you, Tom is a master at engaging struggling or avoidant writers. Your ELA teachers won’t want to miss this!

Topics Covered:

  • When students loathe English class

  • Moving away from the “conventional” writing assignment

  • Providing a clear “course of action” for students

  • Enlisting student choice

  • Piquing their interest

  • Providing a “basis of knowledge”

  • Empowering students to put together their own ideas

  • What makes students really care about an essay

and more!

Staff Learning Targets:

  • I (the teacher) can explain why students find most writing prompts boring

  • I can judge the quality of a given prompt based on its intended audience

  • I can create prompts based on engaging texts that are aimed at enticing audiences

Potential Discussion Questions:

  • How can we “trick” students into gaining knowledge from a text and apply it to their writing in an interesting way?

  • How can we create enticing audiences, both real and fictional, for our students?

Google Slide Access:

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