Writing Clubs is for grade 2 to 6 teachers looking to cultivate a deep sense of creativity and collaboration in their writing classrooms. The book demonstrates how to set up a writing classroom where students are encouraged to listen, ask questions, give constructive feedback and take risks in sharing their own written work. To demonstrate this, authors Lisa Eickholdt and Patricia Vitale- Reilly write alongside their students and share their work to help facilitate a love for writing and effective feedback.

The book is structured into chapters about each type of writing club. In your own classes, students can be assigned to clubs based on their interests. These assignments can change throughout the year as students grow and learn.

Each club offers its own benefits and appeal. Process clubs give students the opportunity to learn good writing habits. The prompts create meaningful discussion and mini-lessons break down the writing process to set students up for success in the coming years. Craft clubs allow students to explore non-fiction mentor texts, including text types and structures. Students then have a chance to write their own non-fiction text. Digital clubs encourage students to explore writing and digital ways of presenting their writing.

Genre clubs could focus on non-fiction, fiction, poetry, graphic novels, procedural texts, etc. Author clubs provide a chance for a group of students to study a specific author, look at their texts and identify and reflect upon what their writing strengths are and what can be learned from them. Convention clubs are a way for students to work together when self-editing and peer-editing, and to focus on their own writing strengths and areas to improve on.

The excitement of both students and teachers can be found in the pages of Writing Clubs. This book will become an instant keeper for your literacy block.

Anna Armstrong is a member of the Upper Grand Elementary Teachers’ Local.