Topic: Chris Hall

The words we use to talk about writing and revision matter. Some things to consider from Heinemann Authors, Chris Hall and Mike Anderson.

What if revision is something that happens in the mindset of the writer during the writing process? This is the question that Chris Hall answer in The Writer’s Mindset.

When our students are writing with optimism, all sorts of questions and possibilities stream through their minds.

Learn more about writing stances and craft moves that not only cultivate positive behaviors about writing but encourage a willingness—and even enthusiasm—to revise.

It is about helping our students develop the mindsets essential to writers who learn and grow with each other and from each other.

My theory as a writing teacher this past year was this: getting my students to reflect on and talk about the revisions they were trying—to ask them to “get a little ‘meta’”—would help foster these identities and build a culture of revision in my classroom.

Your first draft is like a dark room and our questions can show you the parts we’re curious to know more about—the places to shine your flashlight. It’s your choice as a writer which questions tug at your pen the most, but choose one or two, and cast your beam in those dark corners.

Experience is what matters. Experience may be the best teacher, but does it get in the way of some of the best teaching?

Heinemann Fellow Chris Hall on Building a Culture of Revision

Heinemann Fellow Chris Hall on "The Summer Simmer"