Empowering Young Writers User Guide

Welcome to Empowering Young Writers!

The fundamental need to read books in order to write well is at the heart and soul of the NCBLA’s Empowering Young Writers Resource Center. Empowering Young Writers is designed to help teachers—especially upper-elementary and middle school teachers—guide their students on the path to writing well.

General Information

  • Today’s students live in a screen-prevalent world. Because they are more visually oriented than past generations, a series of slideshow presentations form the unifying hub of Empowering Young Writers. The shows feature excerpts and art from a diverse sampling of young people’s trade books to illustrate writing elements and skills.
  • The Empowering Young Writers project was inspired by NCBLA President Mary Brigid Barrett’s experiences working directly with elementary and middle school students and teachers. For over twenty years, Barrett, as a published writer and illustrator, presented creative writing workshops in schools across the country, teaching about story and writing elements and critiquing students’ work. She saw first hand how poverty-challenged schools often do not have the materials and information they need to teach students about story and writing. Those experiences shaped the slideshows and educator guides that form the foundation of this project.
  • The slideshows and supporting educational materials are not meant to supplant any school’s writing curriculum. Rather, we offer the shows and materials as additional tools.
  • The slideshows are designed for fourth through ninth graders. Initial feedback informs us that primary grade, secondary, and special education teachers have also found aspects of the slideshows and support materials useful.
  • Each slideshow is accompanied by educator guides, student handouts, and bibliographies that include writing prompts, activities, discussion questions, and booklists. We have also included a variety of cross-curricular activities for curious and motivated students.
  • We have included excerpts from a wide variety of diverse books to exemplify specific aspects of writing. If you are concerned about any excerpt, first please take a moment to put that excerpt in context. It is often the case that an author, in order to create nuanced characters and believable time and place, uses realistic dialogue, action, and description that represent the era in which the book is set. We view that situation as an opportunity for discussion and learning. You may not. If that is the case, feel free to substitute any excerpt with a book excerpt you feel reflects your students’ needs. You know your students best.
  • We must meet the needs of a highly diverse group of young people across fifty states. Consequently, we have chosen to err on the side of providing more choices, rather than less related to writing exercises and class activities.
  • You are the experts on your students’ educational needs. Please preview all the shows and materials and use what works best for you and your students. Each educator guide includes a table of contents to help you speedily locate the materials you need.
  • Find detailed instructions for starting and viewing the slideshows here.

Recommendations

Following are recommendations for using the slideshows and supporting educational materials:

  • The slideshows are designed as shared interactions between educators and students to inspire thoughtful class discussions and activities. Each show can be advanced manually at a pace appropriate to the needs of your classroom. We encourage you to read the slide content aloud to your students or have your students help with the narration.
  • You can choose to show a presentation in its entirety or just the section needed for a particular class. You can pause a slideshow for class discussion and questions. Because individual classes have different needs, we cannot offer a time length for each show that universally applies. You and your students’ needs will determine the time length of each slideshow presentation.
  • One possible approach is to first use the slideshow as an overall introduction, then revisit sections to share class discussions, activities, and writing explorations. We hope you use the slideshows and supporting materials as a starting point, adding your own unique gifts and knowledge, enriching your students’ experience.
  • We recommend that you share the slideshows with your students in the order they appear on the website. Later presentations related to characterization, plot, and setting build on the Writers’ Tools and Story Basics slideshows. But do use any slideshow anytime to enhance your students’ learning or your curriculum’s needs.
  • The illustrations featured in the slideshow come from books published around the world. Each individual illustration can stand independently as a thought-provoking writing prompt, and we encourage you to use them as such to motivate your students’ writing.
  • The slideshows spotlight art and story excerpts created by gifted young people’s book creators. We hope you and your students will seek out the featured books in libraries and bookstores. With that in mind, a bibliography is provided for each slideshow. Additionally, the author and illustrator index provides direct links to each featured author’s and illustrator’s website.
  • Each slideshow’s Student Handouts include a content summary of essential information. If collected in a folder or binder with student handouts from other Empowering Young Writers slide presentations, the accumulated materials will form a personalized writing handbook. You might also consider encouraging students to keep a writing journal and/or a sketchbook.

Sections and Content

The Empowering Young Writers content and slideshows are organized in six sections. Each section includes a comprehensive educator guide, student handouts, and a bibliography

  • Overview
    This section features an introduction by beloved author Katherine Paterson, as well as links to all the participating authors and illustrators, extensive writing and reading resources, writing assessment suggestions, and student peer critiquing guidelines.
  • Writers’ Tools
    The Writers’ Tools slideshows demonstrate how a student’s five senses, experiences and memories, imagination, and creativity provide the foundation for good writing.
  • Story Basics
    The Story Basics slideshows define story and share the evolution of story in all its varieties. Separate slideshows demonstrate how and why writers use power words; clarify show don’t tell; and introduce story structure defining beginnings, middles, and endings.
  • Characters
    The Characters slideshows highlight how characters determine story. They also explain how to create believable characters and natural dialogue.
  • Plot
    The Plot slideshows define plot and conflict, showing how plot evolves. The slides demonstrate how a writer can withhold information to increase story interest. The slideshows also demonstrate how students can jump start the plot by starting their story on a “day that’s different.”
  • Setting
    The Setting slideshows define setting and demonstrate the importance of using sensory language when writing about time and place. They also demonstrate the power of “compare and contrast” to craft settings, and show the importance of research when creating settings for both fiction and nonfiction writing.

NCBLA Educational Resources

Both NCBLA websites contain educational content that may be of interest to you and your students, including, but not limited to:

  • The companion website to the NCBLA’s award-winning book Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out, OurWhiteHouse.org, stands as an educational resource independent of the book. It features additional historical and presidential information and articles, classroom discussions, and activities.
  • The NCBLA partnered with The Library of Congress to create The Exquisite Corpse Adventure, an interactive adventure story and book, complete with classroom lesson plans and writing activities.
  • The NCBLA partnered with author Jeff Kinney’s An Unlikely Story Bookstore and WETA/PBS Reading Rockets to create two educational videos for teachers and parents: How to Get and Keep Boys Reading, featuring authors and illustrators Jack Gantos, Jeff Kinney, Jarrett J. Krosoczka, Jon Scieszka, and Gene Luen Yang; and Celebrating Heroines in Fact and Fiction, featuring authors and illustrators Jeannine Atkins, Ekua Holmes, Heather Lang, Katherine Paterson, and Rita Williams-Garcia. 

A Word About Copyright

The NCBLA has been generously granted gratis permission by publishers, illustrators, and authors to use the included book illustrations and excerpts because Empowering Young Writers is being offered free to students, teachers, parents, and guardians across the United States. It is an extraordinary and unprecedented gift.

No one, including educators, is permitted to download the slideshows and make their own custom copies of the slideshows or alter them in any way. The slideshows are the property of the NCBLA and/or its publishers, authors, illustrators, licensors, partners, or third party content providers and are subject to U.S. Copyright Law. Please refer to our Terms of Service for complete details.