Professional Resources

Are you looking for a quick and beneficial professional read that you can actually implement in your daily routine? I cannot express enough how much I loved reading Aimee Buckner's new book, Nonfiction Notebooks. This book is essential for your Writer's Workshop. It gives you great lessons and strategies to help you incorporate nonfiction writing into your workshop. This is very important to think about since the Common Core wants more nonfiction implemented. Your students may know how to read nonfiction since you have been adding more to your reading workshop, but can they write in the genre and for different purposes? This type of writing is imperative for our students as the majority of the reading and writing they will be doing as adults is nonfiction.

As I was reading Aimee's text, I was happy to know that I have in fact done some of the things that she has suggested in my own work with nonfiction. I quickly patted myself on the back a few times and said, "Hey, see you know what you're doing!" Other times I was thinking, "Hmm...now why didn't I think of that?"

I don't want to give away any of Aimee's strategies because I do feel as though her book is worth the money. But, I have to say, if you are familiar with the "Heart Map" to use in your poetry launch, you'd love to hear how she uses something similar with nonfiction and brainstorming. I also really enjoyed reading on how she had her students research using sticky notes (a strategy we are all familiar with) but then the mini lessons she did to have her students decide if the information was relevant to their angle. Brilliant!

Pick up Aimee Buckner's book and her others at Barnes and Noble or Amazon!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/nonfiction-notebooks-aimee-buckner/1116261335?ean=9781571109521

http://www.amazon.com/Nonfiction-Notebooks-Strategies-Informational-Writing/dp/1571109528/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1388880096&sr=1-1&keywords=nonfiction+notebooks

Also, check out some of her other books:
Notebook Know-How and Notebook Connections (this is on my desk at work...wish I brought it home over break!)