About the Book

The Writers-Readers Notebook is essential to everything Linda Riefs students do in her workshop classroom as literate young men and women. Far more than a place where students merely practice writing, this is where they do the work of learning. Now Linda shares her Writers-Readers Notebook with you and your students, in the exact format that she and her students have found most usefula format she has perfected in more than two decades in the classroom. Conveniently available in packs of five and with instructions for each of its sections printed inside, these notebooks are now ready for use in your classroom. The design of this notebook is flexible and adaptable to the demands of not only English/language arts, but any content area concerned with the development of literacy. Linda has organized the Writers-Readers Notebook for two important purposesto meet the specific demands of literacy instruction and to provide a safe, structured way for students to discover the power of choice in their writing and reading as well as the time and space in which to exercise it. The Notebook includes specially designated places for students to:

• note what books they are reading or want to read
• jot down ideas for future writing
• respond to reading, draft writing ideas, think about their world
• take notes during teacher-directed lessons
• record new vocabulary they encounter
• make special note of words with troublesome spellings.

Each section contains specific instructions and guidelines, providing a helpful structure for students as they learn and grow as writers and readers. Linda also includes some of her favorite inspirational quotes about writing and reading throughout; meanwhile, her organizational tools help students navigate the ideas and information theyve compiled during the year. In addition, Linda's guide, Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook, is available separately and offers in-depth ideas for teaching through the Notebook as well as numerous student samples to model and inspire its usage. With its tear-resistant cover, thick paper stock, softened rules for drawing and writing, and backpack-friendly size, the Writers-Readers Notebooks fully functional design keeps the needs of adolescents in mind. And with Linda Riefs experience, wisdom, and know-how behind it, youll discover a proven, convenient, and powerful way to help kids develop voice, explore their ideas, record their growing awareness of themselves, and cultivate a love of writing and reading.
About the Author:

Linda Rief left the classroom in June of 2019 after 40 years of teaching Language Arts with eighth graders. She misses their energy and their apathy, their curiosity and their complacency, their confidence and their insecurities. But mostly, she misses their passionate, powerful voices as writers and readers. She is an instructor in the University of New Hampshire's Summer Literacy Institute and a national and international presenter on issues of adolescent literacy. She is the author of Whispering in the Wind: A Guide to Deeper Reading and Writing Through Poetry (2022), The Quickwrite Handbook: 100 Mentor Texts to Jumpstart Your Students' Thinking and Writing (2018), Read Write Teach: Choice and Challenge in the Reading-Writing Workshop (2014), The Writer's-Reader's Notebook (2007), Inside the Writer's-Reader's Notebook (2007), 100 Quickwrites (Scholastic, 2003), Vision and Voice: Extending the Literacy Spectrum (1999), and Seeking Diversity: Language Arts with Adolescents (1992); she is co-editor (Beers, Probst, and Rief) of Adolescent Literacy (2007). For five years she co-edited with Maureen Barbieri Voices from the Middle, a journal for middle school teachers published by the National Council of Teachers of English. In 2021 she was honored with the Distinguished Service Award from NCTE and in 2020 received the Kent Williamson Exemplary Leader Award from the Conference on English Leadership, in recognition of outstanding leadership in the English Language Arts. A recipient of NCTE's Edwin A. Hoey Award for Outstanding Middle School Educator in ELA, her classroom was featured in the series Making Meaning in Literature produced by Maryland Public Television for Annenberg/CPB. For three years she chaired the first Early Adolescence English/Language Arts Standards Committee of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards. In 1988 she was the recipient of one of two Kennedy Center Fellowships for Teachers of the Arts. She spent a month at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC, writing prose and poetry based on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. She read her writing in performance at the Kennedy Center, a program later broadcast on NPR.