Manifesto

Theme:

After the Gold Rush—Making The Most of Life After Testing

Did you ever want to ask the author, in person, questions about her book? Here’s your opportunity. Learn how Laurie Halse Anderson creates her NY Times bestsellers and develops her historical fiction. Plan to do writing and interact with this award winning Young Adult author!

Preserving Stories & Making Connections with Families & Students in the Oral Tradition

For 9th–12th Grade Teachers

With Maralina Bennett Milazzo

We all wish we could go back to someone we love and say, “tell me about the time…” Let’s give our students the tools to get these stories written and recorded for future... read more

For 4th–8th Grade Teachers

With Suzanne Murphy

With Anderson’s sharply drawn novel about the 17th–century Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic, Suzanne Murphy demonstrates how to use historical novels to guide several types of student writing. Using this reading, her students practice writing summaries about research topics, produce a replica of historical news, and... read more

For K–3rd Grade Teachers

With Victoria Baxter

Participants will have great fun creating inspirational sparks and using them as writing prompts. Three of the creative writing activities we’ll explore in this workshop are:

Photo Cubes, Wordless Books, and Story Cards

These prompts will be used to help guide and encourage... read more

For 9th–12th Grade Teachers

With Maria Clinton

We’ve heard of creative writing, where students combine past experiences and imagination to “create” stories and poems. But, there’s not much “creating” going on in English classrooms when it comes to reading. Too often, students are asked to summarize and/or answer basic comprehension... read more

For 4th–8th Grade Teachers

With Jay Richards

We’ve heard of creative writing, where students combine past experiences and imagination to “create” stories and poems. But, there’s not much “creating” going on in English classrooms when it comes to reading. Too often, students are asked to summarize and/or answer basic comprehension... read more

For K–3rd Grade Teachers

With Karen Foss and Sara Tolle

We all know that students who read a lot tend to be stronger writers. A natural connection exists between reading and writing, enabling students to adapt skills learned in one area to the other. This workshop examines this natural connection and provides tips for successfully implementing the reading/writing... read more

By Marie L. Milner

Voice - that ineffable something that allows us to read a piece of someone’s writing and see his or her very soul reflected there. As secondary school English or Language Arts teachers, if we have just read 52 essays one rainy weekend, and we come upon that paper with “voice,” we send up a little shout of thanks to the writing gods and... read more

A Spell that Connects One Heart to Another

By Laurie Halse Anderson

(adapted from a presentation at the 2005 ALAN Workshop in Pittsburgh, PA)

A couple of months ago, I went home again. I moved back to northern New York State. To understand the significance of this, you need to know that I fled the region at age 18 at full gallop. I vowed never, ever, ever, ever... read more