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Dena Harrison at http://denaharrison.com.
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Welcome to my Website: Write in the Middle
Hello. My name is Dena Harrison, and in 2001, I was welcomed into  a fantastic organization: The Northern Nevada Writing Project. I was already a fairly competent writing teacher when I found the NNWP, but the summer I spent with them convinced me that my journey as a writing teacher was just beginning. Every day in my classroom, I make new discoveries about the teaching of writing.
 I teach middle school in Northern Nevada, and I am fortunate in that I am my students' teacher for two years; they spend both their seventh and eighth grade years with me as their language arts teacher. During those two years, we participate in a writer's workshop, and my students proudly call themselves writers when they leave me and head off to high school.
In Nevada, our fifth and eighth graders take the Nevada State Writing Exam. They are assessed using four of the six writing traits: idea development, organization, voice, and conventions. Until 2006, I served as a State Department Head Reader for the writing exam, but in 2006 I began using my knowledge of the traits (and my ability to give traits language to my students) to serve what I feel is a more important purpose.
In Nevada, I help coordinate inservice courses, and I present at professional development workshops that help our teachers use 6-trait writing instruction more meaningfully as they prepare writing lessons. I also help provide fourth, fifth, seventh, andd eighth grade teachers formative data as they prepare their students to do their best on the Nevada Writing Exam.
My work is so very rewarding. In my classroom, my students thrive as both writers and as life-long learners. In my workshops, I watch fellow teachers become just as excited to teach writing as I am. I created this website in 2008 to share my favorite lessons and resources, and to let you know what workshops I am currently providing for my fellow teachers.
I hope you find my website helpful and inspirational.
Here are the last three writing lessons I did
with my middle school students
I am one of those teachers who gets really excited by the idea of trying out new writing lessons; when I teach the same lesson too many times, I start getting bored with it. I've discovered that when I am excited about writing lessons, my students are too.
My husband, Corbett, is the webmaster at the WritingFix website, and so I have "special knowledge" of new lessons that have been recently been added or revised.
Below, find links to both the lesson I am currently using, as well as to the last two lessons my students and I did as a class. I hope these links encourage you to try some of these high-quality lessons with your own students.
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Our Current Writing Lesson: |
Our Previous Writing Lesson: |
Another Previous Writing Lesson: |
 Lesson Title: Color My World Grey and Blue
Mentor Text: "Grey Street" as sung by the Dave Matthews Band
6-Trait Focus: Idea development
In brief: I created this new lesson as part of a workshop sponsored by the Northern Nevada Writing Project. It will be featured in a new class offered next Fall. I am in the process of gathering student samples from my own wonderful kids to feature at the lesson.
Click here to access the lesson and its resources on-line. |
 Lesson Title: Tillbury Town: The Butcher's Tale
Mentor Text: "Reuben Bright" by E. A. Robinson
6-Trait Focus: Idea development
In brief: My husband recently shared this new-to-me poem at an inservice where we presented together, and holy cow! My kids had more fun making multiple interpretations of this unique piece of poetry, and the writing they did was inspired by their energy!
Click here to access the lesson and its resources on-line. |
 Lesson Title: Creating a New Word
Mentor Text: Frindle by Andrew Clements
6-Trait Focus: Conventions
In brief: I saw this lesson presented by another NNWP consultant--Christy Aker--at an inservice class, and my kids fell in love with the writing they did from it, an they learned a bunch about dialogue punctuation.
Click here to access the lesson and its resources on-line.
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