125 Ways to Be a Better Writer

Paul F. Johnson has created an excellent reproducible resource, for both student and instructor, that encourages students to communicate more effectively. These seven units cover everything from “Writing Better Sentences & Paragraphs” to the writing process (prewriting, revising, proofreading and even publishing tips). The book also includes exercises for students to express themselves through journals and poetry. Everyday writing is covered through personal letters, thank-you notes, business letters and e-mail exercises. Nonfiction writing is explored through writing reviews (CD’s, movies, books, etc.), research papers, and personal essays. Fiction writing is explored through exercises such as “10 Ways to Plan and Develop Your Plot,” “9 Ways to Create Memorable Characters,” and “6 Ways to Create a Setting.”

The text contains handouts, activity sheets, writing project topics, an appendix, and an answer key. Although the text states that the reading level is for the sixth grade and up, I showed it to Terryl Humchitt and Corrine Johnson in our Intermediate English class here at Heiltsuk College. Both students enjoyed the text immensely. Corrine found every chapter helpful, especially when it came to writing a book report. Terryl agreed. She found that she had completely forgotten what a book report expected of her and used the text as her guide. Terryl found the units that covered everyday writing, paragraphs, and essays were well-explained and easy to follow. She thought that students at the grade eight and nine reading levels would benefit the most from this text.

125 Ways to Be a Better Writer was also field-tested in School District 91 and was recommended as a reference for all levels of literacy with the following comments: “Excellent jumping off point for lessons in writing. Humorous exercises. Mostly geared to advanced students but ideas useful for all.” Student responses were, “Useful,” “I never knew that before,” and “Good method of organizing.”

This text is not only a useful addition to the classroom but also a reminder of how creative our lesson plans can be.

We are unable to print a sample page of this product, but the publishers offer a 100 percent money-back guarantee. A page of the book can be viewed on their website.