Words of Gratitude

OCTOBER, 2011

Meet Our Director of Coaching

The Core-Standard Aligned WriteSteps

“When you’re finished changing,

you’re finished.”

—Benjamin Franklin
Words of Gratitude
from Suzanne Klein, Founder & CEO

Welcome to the introductory issue of Inspired Writer!  We’re looking forward to bringing you teacher tips and tricks in the weeks to come — this month, we are keeping it brief since we’ve been so busy creating our Core-Standard compliant curriculum!  We completed this undertaking thanks to the talented classroom teachers who serve as our curriculum creators.  I am enormously grateful for their expertise and hard work. 

In this issue, I also want to highlight a beautiful transformation we have experienced in our professional development services.  For this, I have Arlynn King to thank.  Arlynn is a veteran with 37 years of classroom experience and a world of wisdom.  She is kind, compassionate, gentle, and patient – a true credit to the profession.  In introducing her, I would like to share something I sent her not long ago:

Thanks to Our Coaching Director

Arlynn, I’m truly grateful to have you as part of our team.
  You bring such good energy – and kindness – to every
aspect of this work, especially your coaching services for teachers.  
Words really cannot describe how pleased I am with our teachers’
confidence and achievements under your skillful, reassuring,
non-judgmental guidance. With your willingness to do whatever it takes
to help the teachers we serve, we have not only the most
teacher-friendly Core Standard writing curriculum available, but also the
most effective professional development services as well. Team WriteSteps
thanks you for your dedication.
 
With much gratitude,
Suzanne
Welcome to the New WriteSteps:
Core-Standard Compliant & Web-Based


Since we introduced WriteSteps to elementary schools four years ago, we’ve witnessed amazing growth in student writers, teachers, and test scores.  This month, we reached another milestone when we unveiled a new and improved WriteSteps.

The biggest news is our complete alignment with the Common Core Standards.  We’re still keeping them creative, but now we’re also thoroughly teaching each of the Writing and Grammar Core Standards. 

“WriteSteps already utilized best practices and met with great success in Michigan,” notes Founder and CEO Suzanne Klein, “but with the need for Core-aligned curriculum, we had to re-invent ourselves if we wanted to continue giving teachers lessons that really work.” 

Award-Winning Re-Design

The curriculum overhaul, which last year won a “Best of Entrepreneurs” award recognizing its innovative qualities, stands out because it delivers complete lesson modules that meet the Core Standards while also utilizing technology in ways that haven’t been seen before.

Suzanne explains, “The importance of integrating technology with classroom teaching is well understood, and we have addressed that for students.  But now we’re taking it to the next level, with a new feature for teachers that we call eWriteSteps.”

What we’ve created is the first of its kind — an online, clickable daily lesson calendar with downloadable lesson plans, visual aids, and videos demonstrating the lessons. 

“It has been a gift and a blessing to work with so many gifted teachers on such a successful project, really a dream-come-true,” Suzanne says. 

“My hope is that it will be a dream-come-true for teachers struggling to implement the Core Standards, too.”
 


“How deeply you touch another life is how rich your life is.”
–Sadhguru, Founder, The Isha Foundation


Top