Every writer has a unique voice, style, and process; therefore, every student may respond uniquely when learning writing techniques. Dr. Nicole Sieben, Assistant Professor of Adolescence Education and English at SUNY Old Westbury, has long advocated the importance of exploring unique writing processes in secondary school and college classrooms. Her new book, “Writing Hope Strategies for Writing Success in Secondary Schools: A Strengths-Based Approach to Teaching Writing,” provides hope-focused ways of thinking about the teaching of writing and shares research-based strategies for immediate use in the classroom.
“This book details my findings from a research study that I conducted with support from a National Council of Teachers of English Conference on English Education Research Initiative Grant,” said Sieben. “Working within the curricular ‘Writing Hope Framework’ I previously developed, my intention in this new work is to bring readers through a process of hope that can facilitate life hope and writing hope inside (and outside) the classroom for and with students.”
The classroom-tested, student-centered writing hope strategies shared within the book are designed to allow students to work within their own unique writing processes and insert their individual writers’ voices and styles authentically. Published by Brill | Sense Publishers, the book is available to purchase on the publisher’s website as well as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
In addition to her new publication, Sieben is the author of several peer-reviewed articles on writing hope such as “Building Hopeful Secondary School Writers through Effective Feedback Strategies,” and “Teaching Writing Hope for a Just Writing Society,” which won the 2017 Article of the Year Award from the New York State English Council. She earned her Ed.D. in English Education from Hofstra University, and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses at Old Westbury including Methods and Materials of Teaching English Language Arts; Literacy, Research, and Technology in English; Literature in the Classroom; Schools for a Just Society; and English Composition I and II courses. In addition to her work in the classroom, Sieben is the Coordinator of the Graduate Programs in Adolescence English Education.