"Notebook Know-how: Strategies for the Writer's Notebook" Aimee Buckner

2005, 127 pgs, Stenhouse Publishers, USA.

Aimee Buckner shares her experiences in the classroom with writer's notebook - and she has a wealth of experience. "Notebook Know-how" provides a lot of useful, practical and accessible strategies to use in your own writer's workshop, specifically for the writer's notebook.

The writer's notebook is a tool - wonderfully underscored in the this book - that enables a writer to practise the craft of writing. Buckner begins by stating that her class writes a lot, some filling up two whole notebooks in a year. Through this essential practise, real progress with skill and strategy can take place.

And strategy is key. This book is replete with strategies that you can use immediately in your own classroom, such as "history of a name". At this point, I will make the distinction that Buckner does - this is a book of strategies, not writing prompts. With strategies, student writers can learn a craft, and begin working towards independence. A writing prompt will only suffice to help in the moment.

Strategies are provided for all facets of the development of the notebook - beginning (launching), expanding topics, writing from reading, genre study, editing and assessing. Each strategy is genuine, and I can see the real teaching and learning in it. There is a handy summary of the strategies in a table at the beginning of the book. Buckner also has her class keep a handy reference list of the strategies taught at the back of their notebook - easy to use when needed, and also a way to encourage responsibility for learning.

Bucker somewhat echoes the teaching style of Debbie Miller, in her use of modeling with rich literature all of the time. She also keeps a writer's notebook, and shares some of her entries as mini-lesson examples. With these real examples for lesson fodder, a real lesson can take place. Students will be able to see the purpose of the lesson when the example before them demonstrates it.

"Notebook Know-how" is a purposeful and essential part of teaching writer's notebooks. Use it to help bring the best out of student writers.