Teachers: Have you ever said goodbye to your students, only wishing you could teach them for a bit longer? Letting go has always been hard for me whether it was my third-grade students, my elementary readers I supported as a literacy specialist, or my preservice or inservice teachers.

Students: Have you ever ended a semester wishing you could have just a little more time to learn? Maybe not, but as a teacher educator, I hope my preservice and inservice teachers will choose to stay connected even after the course has ended. That’s why I started this blog—to stay connected to my students, to continue to support them as needed, and to continue to learn from them throughout their careers. The added bonus will be connecting with others interested in teaching writing. Welcome!

I envision much of the content I’ll explore through this blog will be connected to two courses I teach at the University of Michigan—Dearborn: EXPS 298, Writing to Communicate, Learn, and Teach; and LIBR 465, Literature for Children.  Through these courses, I stress the importance of using high-quality children’s literature, connecting with published children’s book authors and illustrators, motivating our students to engage fully with literacy, and learning to write as teacher-writers.

I look forward to highlighting the ASK Program, the Young Authors’ Festival, writing contests, articles and books I read or publish, parent resources, and flipped writing components I use in my flipped writing methodology course (EXPS 298). I am committed to connecting my preservice and inservice teachers to educational opportunities I believe will be useful throughout their careers; therefore, I feel the need to store those resources at danielledefauw.com so my students and others may use them whenever needed.

I invite you to continue the discussion with me of how we teach writing and connect our students to writing in myriad ways.