Wordsmith Teacher Book
The Wordsmith Teacher’s Guide offers full answer keys and practical teaching support.
Quantity:
In a Curriculum Kit
Nonconsumable
Nonreligious
In a Curriculum Kit
Wordsmith Teacher
With helpful tips and clear illustrations, the Teacher's Guide for Wordsmith gives full answer keys and teaching suggestions so you're never guessing at what "good" looks like. Ready to learn more about how Wordsmith (available separately) will work for your student? Read on.
About Wordsmith
If your middle grader would rather take out the trash than write a paragraph, Wordsmith is here to change the game—without turning it into a grammar rodeo or a creative writing circus. Straightforward and refreshingly doable, Wordsmith ditches the fluff and focuses on building real writing skills from the ground up.
We're talking concrete nouns, vivid verbs, and sentences that don't ramble into the abyss. Wordsmith kicks things off with a quick grammar warm-up and then dives into sentence-building, narrative crafting, dialogue that sounds like actual humans, and writing from different points of view. Your student will learn to revise and proofread like a pro (or at least not groan whenever he sees a red pen).
This isn't one of those "write a haiku about your emotions" kind of books. Wordsmith teaches structure, skill, and how to turn real-life experiences into compelling stories—without pretending every kid wants to be the next great novelist.
With helpful tips and clear illustrations, the Teacher's Guide gives full answer keys and teaching suggestions so you're never guessing at what "good" looks like.
Whether your student is a budding wordsmith or a reluctant scribbler, this course helps him discover that he can write—and maybe even like it.
What's Inside the Book (Don't Worry, It's Not Scary):
- Part One: Word Games – Nouns, verbs, adjectives, and all the parts of speech get a refreshingly clear and practical treatment.
- Part Two: Building Stronger Sentences – Sentence surgery at its best: cutting out the weak stuff, adding punch, and connecting thoughts like a pro.
- Part Three: Now We're Writing! – Real assignments that turn those solid sentences into real stories, descriptions, and point-of-view pieces. Dialogue, personal narratives, and plot-building make an appearance here.
Includes revision checklists, proofreading tips, an action verb list (because "went" is not your only option), and student examples that prove it's all doable.
If you're tired of writing programs that are either impossibly vague or painfully dull, Wordsmith offers that rare gem: a practical, smart, and just-personal-enough writing curriculum your student might actually finish—and you might actually enjoy teaching.
Wordsmith: How-To for Parents
(Psst… This how-to assumes you've got both the student book and teacher's guide for the smoothest experience!)
- Start Smart
Open the teacher's guide and admire that beautifully laid-out 36-week plan. It's designed to walk your student through a full year of writing without panic attacks or literary meltdowns. - Watch the Pace
If your student starts dragging his feet by week two, don't force it. Seriously. This is a solid, skill-building program—spreading it over two years is totally legitimate (and kind of genius). Just drop next year's writing curriculum and keep cruising with Wordsmith. Fewer breakdowns, same great results. - Focus on Progress, Not Perfection
Each week includes just enough instruction, practice, and a dash of creativity to nudge your child forward without overwhelming him. Some weeks may feel easy, others might stretch those writing muscles—trust the process. - Celebrate the Wins
Finished a strong sentence? Managed to revise without grumbling? That's a win. Wordsmith builds real skills—and confidence—one doable chunk at a time. Stick with it, adjust the pace if needed, and enjoy watching your reluctant writer start to own the page.
Confidence is what most young writers lack, and Wordsmith is designed to lead them to the place where they can read over their own work and think, “Hey—that’s pretty good!” Wordsmith is the core book in the series, the one that every student from age 12 and up should complete, especially if their writing skills lag behind the recommended level.
How to build confidence? Over many years of writing and teaching, I’ve developed a three-pronged approach:
1.Learn how to use the tools. That is, avail yourself of our incredibly rich English vocabulary and master the skill of manipulating sentences for greater effectiveness. What are the most important words of a sentence? How can you make those words pop? What are the sentence openers you should almost always avoid? How can you break out of the sentence-pattern rut? All these questions, and much more, are answered in Parts One and Two.
2.Learn how to tap your own experience for unlimited material. Have you ever heard the complaint, “I don’t have anything to write about?” Or have you ever stared at a blank page with a blank mind? You and your students will be happy to learn that everyone has unlimited subject matter to write about. And even better: one of the most important keys to effective writing, often overlooked, is personal connection. Through the seven core assignments in Wordsmith Part Three, students learn proven techniques for making personal connections with readers—and never running out of material.
3.Practice. No shortcuts here! Like any craftsman, a wordsmith hones her craft by learning the tools, becoming familiar with the medium, and practicing skills. Wordsmith provides plenty of opportunity by expanding on the core assignments with fun and imaginative variations.
But it doesn’t stop there. Writing is a TOWER process: Thinking, Organizing, Writing, Evaluating,and Rewriting. Wordsmith helps students begin to evaluate their own work to make it better. This is called revision, and reluctant writers hate it. Wordsmith details revision checklists for each assignment, allowing students to grow in proficiency and—here’s that word again—confidence!
A handy Appendix includes summaries of how to proofread and revise, a verb list, several examples of student writing, suggestions for blogging, and four review quizzes.
Author: Janie B. Cheaney
Publisher: Common Sense Press, 2016
Pages: 47
Faith-Based: No
View a sample lesson of Wordsmith Teacher's Guide
Awards and Endorsements:2012 Cathy Duffy's 101 Top Picks
review by Eclectic Montage
"The teacher’s guide provided with this edition is very effective. Not only does it help with the grammar and basic structure that an answer key can provide, but in a conversational tone helps the parent understand how to evaluate his/her student both through encouragement and constructive criticism...The teacher’s guide is excellent! It truly empowers the parent to work with his or her student to strengthen his writing. I’m very impressed."
Read the Full ReviewFind answers to the most frequently asked questions about this product below:
Wordsmith is recommended for students in 7th to 9th grade.
No.
- September 3, 2020
Great
Kim E.
It has an easy to follow schedule that you can pick and choose from if you'd like.
- July 23, 2020
Great guide
Lauren
This is a great parent guide. It helps me with assignments for my son. It is easy for a parent to follow and make sense of.
- July 15, 2020
Good purchase
Angel S.
I have been looking for a writing curriculum that will foster my child's natural creative writing ability and this seems like it will be the perfect fit.
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