Teaching writing requires both ingenuity and experience—as well as a bag of tricks that combines tried-and-true ideas with new strategies and technologies.  And with this in mind, we've put together a list of strategies—both old and new—that will help you get a handle on teaching writing in a way that helps each and every one of your students.

1.  Old: Journaling.  Sometimes your students just need to put pencil to paper—and daily journaling is a great way to teach them how to express themselves through the written word.

2.  New: Blogging.  A classroom blog is a great way for students to interact with each other in an informal, written way.  Use a tool like SchoolNet to start a classroom blog and allow students to post their own thoughtful articles, questions and comments.

3.  Old:  Classroom Discussion.  A good old-fashioned classroom discussion is still one of the best ways to teach kids to dig deeper and enhance comprehension, which can, in turn, transfer to their written work.

4.  New: Online Literacy Tools. Web-based literacy tools (try WriteToLearn) meet individual instructional needs for all students—including struggling readers and ELL students, providing teachers an effective method of supplementing their classroom instruction.

5.  Old:  Writing Circles.  Group your students according to reading level and watch them motivate and push each other as they work through a difficult text and respond through writing and discussion.