Linda Rief is always teaching. She has inspired thousands to lead students on a journey to becoming lifelong readers and writers. In her book Read Write Teach, Linda offers the what, how, and why of a year’s worth of reading and writing for middle and high school students with a comprehensive and flexible framework. The title, Read Write Teach means a lot to Linda. She says it reflects how much her students teach her everyday.



There is a wealth of online resources that accompany Read Write Teach and you can gain access to all of them through Heinemann.com. You should also follow Linda on Twitter @LindaMRief. To learn more about Read Write Teach: http://www.heinemann.com/products/E05360.aspx#fulldesc

See below for a full transcript of our conversation:

Linda Rief:    I wanted the title to this book to really be a strong title saying that we are reading together as teacher and students, we are writing together as teacher and students, but there are times when we are teaching each other something very specific. I think coming up with the title for this meant as much to me as what the content was of the book. That even though we're working together as learners, we are also teaching each other, so I meant it to be, I may be teaching the kids ostensibly, but I know every day, when I walk into that classroom, they're teaching me also. 
    I think that's where choice plays such an important role, that we recognize those choices that kids make as moments for teaching us. Every year we rethink what we're doing with kids and every year, no matter how long I've been teaching, the kids are different, so I would be learning something new from those kids every single year, and just think to myself, "That's really something that teachers need to think about" or, "I need to be able to share this with them." I always was kind of pushing it off a little bit saying, "I have to weave that in somehow" so it took a bit longer.

Brett:    How do you know then, when you're writing and you're evolving and you're going through that process, how do you know when it's done or do you ever know that it's done?

Linda Rief:    I don't think it ever is done. Don Murray always used to say, "Just spend it all. Write everything you have say and don't save anything for later" but I also know that the minute you think you're done with something, there's already a lot that comes later that you just didn't have a chance to include or it wasn't in your thinking at that very moment, so it is constantly changing. Knowing it's done, deadlines help. It helps immensely whether I'm writing an article for something … You just have the say to yourself, "I have to be done with this. I can't keep looking at this and be worried that it's not done. It's done for the moment." I try to say to kids also, "Hand me your best draft" because best draft doesn't mean it's the final draft. I used to always say to the kids, "The final draft" but I would see something in it and I would give a little bit more feedback until finally one young woman gave it to me, and at the top of it she had written, "This is my final, final, final draft." So you know when it's done.

Brett:    On that note,