Heart Maps: Helping Students Create and Craft Authentic Writing

"Heart Maps is a book that I will use and recommend to teachers for years to come."
--Donalyn Miller, author of The Book Whisperer

"You'll find yourself relying on this book again and again as a trusted source as you help your student writers craft a writing life."
--Jennifer Serravallo, author of The Reading Strategies Book and The Writing Strategies Book

How do we get students to "ache with caring" about their writing instead of mechanically stringing words together? We spend a lot of time teaching the craft of writing but we also need to devote time to helping students write with purpose and meaning. For decades, Georgia Heard has guided students into more authentic writing experiences by using heart maps to explore what we all hold inside: feelings, passions, vulnerabilities, and wonderings. In Heart Maps, Georgia shares 20 unique, multi-genre heart maps to help your students write from the heart, such as the First Time Heart Map, Family Quilt Heart Map, and People I Admire Heart Map. You'll also find extensive support for using heart maps, including:

• tips for getting started with heart maps
• writing ideas to jumpstart student writing in multiple genres from heart maps
• suggested mentor texts to provide additional inspiration

"For twenty years I've been a tour guide of sorts for heart-mapping writers," says Georgia. "All you need is paper, pen, an open heart and a willingness to explore what matters to you." It is this freedom, this idea of discovery, that makes heart-mapping so inviting; students find they have a lot to write about both beloved and newly discovered topics.

Georgia Heard has taught writing and poetry for over 25 years in urban, rural, and international classrooms. She was the 2023 recipient of NCTE's prestigious Award for Excellence in Poetry for Children. Her numerous other books for teachers include Heart Maps, The Revision Toolbox, and Finding the Heart of Nonfiction. The first edition of Awakening the Heart was heralded as one of "12 Books Every Teacher Should Read" by Instructor Magazine. Georgia Heard received her M.F.A. in poetry from Columbia University and was a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project. In addition to her Heinemann professional books, Georgia is the coauthor of the professional titles Poetry Lessons to Meet the Common Core Standards and A Place for Wonder, as well as children's literature such as Falling Down the Page: A Book of List Poems.