Lori G. Wilfong knows how to write for teachers: concise, conversational and filled with practical ideas. In Writing Strategies That Work: Do This–Not That!, she presents current best practices for teachers of all grades and content areas, says Anne Anderson.
In The Unstoppable Writing Teacher, M. Colleen Cruz addresses issues that stop teachers from teaching writer’s workshop the way that they want. She tackles time, resources, families, curriculum and administration effectively, says reviewer Laura Von Staden.
Reading Linda Rief’s Read Write Teach is like sharing coffee with a master teacher. Her experience, advice and inspiration make it feel like a very helpful conversation. Reviewer Tyler McBride tries one of her activities and shares the successful results.
In “59 Reasons to Write” Kate Messner shifts from teaching writers workshop and writing books for tweens to helping teachers build their own writing skills, assisted by more than 30 published authors. Reviewer Wendy Moore plans to try out their strategies.
Writing Pathways: Performance Assessments and Learning Progressions can help K-8 educators at the grade, school and district levels develop effective collaborative writing programs, says reviewer Linda Biondi. Teachers will find extensive resources to build student ownership of writing.
With Common Core discussions as a sturdy frame, Heather Wolpert-Gawron provides solid commentary about how writing and literacy relate to all curriculum areas, says reviewer Kathleen Pham. Central to the sample lessons: project based learning.
In Celebrating Writers: From Possibilities to Publication, Ruth Ayres & Christi Overman provide clear, powerful ways to recognize and encourage the writer in all students – even those reluctant ones, says middle grades ELA teacher Kevin Hodgson.
The Killgallons’ sentence-composing approach to grammar instruction, bolstered by “a mountaion” of model sentences and mentor texts, could be a valuable tool if teachers would like to see less hesitation and more acrobatics in their students’ writing, says reviewer Jenny Ovadia.
Don & Jenny Killgallon show how students can begin with basic structures and add more layers & nuances as they create sentences and then paragraphs. Reviewer & 6th grade ELA teacher Jenni Miller says the Killgallons’ use of engaging mentor texts & a 65-pp teacher guide makes this an essential reference for writing instruction.
Book Reviews / Writing / Writing Craft
by MiddleWeb · Published 09/08/2013 · Last modified 12/03/2019
The 2nd edition of What A Writer Needs is even better than the first, says ELA teacher Rachel Small. It blends Ralph Fletcher’s wisdom with excellent teaching tools.
