Writing instruction is a particular challenge because there is no singular, linear solution to teaching students to write well. This book approaches writing as a wicked problem that takes place in complicated contexts. Through both scholarly research and teacher reflection, it examines ELA classrooms and the experiences of writing teachers to…

This practical book provides explicit directions for teaching sentence-level skills to students who have difficulties in this area. The author explains the key role of sentence combining in the writing process and presents effective techniques for instruction and assessment. Numerous sample lessons, practice activities, planning tips, and…

Use formative assessment to dramatically improve your students' writing. In "Successful Student Writing Through Formative Assessment", educator and international speaker Harry G. Tuttle shows you how to guide middle and high school students through the prewriting, writing, and revision processes using formative assessment techniques that work.…

Surveys of employers continually highlight the need for better communication skills among recent college graduates. Yet, writing instruction in higher education serves far more than a transactional purpose. Writing facilitates learning, helps students gain skills in analysis and synthesis, and supports a range of other personal and intellectual…

As a result of research showing that students are more motivated when English teachers avoid grades and marks, this book focuses on ways to involve students in the assessment process. The book covers the following topics: learning and reflection, students controlling language, the purpose of assessment, assessing students' relationship to the…

Continuing the conversation began in the book "Invitations," this book further explores the full universe of an effective language arts and literacy program across the curriculum. Filled with an array of field-tested teaching ideas, detailed strategies, reviews of theory, teacher-crafted lessons, and lists of annotated resources, the book presents…

Intended for teachers of all subjects, grades 3 through 12, this book explains how teachers can build a community of writers in which the students use portfolios to demonstrate progress and accomplishment across the curriculum. The book outlines practical strategies for ensuring that every student explores a variety of meaningful challenges. The…

Demonstrating to teachers how to experience the joys of the craft along with their students, this book examines portfolios, record keeping, and methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and literary genres including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. Each chapter includes a varying number of "Actions," glossed objectives providing new…

This book is addressed to those about to embark on the teaching of second language writing as well as to those already engaged in the field. Teachers are dedicated to postering growth in writing; researchers want to investigate the questions that shed the greatest light on the problem in the field. The concerns of both these groups are addressed…

Most educators intuitively understand the critical relationship between thinking and writing: writing allows us to express what we think, but the very act of writing spurs a process of exploration that changes our thinking and helps us learn. "Teaching Writing in the Content Areas" examines nearly 30 years of research to identify how teachers can…

The result of an investigation into the grading writing by the National Council of Teachers of English Committee on Alternatives to Grading Student Writing, this collection of essays offers the writing teacher several innovative and interesting options. Following an introduction by the editor (chair of the Committee), in which he delineates the…

Designed to help teachers think about, analyze, and make decisions on literacy instruction, this book provides the conceptual framework and methodology to put the ideas of Lev Vygotsky into practice for classroom literacy instruction. The book claims that Vygotsky's ideas provide a cohesive framework and an operational model that teachers can use…

This second edition focuses on helping the preservice teacher become an "Influential Reading Teacher," one whom students remember years later as a special teacher and person. The ideas and teaching strategies in the book actively involve preservice teachers in understanding and thinking about children's reading and writing development. New to this…

Detailing the many ways that reading and writing interact with and support learning, this book is about the role of literacy in subject area learning. Three features of the book are designed to guide teachers' reflective thought and assist them in transferring ideas from the book to their teaching repertoire and classroom: "double entry…