A New Jersey school district decided that, if students were to become good writers, they need a reason to want to write everyday. Reasons developed by teachers included: (1) writing to pen pals; (2) preparing booklets on class activities and interests; (3) developing a newspaper and dictionary; and (4) writing their own books of poetry, short…

Grammar, historically, has been taught in a manner that leaves young learners wondering why they need to learn it. The problem has been partly that teachers have not been provided the insights needed to move the teaching of language conventions and grammar from the position of "textbook exercise" to that of "tools of the trade"…

Two important schools of thought in the teaching of writing are those of the "writing workshop" and "critical pedagogy." Both encourage expression on the part of the student, but while writing workshop advocates assume that the student writes from a stable, unitary, autonomous self, the critical pedagogy advocates do not.…

For years, elementary school teachers taught writing by giving students a "story starter" and asking them to complete the composition. That blissful state of complacency in the teaching of writing was shaken in 1978, when Donald Graves advocated a radical departure from accepted pedagogy in his publication "Balance the Basics: Let…

Argues that the specialized knowledge that writing demands can only be acquired through a particular kind of reading. Illustrates how this kind of reading occurs and considers ways teachers can facilitate such learning. (JL)

Intended to assist classroom teachers with promoting and improving children's writing, this book allows teachers to see other professionals and children solve problems that arise in the midst of both teaching and writing. In one sense it is a collection of workshops with the first part of the book emphasizing teacher activity and the second part…