50 Ways to Develop Strategic Writers / Edition 1

by Gail E. Tompkins, Cathy L. Blanchfield, X. San Joaquin Writing Proj

Overview

With contributions from master teachers under the guidance of Gail Tompkins, Director of the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project, this book provides clear, step-by-step descriptions of 50 effective, proven strategies for helping learners in Grades 4 - 12 become competent strategic writers. Instructions for each strategy are carefully constructed to enable novice teachers to easily and quickly recreate the lessons and adapt them for many grade and ability levels.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780131197909
Publisher:	Pearson
Publication date:	10/15/2004
Series:	Teaching Strategies Series
Edition description:	Grades 4-12
Pages:	176
Product dimensions:	8.20(w) x 10.80(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

Gail E. Tompkins is Professor Emerita at California State Unversity, Fresno, and she continues to direct the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project. She regularly works with teachers in their kindergarten through eighth-grade classrooms and leads staff development programs on reading, language arts, and writing. In 1998 Dr. Tompkins was inducted into the California Reading Association's Reading Hall of Fame in recognition of her publication and other accomplishments in the field of reading, and recently she was awarded the prestigious Provost's Award for Excellence in Teaching at California's State University, Fresno.

Read an Excerpt

In keeping with the National Writing Project's goal to improve writing and learning in our schools by improving the teaching of writing, 50 Ways to Develop Strategic Writers provides a collection of classroom-tested ideas developed and shared in partnerships between the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project and schools and districts in Central California. The collection contains a wealth of clear, successful suggestions for teaching children and adolescents the power of writing strategically. Strategies identify problem-solving behaviors that students learn to use as they write. For example, students understand that writing is a process, that each step requires careful planning and thought, and that the steps are recursive in nature.

Written with classroom teachers in mind, the step-by-step directions for each strategy have been carefully constructed so that new as well as experienced teachers can recreate the lessons, which are adaptable across many grade and ability levels, primarily grades 4 through 12.

Each chapter begins with a chart (like the one shown at the left) to help situate the strategy in the classroom. The chart tells you what type of classroom—language arts, content area, EL, or AP—is the target audience for the lesson. You'll also find guidance as to which step of the writing process the lesson best fits. Finally, if a chapter includes an assessment component, the chapter-opening chart indicates what type of assessment is included.

The San Joaquin Valley Writing Project is part of the National Writing Project (NWP), and there are NWP sites in every state. If you are interested in learning more about the NWP or joining your local site, contact the National Writing Project through its website at www.writingproject.org or call 510-642-0963.

We would like to thank the reviewers of our manuscript for their comments and insights: James Beers, College of William and Mary; Patricia L. Daniel, University of South Florida; Judith M. Kelly, Howard University; and Mary Elizabeth Spalding, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Unlocking the Mysteries of Writing

1. Assessment Rubrics: Evaluating in Small Groups

2. Choice: Creating a Positive Attitude About Writing

3. Classifying Errors: Helping Students Recognize Their Error Patterns

4. Collaborative Research: Writing from a KWL Chart

5. Color Coding: Using Color as a Revision Tool

6. Conferences: Encouraging Students to Talk About Their Writing

7. Content Analogies: Connecting the Complex with the Familiar

8. Counting Words: Developing Fluency

9. Creative Models: Writing Haiku Poetry

10. Daily Response Journals: Developing Writing Fluency

11. Double Entry Journals: Promoting Descriptive Writing

12. Editing Stations: Fine-Tuning Writing

13. Essay Models: Writing the "Bad Essay" to Understand What is Good

14. Essential Questions: Creating Focused Writers

15. Explicit Instruction: Teaching Grammar During Editing

16. Found Poems: Writing from Personal Journals

17. Gallery Walk of Questions: Asking Questions to Think Critically

18. Graphic Analysis Essays: Using Collaborative Questioning

19. Idea Logs: Recording Thoughts

20. Developing Sensory Awareness for Observation Writing

21. Interactive Writing: Teaching Skills in Context

22. Interactive Writing: Teaching the Power of Dialogue

23. Key Words: Writing Summary Sentences

24. Listening Guides: Developing Audience Awareness

25. Metacognitive Assessment: Reflecting on Writing

26. Organizing Ideas: Using Inspiration in Prewriting

27. Persona Profiles: Finding a Point of View

28. Personal Journals: Writing a Collections of Vignettes

29. Poetry Models: Learning Literacy Devices

30. Process Posters: Making the Writing Process Visible

31. Prompt Creation: Crafting Practice Assessments

32. Proofreading: Using Direct Instruction to Teach Editing

33. Published Models: Using Periodicals in the Writing Process

34. Reflection: Looking Back on Writing

35. Revision: Clarifying Purpose and Audience

36. Revision Charts: Analyzing for Essay Organization

37. Rubrics: Encouraging Metacognitive Thinking

38. Self-Evaluation: Developing Metacognitive Writers

39. Sentence Banks: Modeling Sentence Variety

40. Sentence Combining: Promoting Stylistic Maturity

41. Sentence Expanding: Teaching Grammar During Editing

42. Showing Writing: Teaching the Art of Description

43. Snapshots: Teaching Descriptive Writing

44. Student Models: Scaffolding the Writing Process

45. Summaries: Taking Writing from Notes to Summary

46. Summary Grids: Writing for Academic Purposes

47. Text Models: Mimicking the Media

48. Text to Scripts: Creating Dramatic Dialogue

49. Tone Study: Revealing the Writer’s Attitude

50. Writing Workshop: Implementing the Writing Process

Conclusion: Lessons Learned

Meet the Authors

Preface

In keeping with the National Writing Project's goal to improve writing and learning in our schools by improving the teaching of writing, 50 Ways to Develop Strategic Writers provides a collection of classroom-tested ideas developed and shared in partnerships between the San Joaquin Valley Writing Project and schools and districts in Central California. The collection contains a wealth of clear, successful suggestions for teaching children and adolescents the power of writing strategically. Strategies identify problem-solving behaviors that students learn to use as they write. For example, students understand that writing is a process, that each step requires careful planning and thought, and that the steps are recursive in nature.

Written with classroom teachers in mind, the step-by-step directions for each strategy have been carefully constructed so that new as well as experienced teachers can recreate the lessons, which are adaptable across many grade and ability levels, primarily grades 4 through 12.

Each chapter begins with a chart (like the one shown at the left) to help situate the strategy in the classroom. The chart tells you what type of classroom—language arts, content area, EL, or AP—is the target audience for the lesson. You'll also find guidance as to which step of the writing process the lesson best fits. Finally, if a chapter includes an assessment component, the chapter-opening chart indicates what type of assessment is included.

The San Joaquin Valley Writing Project is part of the National Writing Project (NWP), and there are NWP sites in every state. If you are interested in learning more about the NWP or joining your local site, contact the National Writing Project through its website at www.writingproject.org or call 510-642-0963.

We would like to thank the reviewers of our manuscript for their comments and insights: James Beers, College of William and Mary; Patricia L. Daniel, University of South Florida; Judith M. Kelly, Howard University; and Mary Elizabeth Spalding, University of Nevada-Las Vegas.