Reviews:
“Teach Writing Well
is a book that will help teachers find a way to talk about writing samples and
assign a grade to writing pieces with confidence and knowledge.”
— Lynne Dorfman
and Rose Cappelli, Authors of Mentor Texts, Second Edition
“Ruth’s deep respect
for our writers shines through and her sage advice for celebrating those
writers in intentionally responsive ways makes us privy to the powerful
professional discoveries that will gently nudge us all to teaching writing
well.”
— Dr. Mary Howard,
Educator, speaker, author
“Teach Writing Well
is a necessity for all instructors of writing. Ruth Culham has put together a
brilliant resource that acknowledges the demands that accompanying the craft of
teaching writing while at the same time fostering an appreciation for this
expertise.”
— Erin Bailey,
Elementary Instructional Coach, Blue Springs, MO
Description:
Ask
successful writers and they’ll tell you, the key to writing well is revision.
Ask elementary school teachers and they’ll tell you, the real challenge of
writing instruction is teaching kids how to revise. Ruth Culham is both a successful
writer and a writing teacher, and she’s discovered how to teach writing and
revision in a way that’s accessible to both teacher and students: First read
the writing, assess it using the traits of writing, then teach the writers and
guide revision decisions using traits as a common language and map.
This
book shows you how to assess and teach writing in a way that’s practical and
doable–and best of all, see results.
Part
1 walks you through the traits of writing and their key qualities, showing step
by step how to read students’ writing and offer feedback that nudges them
forward through the revision process. Chapters will help you address challenges
students face within each mode of writing (narrative, expository, persuasive),
and provide tools young writers can use to evaluate their own writing and make
revision decisions accordingly.
Part
2 dives into instruction, offering specific guidance for how to use what you’ve
learned from reading student writing to design lessons that scaffold students
toward making their own craft decisions and revisions. In addition, there’s an
entire chapter devoted to mentor texts that you can use to model traits and key
qualities for your students.
Traits-based
revision lies at the heart of this book, as it’s been at the heart of Ruth’s
career in writing instruction. Rethinking revision is what will ultimately help
you to teach writing well.
Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part I: Read the Writing
Chapter 1: Thinking Back and Thinking
Forward with the Traits of Writing
Chapter 2: Formative Assessment: The
Heart of the Matter
Chapter 3: Modes of Writing: Their
Challenges and Why They Matter
Chapter 4: Tools and Talk to Guide
Revision
Part II: Teach the Writer
Chapter 5: Rethinking Revision: The
Real Work of Writing
Chapter 6: Invigorate Writing
Instruction
Chapter 7: Reading Like a Writer
Appendix A: Sample Writing Papers for Practice
Appendix B: Reproducible Tools
References
Index
About the Author:
Ruth Culham, EdD, has written more than
forty professional resources illuminating both writing and the reading-writing
connection. Her recent book, The Writing Thief, has helped teachers find “right
now” children’s books and everyday texts to use as mentor texts. Dream Wakers
expands and complements this work by delving into books that focus on Latino
culture and life as mentor texts for writing. Her newest, Teach Writing Well,
enhances teachers’ understanding of writing education by delving into a
two-part approach: read the writing and teach the writer.
Target Audience:
Useful
for Teachers.