To write cohesively means doing many things at once--wrestling with ideas, balancing form and function, pushing words this way and that, attending to syntax and diction, and employing imagery and metaphor until a coherent message emerges. Though full of promise, student writing typically lacks cohesion, and the question is whether the fault lies…

Having work published is an important part of a teacher's professional development, but many educators may be uncertain about how to write for publication. This "how-to" guide for teachers aims to make it easy by adopting a reader-friendly tone and a can-do attitude. The guide explains the role of thinking in writing for publication and…

Providing an overview of some of the effective ways of helping students to develop and improve their spelling skills, this book emphasizes the importance of explicit teaching. The first chapter considers current issues and perspectives in spelling. The second chapter discusses how children acquire spelling skills, and the third chapter discusses…

Designed as a practical reference book that can be useful to readers in any writing situation, this handbook offers guidance for writing assignments across the curriculum as well as help in writing resumes, letters, and scholarship, college, and job applications. The handbook describes the 10 common methods for developing any kind of writing and…

Intended for practitioners, this study has three principal aims: (1) to reduce the breadth of formal grammar instruction by first locating those areas where grammar and writing overlap and then identifying those kinds of writing problems most amenable to treatment with a grammar-based approach; (2) to decrease the classroom hours spent on formal…

Focusing on the process approach to writing instruction, this book presents 18 instructional strategies organized around the four essential stages of the writing process: prewriting, drafting, editing, and sharing. Chapter 1 contains a program assessment survey to help teachers evaluate their current writing program and decide which strategies to…

Aimed at secondary school science and English teachers, this book presents practical advice for developing good student writing in science and mathematics. Five main sections cover: (1) an essay development workshop; (2) 47 specific writing assignments; (3) over 30 questions teachers ask about science writing, and the answers; (4) an anthology of…

Bringing together information elementary school teachers need to make balanced literacy instruction a reality, this book presents more than 90 short articles designed to be read in a brief period of time and suitable for use in after-school workshops. It presents ideas and instructional approaches teachers have found most valuable and effective in…

Intended for parents, this book offers straightforward directions on how to guide children in constructing a composition. It also helps parents review and clarify compositions that their children have already written. The book gives a developmental perspective to children's performance and includes sample compositions from actual classroom writing…

This book examines ways to improve the writing skills of older elementary school students and junior high school students, with particular emphasis on grammatical errors concerning anaphora, connectors, and information gapping. Chapters 1 and 2 discuss the common syntactic errors which regularly appear in essays written by pupils of 10 to 14 years…

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…

This book presents 113 writing "workouts" (exercises) to help students, and especially teachers, think about the small steps writers take as they learn their craft. The workouts in Part I, Writers Speak Up, are intended to help novice writers develop confidence in the value of their experience. Part II, Writers Pay Attention, presents challenges…

This book offers detailed and complex guidance, and the necessary techniques, for grading college students' writing. It examines why it is important to integrate grading into the writing process; the need for effective writing assignments; ensuring fair professorial judgments; promoting student learning; helping students learn how to respond…

Suggesting that students in grades 4-12 can develop their ear for expository writing and improve their skills by having well-written expository pieces read to them regularly, this book contains a broad variety of sample expository read-aloud pieces with accompanying notes that highlight the techniques each writer has used particularly well. After…

This book takes the elementary school teacher through all the paces needed to conduct a 2-day writing marathon in the classroom. According to the book, working as a team and having the opportunity to write without interruption are the main goals of a "write-a-thon," but play is a key element to its success. The book explains step-by-step…