Improving Students' Writing, K-8: From Meaning-Making to High Stakes!

by Diane Barone, Joan M. Taylor

Overview

This manual for teaching all aspects of writing provides examples, rubrics, and how-to's for helping students grow in skills and write for high stakes and "constructed response" tests. 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781412917117
Publisher:	SAGE Publications
Publication date:	10/03/2005
Pages:	184
Product dimensions:	7.00(w) x 10.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Diane M. Barone is Professor Literacy Studies at the University of Nevada, Reno. In her role at the university, she teaches courses in early literacy, diversity and literacy, and qualitative research. Her research interests center on young children, especially in high poverty schools, and how they develop in literacy. Her most current study followed 16 children from kindergarten through to Grade 6 to document their literacy growth. She has been an editor of Reading Research Quarterly and has written numerous articles, book chapters, and books. Some of her recent books include Reading First in the Classroom with Joan Taylor and Darrin Hardman, Literacy and Young Children: Research-Based Practices with Lesley Morrow, Teaching Early Literacy: Development, Assessment, and Instruction with Marla Mallette and Shelley Xu, and The National Board Certification Handbook. She is also Principal Investigator for Reading First in Nevada and serves as a member of the board for the International Reading Association.

Joan Taylor is a teacher-consultant who works with teachers and students in Title I schools in the Reno/Sparks area of Northern Nevada. She recently completed a dissertation on A History of Written Composition Instruction in U.S. Elementary Schools. Her research interests, in addition to historical and current perspectives on writing instruction, are focused on exploring teachers' stories on learning and teaching.

She has been a long-time middle school teacher in Washoe County Schools. She is also Nevada State Networks Writing Project Co-Director, and during the past several years has authored a number of federally funded state literacy grants from the U.S. Department of Education totaling approximately $53 million. These include the Nevada Reading Excellence Act and Nevada Reading First grants.

Table of Contents

Preface
About the Authors
1. Writing to Learn and Understand
Purposes for Writing
Yesterday’s and Today’s Challenges
Literacy Connections in Your Classroom
The Three Hardest Parts About Helping Student Writers
Writing Together as a Way of Communicating, Learning, and Meaning-Making
2. Writing About Information
Informal Writing
Formal Writing
Connections Between Informational Text and Student Writing
Reading Informational Text to Learn About Structure
Final Thoughts
3. Narrative Writing
Narrative Writing
Writing Development
Gender and Writing
Informal Narrative Writing
Formal Narrative Writing
Final Thoughts
4. Writing With Purpose for Real Audiences
Part of a Classroom Culture
Writing for Real Audiences
Writing for Real Purposes
Analyzing Writing as a Craft
Revision
Responding to Writing
Editing
Writing With Reason
5. Preparing for High-Stakes Writing Assessments
Historical Perspective
Writing Assessment Methods
Writing Assessment Tasks
Helping Students With Trait-Scored Divergent and Convergent Assessment Items
Product Versus Process
Final Thoughts
6. Connecting Writing and Classroom Conversation
Academic Conversations
Final Thoughts
Afterword
Appendix
References
Index

Editorial Reviews

"Purposeful, realistic, throetically based...and clearly written by authors who appreciate bringing the joy of learning into the classroom. For experienced teachers, the book renews my excitement for teaching writing, and for new teachers, the text offers suggestions from a voice of experience-all within the framework of NCLB legislation for differentiating teaching based on learners' needs. "

Julia Weinberg