The Better Writing Breakthrough: Connecting Student Thinking and Discussion to Inspire Great Writing

Every teacher knows the challenge of trying to engage reluctant readers and struggling writers—students whose typical response to a writing prompt is a few sentence fragments scribbled on a sheet of paper followed by an elaborate shrug of the shoulders.

The best way to engage less confident readers and writers is to give them something powerful to think about. The Discourse and Writing Cycle explores writing as a means to focus student thinking, fuel deeper learning, and build complex unders...