Thinking For Primary Writing

Drawing on the author's personal experience, this book provides a deeper understanding of how children experience the writing process in primary school. The framework termed 'think for writing' purports that training children in creative writing and providing creative thinking opportunities can develop their writing and improve their confidence in writing. Aimed at all teachers and trainees, it examines each element of the framework: the thinking environment, task design, training creative thinking, the building blocks of the writing process, and developing children's creative self-efficacy. This range of ideas and approaches across all elements of the writing process that teachers can adapt, adopt and apply to their own practice. This book also demonstrates that a lot of the key work in developing writing is done in between the building blocks of the writing process. This work in the gaps includes process feedback and feedback on the application of ideas. Ultimately, this book provides a resource for teachers to develop their writing pedagogy and children's outcomes whilst meeting National curriculum for England and Wales requirements and demands of standardised testing. Teachers can feel a lot more assured when designing units of work in primary English with this helpful framework, that provides them with this knowledge and details on how to apply it.

Help children of all learning styles and strengths improve their critical thinking skills with these creative, cross-curricular activities. Each engaging activity focuses on skills such as recognizing and recalling, evaluating, and analyzing.

Although the Common Core and C3 Framework highlight literacy and inquiry as central goals for social studies, they do not offer guidelines, assessments, or curriculum resources. This practical guide presents six research-tested historical investigations along with all corresponding teaching materials and tools that have improved the historical thinking and argumentative writing of academically diverse students. Each investigation integrates reading, analysis, planning, composing, and reflection into a writing process that results in an argumentative history essay. Primary sources have been modified to allow struggling readers access to the material. Web links to original unmodified primary sources are also provided, along with other sources to extend investigations. The authors include sample student essays from each investigation to illustrate the progress of two different learners and explain how to support students’ development. Each chapter includes these helpful sections: Historical Background, Literacy Practices Students Will Learn, How to Teach This Investigation, How Might Students Respond?, Student Writing and Teacher Feedback, Lesson Plans and Materials. Book Features: Integrates literacy and inquiry with core U.S. history topics. Emphasizes argumentative writing, a key requirement of the Common Core. Offers explicit guidance for instruction with classroom-ready materials. Provides primary sources for differentiated instruction. Explains a curriculum appropriate for students who struggle with reading, as well as more advanced readers. Models how to transition over time from more explicit instruction to teacher coaching and greater student independence. “The tools this book provides—from graphic organizers, to lesson plans, to the accompanying documents—demystify the writing process and offer a sequenced path toward attaining proficiency.” —From the Foreword by Sam Wineburg, co-author of Reading Like a Historian “Assuming literate practice to be at the core of history learning and historical practice, the authors provide actual units of history instruction that can be immediately applied to classroom teaching. These units make visible how a cognitive apprenticeship approach enhances history and historical literacy learning and ensure a supported transition to teaching history in accordance with Common Core State Standards.” —Elizabeth Moje, Arthur F. Thurnau Professor, School of Education, University of Michigan “The C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards and the Common Core State Standards challenge students to investigate complex ideas, think critically, and apply knowledge in real world settings. This extraordinary book provides tried-and-true practical tools and step-by-step directions for social studies to meet these goals and prepare students for college, career, and civic life in the 21st century.” —Michelle M. Herczog, president, National Council for the Social Studies

In the instruction and learning process, the role writing plays has often been overlooked. Writing is thinking! It is a tool for learning in all content areas. The ever-growing body of brain research supports that learning to write transitions into writing to learn as students progress through upper elementary, middle, high school, and college. Writing is much more than the ability to craft an analytical essay. Writing has the potential to engage students in critical thinking and critical reflection as historians, mathematicians, scientists, or experts in any content area. Writing is Thinking explores methods and activities to effectively incorporate writing to help learners successfully master, analyze, apply, and express content knowledge.

This is an essential book for everyone who wants to write clearly about any subject and use writing as a means of learning.

"A wide range of effective writing techniques are outlined and reinforced throughout the book, with suggested "anchor books" for each lesson. The fundamentals of the writing process and the "6 Traits" are integrated into this unique examination of how developing an awareness of the readers' thinking can influence and affect a student's ability to write."--Publisher.

Why you need a writing revolution in your classroom and how to lead it The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a clear method of instruction that you can use no matter what subject or grade level you teach. The model, also known as The Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, The Writing Revolution can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps: Boost reading comprehension Improve organizational and study skills Enhance speaking abilities Develop analytical capabilities The Writing Revolution is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. There's no separate writing block and no separate writing curriculum. Instead, teachers of all subjects adapt the TWR strategies and activities to their current curriculum and weave them into their content instruction. But perhaps what's most revolutionary about the TWR method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.