Writing Pathways

Originally published as part of the bestselling series: Units of study in opinion/argument, information, and narrative writing [Grades K-8].

This thought-provoking book will provide masters students, teachers and researchers with a toolkit and theoretical framework for teaching literacy through children's literature. It features innovative ideas for developing student and teacher experiences with literature and popular culture texts in the classroom, providing practical examples and teaching aids throughout. Taking a collaborative approach, Curtin explores how teachers and learners can engage with literature and its authors for the development of literacy in classroom practice. Connecting reader and writer identities and worlds through interviews with and suggested classroom activities from authors themselves, this text combines author, teacher and learner perspectives in the development of creative pedagogies that extend understandings of literacy beyond reading, writing and text. Exploring fairy-tales, comic books and graphic novels, children living in literature (i.e., texts which portray children, their lives and experiences), popular culture, young adult fiction, and non-fiction and digital texts such as blogs etc, this text develops a sociocultural understanding of literacy as a lived and contextually dependent practice where meaning is derived through relationships between people, settings and culture. Different contexts for literacy are explored, including reading and writing strategically (to learn about literacy and literature), widely (for personal purposes) and deeply (to transform understanding) (Short, 2011). This text will be an invaluable resource for teachers, researchers or anyone interested in reading and writing stories. The author interviews will also be of particular interest to older learners themselves as a way to develop their understanding of their own reading and writing practices. Pedagogies can be adapted to any age group, ranging from the early years to young adult.

"A collection of short essays written by and for instructors of college writing that examine life lessons that both students and instructors learn from first-year composition courses"--Provided by publisher.

Gunther Kress argues for a radical reappraisal of the phenomenon of literacy, and hence for a profound shift in educational practice. Through close attention to the variety of objects which children constantly produce (drawings, cuttings-out, 'writings' and collages), Kress suggests a set of principles which reveal the underlying coherence of children's actions; actions which allow us to connect them with attempts to make meaning before they acquire language and writing. This book provides fundamental challenges to commonly held assumptions about both language and literacy, thought and action. It places these challenges within the context of speculation about the abilities and dispositions essential for children as young adults, and calls for the radical decentring of language in educational theory and practice.

This book provides ways of thinking about the teaching of writing in secondary schools (with applications to college writing) and shares research-based strategies for immediate use in the classroom.

Pathways is a dual skills course that can be taught in parallel or as individual strands - Reading and Writing, and Listening and Speaking - and topics and language complement and mirror each other. Students benefit from a targeted skills syllabus where they can really develop, not just practice, the skills they will need for effective use of language. Pathways particularly lends itself to academic learners of English, with the topics and language input texts taken from a more academic context. In addition, the strong critical thinking element present in both strands encourages and stimulates the 'higher order' thinking skills and the students' ability to evaluate, analyse, and synthesise information from a wide range of sources. Meaningful and authentic content from National Geographic stimulates creates the perfect environment for this and stimulates learners' curiosity and participation.

An informative guide for writers using the Internet author.co.uk is among the best of the UK sites for writers. Now it is possible to browse through it's thousand pages offline, and immediately link to all the web sites it suggests through the CD-ROM enclosed with the book. A true writer's guide to the Internet, that can be kept up-to-date by visiting the author.co.uk website. Takes you through the whole process from starting to write, how to write, using the Internet, finding a publishing, linking to services, ebooks and print on demand.