Teachers' writing groups have a significantly positive impact on pupils and their writing. This timely text explains the importance of teachers' writing groups and how they have evolved. It outlines clearly and accessibly how teachers can set up their own highly effective writing groups. In this practical and informative book, the authors: share the thinking and practice that is embodied by teachers' writing groups provide practical support for teachers running a group or wishing to write for themselves in order to inform their practice cover major themes such as: the relationship between writing teachers and the teaching of writing; writing as process and pleasure; writing and reflective practice; writing journals and the writing workshop. The authors provide a rationale for the development of writing groups for teachers and for ways of approaching writing that support adult and child writers and this rationale informs the ideas for writing throughout the book. All writing and teaching suggestions have been extensively tried and tested by class teachers, and will be of enormous interest to any teacher or student teacher wishing to run their own successful writing group.

With the signature wit and humor that have garnered him legions of fans, award-winning author Jack Gantos instructs young writers on using their "writing radar" to find story ideas in their own lives. Charting his own misadventures as an adolescent writer, Gantos inspires readers to build confidence and establish good writing habits as they create, revise, and perfect their stories. Pop-out text boxes highlight key tips, alongside dozens of Gantos's own hilarious illustrations and original stories. More than just a how-to guide, Writing Radar is a celebration of the power of storytelling and an ode to the characters who - many unwittingly - inspired Gantos's own writing career.

Descriptosaurus: Ghost Stories builds on the vocabulary and descriptive phrases introduced in the original bestselling Descriptosaurus and, within the context of ghost stories, develops the structure and use of the words and phrases to promote colourful cinematic writing. This essential guide will enable children to take their writing to the next level, combine their descriptions of setting and character and show how the two interact. Children can then experiment with their own ghost stories, armed with the skills, techniques and vocabulary necessary to describe their ghostly scenes in a way that allows the reader to feel the characters' fear and visualise the source of their terror within the setting. This new system also provides a contextualised alternative to grammar textbooks and will assist children in acquiring, understanding and applying the grammar they will need to improve their writing, both creative and technical.

The central unifying theme of this state-of-the-art contribution to research on literacy is its rethinking and reconceptualization of individual differences in reading. Previous research, focused on cognitive components of reading, signaled the need for ongoing work to identify relevant individual differences in reading, to determine the relationship(s) of individual differences to reading development, and to account for interactions among individual differences. Addressing developments in each of these areas, this volume also describes affective individual differences, and the environments in which individual differences in reading may emerge, operate, interact, and change. The scant comprehensive accounting of individual differences in reading is reflected in the nature of reading instruction programs today, the outcomes that are expected from successful teaching and learning, and the manner in which reading development is assessed. An important contribution of this volume is to provide prima facie evidence of the benefits of broad conceptualization of the ways in which readers differ. The Handbook of Individual Differences in Reading moves the field forward by encompassing cognitive, non-cognitive, contextual, and methodological concerns. Its breadth of coverage serves as both a useful summary of the current state of knowledge and a guide for future work in this area.

Stimulating Emerging Story Writing! Inspiring Children aged 3-7 offers innovative and exciting ways to inspire young children to want to create stories and develop their emerging story writing skills. This practical guide offers comprehensive and informed support for professionals to effectively engage 'child authors' in stimulating story writing activities. Packed full of story ideas, resource suggestions and practical activities, the book explores the various ways professionals can help young children to develop the six key elements of story, these being character, setting, plot, conflict, resolution and ending. All of the ideas in the book are designed to support a setting's daily writing provision such as mark making opportunities, role play and using simple open ended play resources. Separated into two sections and with reference to the EYFS and Key Stage 1 curricula, this timely new text provides practitioners with tried and tested strategies and ideas that can be used with immediate effect. Chapters include: Creating Characters The Plot Thickens Inspired Ideas Resourcing the Story Stimulation This timely new text is the perfect guide for inspiring young children aged 3-7 in the classroom and will be an essential resource for practitioners, teachers and students on both early years and teacher training courses.

Practice reading comprehension with this activity sticker book, perfect for learning at home! Let's Do Comprehension 5-6 supports the National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and is ideal for boosting English literacy skills at home. The workbook contains a variety of stimulating fiction and non-fiction texts, accompanied by comprehension questions of varying difficulty and over 100 colourful stickers to encourage and reward children. This comprehension practice book includes: - Tips and clues from Alice the Alligator to support children - Extra challenges in Brodie's Brain Boosters to stretch and challenge - Answers at the back of the book - Exciting, colourful illustrations and stickers For more in the popular Let's Do series by Andrew Brodie, see: Let's Do Handwriting, Let's Do Spelling, Let's Do Punctuation, Let's Do Grammar, Let's Do Times Tables, Let's Do Mental Maths, Let's Do Addition and Subtraction and Let's Do Arithmetic

This is the ultimate all-in-one guide for teaching writing, spelling, punctuation and grammar in the primary classroom. Providing practical advice on teaching grammar and writing techniques through the use of non-fiction texts, Grammarsaurus is closely aligned to the National Curriculum and ensures teachers are addressing the right topics at the right time. Each chapter focuses on a non-fiction text type: instructions, explanations, non-chronological reports, diary entries, newspaper reports and persuasive texts. There are photocopiable model texts for each year group, along with annotated versions guiding teachers through language features, grammar, spelling and punctuation opportunities, saving hours of lesson planning. Mitch Hudson and Anna Richards, expert teachers and creators of the popular Grammarsaurus website, answer common questions from teachers: 'When should I teach this punctuation mark?', or 'Which spellings should I be teaching my Year 3 class?'. With model texts covering a range of subject areas and up-to-date content using the latest curriculum framework, teachers can feel confident in tackling writing and SPaG across all the key areas of non-fiction. Please note that the PDF eBook version of this book cannot be printed or saved in any other format. It is intended for use on interactive whiteboards and projectors only.

Focused on the teaching and learning argumentative writing in grades 9-12, this important contribution to literacy education research and classroom practice offers a new perspective, a set of principled practices, and case studies of excellent teaching. The case studies illustrate teaching and learning argumentative writing as the construction of knowledge and new understandings about experiences, ideas, and texts. Six themes key to teaching argumentative writing as a thoughtful, multi-leveled practice for deep learning and expression are presented: teaching and learning argumentative writing as social practice, teachers' epistemological beliefs about argumentative writing, variations in instructional chains, instructional conversations in support of argumentative writing as deep learning and appreciation of multiple perspectives, contextualized analysis of argumentative writing, and the teaching and learning of argumentative writing and the construction of rationalities.

The nation's demographic of public schools are more ethnically, racially, and linguistically diverse than ever before (Strauss, 2014). However, there are still educational policies and practices that call to question whether traditionally marginalized students receive an equitable education. This is demonstrated in national achievement trends, which highlight disproportionality ratings among minoritized student groups. Also when examining school discipline policies, expulsion ratings, special education services, and school choice movements, all seem to handicap educational opportunity for low-income Black and Brown students. As American schools become more and more diverse, it is imperative that the literacy practices used to teach young students of color reflect the nation's changing demographic. This book provides practical insights guided by conceptual and contextual knowledge in understanding how to teach urban African American and Hispanic/Latino(a) students by discussing issues associated with critical pedagogies, literacy, and culturally appropriate instructional strategies that have demonstrated success for traditionally marginalized student populations. This book examines culturally affirming literacy practices from three main components: (1) scholarship, (2) the field of practice, and (3) teacher education models. Each of these three are significant in understanding how to teach minoritized populations. As such, chapters have been organized into three main sections that address scholarship and research, trends in the field, and implications for teacher education models - all in order to advance the literacy achievement of African American and Hispanic/Latino(a) students.

Focused on the teaching and learning argumentative writing in grades 9-12, this important contribution to literacy education research and classroom practice offers a new perspective, a set of principled practices, and case studies of excellent teaching. The case studies illustrate teaching and learning argumentative writing as the construction of knowledge and new understandings about experiences, ideas, and texts. Six themes key to teaching argumentative writing as a thoughtful, multi-leveled practice for deep learning and expression are presented: teaching and learning argumentative writing as social practice, teachers' epistemological beliefs about argumentative writing, variations in instructional chains, instructional conversations in support of argumentative writing as deep learning and appreciation of multiple perspectives, contextualized analysis of argumentative writing, and the teaching and learning of argumentative writing and the construction of rationalities.

Learn the ten keys to effective writing instruction! In this dynamic book, bestselling author Lori G. Wilfong takes you through today's best practices for teaching writing and how to implement them in the classroom. She also points out practices that should be avoided, helping you figure out how to update your teaching so that all students can reach success. You'll discover how to... Make sure students have enough work in a genre before you assign writing Develop thoughtful, short writing prompts that are "infinite" and not finite Have students read and learn from master authors in the genre they are writing Create a writing community so that writing is not an isolated activity Use anchor charts and minilessons, along with rubrics and checklists Implement revising strategies, not just editing strategies, taught in context Use conferencing to grow students as thoughtful, reflective writers Let narratives be personal and creative, focusing on details and imagery Let informational writing explore a topic creatively and in depth Let argument writing be situated in real-world application and not be limited to one-sided, "what-if" debates Every chapter begins with an engaging scenario, includes the "why" behind the practice and how it connects to the Common Core, and clearly describes how implement the strategy. The book also contains tons of handy templates that you can reproduce and use in your own classroom. You can photocopy these templates or download them from our website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138812444.

A critical question in social studies education is not whether teachers develop and teach units of study, but what is in the units of study teachers develop and teach. Curricular planning and instruction must focus on what we teach in the social studies classroom. It is not uncommon for students to experience fine units about the westward movement and exit the fifth grade with little or no geographic literacy. Most students leave middle school grades unable to name even one person who made a difference in the history of Indian people in the United States. After three to five years of history classes, high school students routinely self-report that history is boring. And it is the rare middle school graduate who knows how to use a free enterprise economy for his or her benefit. This book explains the content of nine areas in social studies. If teachers know what history, biographical studies, and the United States Constitution mean for instruction, they can increase the probability of better-focused content in their social studies instruction.

Recent media stories about education have featured the "Science of Reading", whose proponents typically present the systematic teaching of phonics as a one-size-fits-all method that guarantees reading success for all students. But as literacy scholars Patricia Paugh and Deborah MacPhee demonstrate, the decoding of words is only one of many skills that are central to an effective early literacy education. In Learning to Be Literate, they present a four-part framework for active literacy learning that eschews oppositional arguments about different approaches and instead situates children as meaning makers: the whole point of being literate. There is no single or simple solution that will fit every child. But by using the ALL framework to inform instruction, educators can help young learners think deeply about ideas and language at the same time as they learn to work out the sounds and symbol systems of language.

Transforming Reading Skills in the Secondary School is a commonsense text designed to help practitioners working in a mainstream context. The book suggests ways to develop the underlying skills necessary for good reading through multiple pathways such as mainstream subject lessons, individual and small group support sessions, whole school initiatives, the use of reading mentors and home-school liaison opportunities. Brimming with ideas and activities, Pat Guy explores a variety of different aspects of reading, including: how reading is taught and why it is such an important skill for the individual how to motivate the reluctant reader the role played by the mainstream & specialist teacher underlying problems pupils may face how to increase parental involvement reasons why a pupil's comprehension might be limited the role of the School Librarian the relevance to reading of vocabulary and general knowledge. Anyone wanting to develop the reading skills of secondary pupils who struggle will find this a resource they return to time and time again.

Dialogic Readers: Children talking and thinking together about visual texts celebrates the sophisticated and dynamic discussions that primary-aged children can have as they talk together to make meaning from a variety of texts, and it highlights the potential for talk between readers as a tool for critical and creative thinking. It proposes a new dialogic theory of reading comprehension that incorporates multi-modal media and adds further weight to the argument that talk as a tool for learning should form a central part of primary classroom learning and teaching. The book explores: * the language of co-construction * children's critical and creative responses to text * the dialogic transaction between text and readers * the use of language as a tool for creating a social cohesion between readers. This significant work is aimed at educational lecturers, researchers and students who want to explore an expanded notion of reading comprehension in the twenty-first century, realizing how opportunities for children thinking creatively together might transform the potential for learning in the classroom. It provides a framework for analyzing co-constructive talk with suggestions for promoting children's critical and creative thinking.

Learn the ten keys to effective writing instruction! In this dynamic book, bestselling author Lori G. Wilfong takes you through today's best practices for teaching writing and how to implement them in the classroom. She also points out practices that should be avoided, helping you figure out how to update your teaching so that all students can reach success. You'll discover how to... Make sure students have enough work in a genre before you assign writing Develop thoughtful, short writing prompts that are "infinite" and not finite Have students read and learn from master authors in the genre they are writing Create a writing community so that writing is not an isolated activity Use anchor charts and minilessons, along with rubrics and checklists Implement revising strategies, not just editing strategies, taught in context Use conferencing to grow students as thoughtful, reflective writers Let narratives be personal and creative, focusing on details and imagery Let informational writing explore a topic creatively and in depth Let argument writing be situated in real-world application and not be limited to one-sided, "what-if" debates Every chapter begins with an engaging scenario, includes the "why" behind the practice and how it connects to the Common Core, and clearly describes how implement the strategy. The book also contains tons of handy templates that you can reproduce and use in your own classroom. You can photocopy these templates or download them from our website at http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138812444.

The Internet is transforming the experience of reading and learning-through-reading. Is this transformation effecting a radical change in reading processes as readers synthesize understandings from fragments across multiple texts? Or, conversely, is the Internet merely a new place to use the same reading skills and processes developed through experience with traditional print-based media? Are the changes in reading processes a matter of degree, or are they fundamentally new? And if so, how must reading theory, research, and instruction adjust?

This volume brings together distinguished experts from the fields of reading research, teacher education, educational psychology, cognitive science, rhetoric and composition, digital humanities, and educational technology to address these questions. Its unique structure features short essays, each drawing from its author's realm of expertise and projecting beyond to larger implications for reading research and education. These essays are followed by dialogue between the chapter author and respondents with contrasting viewpoints. The result is a lively exchange where authors are challenged to articulate their perspectives on a fundamental question for 21st century readers and researchers.

A Dialogic Approach to Understanding Reading celebrates the sophisticated and dynamic discussions that primary-aged children have as they talk together to make meaning from a variety of texts, and it highlights the potential for talk between readers as a tool for critical and creative thinking. It proposes a new dialogic theory of reading comprehension which incorporates multi-modal media, and adds further weight to the argument that talk as a tool for learning should form a central part of primary classroom learning and teaching.

The book explores:

This significant work is aimed at educational lecturers, researchers and students who want to explore an expanded notion of reading comprehension in the 21st century realising how opportunities for children thinking creatively together might transform the potential for learning in the classroom. It provides a framework for analysing co-constructive talk with suggestions for promoting children s critical and creative thinking."

While it is true that students who struggle with reading can lose important ground during the summer, it is possible to help these students hold onto the previous school year's learning as well as gain new ground to put them ahead for fall. Written by Marti Richardson, a past president of the National Staff Development council and a recognized leader in professional development and curriculum development, Succeeding With Struggling Students details the development and implementation process for a summer reading lab. Designed around a learn-it-teach-it cycle, the lab combines professional development for teachers--to develop their facility with research-based interventions and immediate classroom practice--with the specific interventions to benefit struggling students. With each component of the summer intervention lab blueprint, Richardson offers a description of the model program she developed for her district. For administrators, staff developers, and curriculum directors, she provides a set of questions to assist their district and school teams customize the blueprint to their specific goals, needs, and requirements.

Recent national achievement data reveal significant outcome disparities between African American boys and other student groups by grade 4. This issue has drawn much attention from teachers, parents, researchers, and policy makers all across the United States of America. African American boys are not homogeneous in nature. Consequently, Read and Succeed: Practices to Support Reading Skills in African American Boys begins by identifying a host of potential factors that contribute to reading disengagement and under-achievement in African American boys in P-5 contexts. This book presents and discusses a multi-strategic framework for teachers, administrators, librarians, and parents to implement collaboratively to combat this issue. Read and Succeed additionally provides valuable and practical resources for teachers, administrators, and other school officials to use to increase reading engagement and achievement in African American boys.

First published in 1967, Reading and Remedial Reading describes the normal reading programme in the school where the author taught and the diagnosis and treatment of acute difficulties in learning to read. The work deals mainly with so-called educationally maladjusted children, many of whom showed signs of possible damage to the central nervous system, but Mr Tansley believes that the methods and techniques given are applicable to all children, irrespective of levels of intelligence, who are experiencing difficulties to learn. The results achieved are most encouraging and have been tested by numerous expert visitors from this country and abroad. This is a helpful guide to a large number of people- staffs and students in University Education Departments, educational psychologists, remedial teachers, special-school teachers, primary school teachers, and medical officers in the School Health Service.

In order for students to write effective informational texts, they need to read good informational texts! In this practical book, you'll find out how to use high-quality books and articles to make writing instruction more meaningful, authentic, and successful. The author demonstrates how you can help students analyze the qualities of effective informational texts and then help students think of those qualities as tools to improve their own writing. The book is filled with examples and templates you can bring back to the classroom immediately. Special Features: Offers clear suggestions for meeting the Common Core informational writing standards Covers all aspects of informational writing, including introducing and developing a topic; grouping related information together; adding features that aid comprehension; linking ideas; and using precise language and domain-specific vocabulary Includes a variety of assessment strategies and rubrics Provides classroom snapshots to show the writing tools in action Comes with a variety of templates and tools that can be photocopied or downloaded and printed from our website, www.routledge.com/books/details/9781138832060 Bonus! The book includes an annotated bibliography-a comprehensive list of recommended informational texts, with suggestions for how to use them.

Please note this title is suitable for any student studying: Exam Board: AQA Level: GCSE Subject: English Language First teaching: 2015 First exams: 2017 Matched to the requirements of the AQA GCSE English Language specification, this workbook provides a targeted approach to practising the key reading skills of language and structural analysis; evaluation and comparision. Focusing on how to achieve grade 5, this full-colour, write-in workbook takes students through the individual exam questions and provides extensive practice opportunities, sample student answers, revision tips and sample exam papers. Including opportunities for self-assessment and reviewing progress, students take control of their skills development through this motivational resource, written by an expert and experienced author team.

A collection of 10 full-colour activity books that will make English language learning fun as children acquire grammar systematically through stories. The Wonderful World of Words (WOW) teaches children about the different word classes as the first step to building a good foundation in grammar. Each of these word classes in the WOW Kingdom is represented by a royal character so children learn how the different classes of words are used and how they interact with other words. Linked to the story set in the WOW kingdom is another story about the animals in the forest of WOW, to reinforce the concepts covered in each volume. Volume 8 - The King Goes Dancing Focus: Nouns can combine with different words to describe something or someone. The words that combine with the noun must be in the right order: Article + Quantifier + Adjective + Noun.