Books by Theme

Teaching Writing

6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades

6 + 1 Traits of Writing: The Complete Guide for the Primary Grades

By: Ruth Culham
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

The 6+1 TRAIT model works by allowing teachers to pinpoint students’ strengths and weaknesses in ideas, organization, voice, word choice, sentence fluency, conventions, and presentation, and focus instruction. Like the groundbreaking guide for grades 3 and up, this new book contains scoring guides, sample papers, and focus lessons for each trait, but framed to address K–2 teachers’ needs.

Best Practices in Writing Instruction

Best Practices in Writing Instruction

By: Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur, Michael Hebert
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

Effective guidelines for teaching writing in grades K–12. Using classroom examples, the book identifies the components of a complete, high-quality writing program. Leading experts provide strategies for teaching narrative and argumentative writing; using digital tools; helping students improve specific skills, from handwriting and spelling to sentence construction; teaching evaluation and revision; connecting reading and writing instruction; teaching vulnerable populations; using assessment to inform instruction; and more.

Handbook of Writing Research

Handbook of Writing Research

By: Steve Graham, Charles A. MacArthur
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

This volume synthesizes current knowledge on writing development and instruction at all grade levels. Prominent scholars examine numerous facets of writing from sociocultural, cognitive, linguistic, neuroscience, and new literacy/technological perspectives. The volume reviews the evidence base for widely used instructional approaches. Issues in teaching specific populations — including students with disabilities and English learners —are addressed. Innovative research methods and analytic tools are explained, and key directions for future investigation identified.

Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students

Powerful Writing Strategies for All Students

By: Steve Graham, Karen R. Harris, Linda Mason, Barbara Friedlander
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

Firmly grounded in the authors' Self-Regulated Strategy Development approach, which has been proven effective by two decades of research, these brief, powerful lessons will help transform struggling students into confident, skilled, and motivated writers. Teachers will get concise lesson plans they can use to easily supplement their existing writing curriculum.

Sentence Composing for Elementary School

Sentence Composing for Elementary School

By: Donald Killgallon, Jenny Killgallon
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

Using sentences from more than one hundred popular stories and novels as models, this workbook offers extensive practice in four sentence-manipulating techniques: sentence unscrambling, sentence imitating, sentence combining, and sentence expanding. By playing with hundreds of sentences from selections like Charlotte’s Web and the Harry Potter series, children learn to write their own sentences in more effective and interesting ways. At the same time, they improve their reading skills by discovering the story in the sentence.

Teachers Guide to Effective Sentence Writing

Teachers Guide to Effective Sentence Writing

By: Bruce Saddler
Genre: Nonfiction
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

This practical book provides explicit instructions for teaching sentence-level skills to students who have difficulties in this area. The author explains the key role of sentence combining in the writing process and presents effective techniques for instruction and assessment. Numerous sample lessons, practice activities, planning tips, and grammatical pointers make it easy for teachers to incorporate sentence combining and construction into the writing curriculum at all grade levels (2-12). 

The Beginnings of Writing

The Beginnings of Writing

By: Charles A. Temple, Codruta Temple, Ruth Nathan
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

A comprehensive source on young children’s development of writing that illustrates every concept with student examples. This book offers a detailed story of children’s development of writing, from scribbles to letters; from imaginative inventions to conventional spelling; and from enthusiastic utterances on paper to effectively structured compositions. Teachers will develop the skills needed to offer appropriate instruction and feedback for students at each point in the writing process.

The Writing Revolution

The Writing Revolution

By: Natalie Wexler, Judith Hochman
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a method of instruction that you can use across all subjects or grade levels. The model, also known as The Hochman Method focuses on specific techniques that match students' needs and provide them with targeted feedback. 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.

The Writing Rope

The Writing Rope

By: Joan Sedita
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

Learn about the five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentences), text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers of Grades 4-8 will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. And with dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources — available for download online — teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.

Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties

Writing Better: Effective Strategies for Teaching Students with Learning Difficulties

By: Steve Graham, Karen R. Harris
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

Whether they have learning disabilities or just need extra help, struggling writers can improve their skills dramatically if they get the detailed, explicit instruction they need. This practical guidebook shows elementary school teachers how to make this systematic instruction part of their classroom. Educators will find a wide range of specific strategies that include activities for every phase of the writing process, from brainstorming and goal-setting to revising.

Writing Matters: Developing Sentence Skills in Students of All Ages

Writing Matters: Developing Sentence Skills in Students of All Ages

By: William Van Cleave
Age Level: Adult
Reading Level: Professional

This teacher's manual includes research-based lesson design, alignment with the Common Core, sequence of skills for instruction, techniques for one-to-one and classroom instruction, and model dialogues. Each unit Includes an overview of general information for the teacher, clarification of points teachers sometimes confuse, steps for initial instruction and subsequent lessons, and sample activities and assignments.

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