Describes the author's experience teaching poetry to a fourth-grade class, and how an inspired moment from one student (improvising a poem about an imagined hairstyle of poet Federico Garcia Lorca) led the entire class on a journey of inspiration. Looks at the route to that place of "inspired rightness." (SR)

Discusses techniques and lessons used to assist students in reading with a writer's eye, observing the world with a writer's eye, and developing the craft of writing, including the writer's notebook; grabber leads; show, not tell; unforgettable language; and voice. Notes that developing a community of writers is essential to the successful use of…

Describes a series of activities to help middle school students develop an artist's vision and then convey that vision through poetry. Describes how lessons progress from looking at concrete objects to observations of settings and characters, gradually adding memory and imagination to direct observation, and finishing with revision. Notes that…

The purpose of this guide is to assist teachers in preparing their students to write effectively in all contexts, including the Georgia Grade Five Writing Assessment. Teachers are encouraged to make optimal instructional use of the information in this guide by creating transparencies and handouts for students. The guide includes a revising/editing…

This teachers' guide responds to some of the more frequently asked questions about teaching and evaluating from Kindergarten through Grade 5. The document is a synthesis of the current research on writing and applies this information to the teaching of writing in the classroom. It is comprehensive in nature and addresses such subjects as…

Research suggests that students make judgments about writing at a very early age, but their interpretations of what makes writing good or bad differs in important ways from those of teachers or professional writers. An understanding of how children's evaluative criteria develop is critical to teachers in helping children become better writers.…

Argues that children are as deep as the ocean, with secret places inside of them waiting to be opened. Notes that it is powerful for students to learn they can make sense of the world through words, and describes inviting them into poetry as they read poetry, create poetry packets, and write and revise poems. (SR)

Uses observations of three students' and two teachers' use of metaphors in process writing instruction to shed light on the role of talk in writing development. Finds that metaphors can be complex, interesting, and thought-provoking; and all students developed a shared understanding with teachers despite differences in background. (SR)

Discusses the lives and poetry of two female writers from Greek antiquity, Sappho and Praxilla. Describes using Sappho's poems with sixth graders and includes some student poems written in response. Describes using Praxilla as a writing model in conjunction with Sappho while teaching American high school students. (SR)

Shows how teaching grammar through writing can be a successful strategy. Points out the steps one teacher used in teaching a writing and grammar process with her sixth graders and illustrates its effectiveness, both with one high-risk student and also through a school disruption caused by fire. (SR)

Pupils in the middle school can be motivated to enjoy and write haiku poetry. A student teacher taught two lessons to a sixth grade class in haiku writing. First, the student teacher read three haikus aloud to students. After discovering the characteristics of a haiku from two models, the class as a whole wrote a haiku based on slides from their…

This book offers 25 mini-lessons which focus on the elements of good writing. Intended for teachers of grades 3-6, the book provides practical teaching suggestions to introduce particular elements and strategies, as well as activities that will allow students to practice new techniques. Using excerpts from favorite children's authors' works and…

Considers biography-centered learning as a model for teaching social studies in elementary school. Provides a sequence of steps and a description of each to help students read and write biography as a knowledge transforming process. Claims students learn to do research and write, both vital to a democratic society. (NL)

Illustrates an approach to the study of writing that integrates ethnographic analysis of classroom interaction with linguistic analysis of written texts and teacher/student conversational exchanges, using a case study of writing in a sixth grade classroom during a writing assignment. (MM)

Using a social constructivist theoretical framework, the case of Ella demonstrates how one fifth-grade, African-American student who participated in a writing process classroom appropriated the dialogue from social interaction and transformed it to use in her own texts and in her talk with others. During the teacher-student writing conferences,…