This book explores what writing for pleasure means, and how it can be realised as a much-needed pedagogy whose aim is to develop children, young people, and their teachers as extraordinary and life-long writers. The approach described is grounded in what global research has long been telling us are the most effective ways of teaching writing and contains a description of the authors’ own research project into what exceptional teachers of writing do that makes the difference. The authors describe ways of building communities of committed and successful writers who write with purpose, power, and pleasure, and they underline the importance of the affective aspects of writing teaching, including promoting in apprentice writers a sense of self-efficacy, agency, self-regulation, volition, motivation, and writer-identity. They define and discuss 14 research-informed principles which constitute a Writing for Pleasure pedagogy and show how they are applied by teachers in classroom practice. Case studies of outstanding teachers across the globe further illustrate what world-class writing teaching is. This ground-breaking text is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about the current status and nature of writing teaching in schools. The rich Writing for Pleasure pedagogy presented here is a radical new conception of what it means to teach young writers effectively today.

With this updated document, IRA and NCTE reaffirm their position that the primary purpose of assessment must be to improve teaching and learning for all students. Eleven core standards are presented and explained, and a helpful glossary makes this document suitable not only for educators but for parents, policymakers, school board members, and other stakeholders. Case studies of large-scale national tests and smaller scale classroom assessments (particularly in the context of RTI, or Response to Intervention) are used to highlight how assessments in use today do or do not meet the standards.

This is a bank of ideas designed to help teachers to develop the writing of primary-school pupils. It is concerned mainly with the compositional aspects of writing, rather than spelling, handwriting and punctuation, and consists of five main sections, dealing with writing stories and poems, writing for information, writing from reading, writing from personal experience, and redrafting and proof-reading.

Mastering second grade reading and writing is fun and exciting with this book that combines language arts activities with puzzles and humor to lower the barriers to learning and build essential skills. Reading and writing are two of the most important building blocks for future learning, and Highlights(TM) brings Fun with a Purpose® into these essential activities for second graders. Our award-winning content blends reading and writing skills with puzzles, humor, and playful art, which makes learning exciting and fun. Second grade reading and writing skills such as phonics, word recognition, and key ideas will help students improve and will build confidence in the classroom.

Offers practical advice on using and improving assessment for learning in the classroom.

Going to school, hanging out with friends, and being a normal teenager was all Summer Owens knew until her fifteenth birthday changed her life forever. Nine months later, she was a mother and didn't even know the father of her baby. "In Life After Birth, Owens depicts the real-life struggles she faced as a teenage mother. By sharing how she managed to finish high school, combat emotional issues, graduate from college with honors, build a career and buy a house all as a young, single mother, she demonstrates that life doesn't have to end when a child is born to a teenager. "Life After Birth details the heartbreak, struggle, and victory of a young woman thrust into the painful realities of being a teenage mother. Any young woman, or young man for that matter, will read this book with eyes wide open to the detailed struggles of being a young mother that strips away the delusional romanticism of having a baby too early. Summer sobers the reader to a better way and encourages those who are walking in her path that they too can have life after birth." Dr. Stacy L. Spencer, Author and Pastor, New Direction Christian Church