Short lessons with a big impact! Respond to your writers' needs with mini-lessons that will improve their craft and confidence. From the start, the I Can! chapter sets up writers to know what they can do, by learning to note and record their own strengths. Every chapter models strategies that foster students' self-regulated, independent writing, and includes adaptations that show how to adjust teaching for advanced writers, writers who struggle, English language learners, and extending the strategies across content areas. Each mini-lesson is laid out step by step for ease of use, including sections on: materials needed; modeling the lesson; student practice; and independent writing.

For this revised edition, Dean worked with high school teachers to refine, reorganize, and update the material to better support classroom teachers dedicated to teaching not just the process of writing but also the strategies that help students learn to write effectively throughout their lives. Deborah Dean is back with a significantly reenvisioned and revised edition of her popular Strategic Writing. After working with high school teachers who implemented the approach detailed in the first edition, Dean has refined, reorganized, and updated the material to better support classroom teachers dedicated to teaching not just the process of writing but also the strategies of writing that help students develop the ability to write effectively throughout their lives. Most of the changes were prompted by the desire to help teachers better understand an overall strategic approach that can counter the testing climate that pervades many schools. This approach works within a workshop model and uses the writing process as an umbrella framework. In addition to providing engaging and practical classroom activities, this new edition offers (1) explicit strategy talk, with lesson plans that differentiate between strategy, activity, and mini-lesson to further demonstrate how all three function in a strategic approach; (2) a focus on digital tools and genres, which have proliferated in the last ten years; (3) a more accessible organization, with the conceptual material in early, short chapters and the teaching ideas, examples of student work, and lesson plans in appendixes; and (4) grouping by types of strategies for better alignment with process than with rhetoric. As always, Dean considers students' out-of-school as well as in-school writing tasks, preparing them for a world in which writing is a critical skill, whether for school, work, information, or self-expression.

Why you need a writing revolution in your classroom and how to lead it The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a clear method of instruction that you can use no matter what subject or grade level you teach. The model, also known as The Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, The Writing Revolution can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps: Boost reading comprehension Improve organizational and study skills Enhance speaking abilities Develop analytical capabilities The Writing Revolution is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. 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. But perhaps what's most revolutionary about the TWR method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content.

This book starts with an inclusive definition of writing and suggests simple ways to introduce students to the purpose of writing. It discusses the key relationship between reading and writing, and the importance of oral language in building strong writers. Based on the work of real K-2 students, the book shows teachers how to interpret student work, identify what they know, and build naturally on the strengths their work displays. it argues for consistent teaching that includes a delicate balance between direct instruction and independent learning. Children will thrive as writers if they experience success. This book offers the tools teachers need to put that success in the hands of every young writer.

Highly-effective, field-tested lesson plans that will help transform struggling elementary and middle school students into skilled writers