This book is a "best of" collection of tips and exercises to help nurture young writers and strengthen core skills. Since each activity has been tried and tested in thousands of classrooms, you'll find successful methods for turning even the most reluctant students into effective, powerful writers. Writing proficiency is more important than ever, especially with the demands of standardized testing and the rigors of new standards impacting our schools. This classroom-tested manual, created from a combination of the author's extensive in-class experience and acclaimed research in neural science and developmental biology, addresses all facets of writing competency. The content links to common core curriculum elements in state language arts standards for every state. Written by experienced educator and author Kendall Haven, the work features 13 innovative writing tips and 30 engaging activities for helping students become better writers. The first part of the book covers writing hints and techniques, while the second half contains core content activities for coaxing the best writing out of your students. A short introductory section lays out the five steps of effective student writing. Lastly, the text reveals how teachers—even those from non-literary backgrounds—can successfully teach and grade writing.

This book is a "best of" collection of tips and exercises to help nurture young writers and strengthen core skills. Since each activity has been tried and tested in thousands of classrooms, you'll find successful methods for turning even the most reluctant students into effective, powerful writers. Writing proficiency is more important than ever, especially with the demands of standardized testing and the rigors of new standards impacting our schools. This classroom-tested manual, created from a combination of the author's extensive in-class experience and acclaimed research in neural science and developmental biology, addresses all facets of writing competency. The content links to common core curriculum elements in state language arts standards for every state. Written by experienced educator and author Kendall Haven, the work features 13 innovative writing tips and 30 engaging activities for helping students become better writers. The first part of the book covers writing hints and techniques, while the second half contains core content activities for coaxing the best writing out of your students. A short introductory section lays out the five steps of effective student writing. Lastly, the text reveals how teachers—even those from non-literary backgrounds—can successfully teach and grade writing.

From social media to school success—take student writing to the next level! Your students may not realize it, but they’re already writers. All those informal text messages, Instagram captions, and Facebook posts have given them skills they can use as a springboard to the formal, content-specific writing they’ll need for success in school, college, and careers. The key, of course, is practice—plus a little guidance from you. And you’ll be ready, no matter what subject you teach, because this essential reference is packed with relevant, contemporary teaching strategies that are easily customizable to work across content areas. Inside, you’ll find: Engaging exercises based in the kinds of writing students already do Versatile "parachute writings"—quick bursts of practice to drop into a day’s lesson Strategies for introducing academic vocabulary and making it stick Skill-boosting strategies for successful summarizing and using textual evidence Variations specific to all disciplines and content areas Students should be writing daily, in all their classes, and they should be writing a lot, both inside and outside school. With this practical guide, you’ll be ready to help them up their writing game—and make literacy relevant, valuable, and authentic.

Helps students build skills in writing, learning, proof-reading, grammar and test-taking.

Are you doing all you can to further your career as a software developer? With today's rapidly changing and ever-expanding technologies, being successful requires more than technical expertise. To grow professionally, you also need soft skills and effective learning techniques. Honing those skills is what this book is all about. Authors Dave Hoover and Adewale Oshineye have cataloged dozens of behavior patterns to help you perfect essential aspects of your craft. Compiled from years of research, many interviews, and feedback from O'Reilly's online forum, these patterns address difficult situations that programmers, administrators, and DBAs face every day. And it's not just about financial success. Apprenticeship Patterns also approaches software development as a means to personal fulfillment. Discover how this book can help you make the best of both your life and your career. Solutions to some common obstacles that this book explores in-depth include: Burned out at work? "Nurture Your Passion" by finding a pet project to rediscover the joy of problem solving. Feeling overwhelmed by new information? Re-explore familiar territory by building something you've built before, then use "Retreat into Competence" to move forward again. Stuck in your learning? Seek a team of experienced and talented developers with whom you can "Be the Worst" for a while. "Brilliant stuff! Reading this book was like being in a time machine that pulled me back to those key learning moments in my career as a professional software developer and, instead of having to learn best practices the hard way, I had a guru sitting on my shoulder guiding me every step towards master craftsmanship. I'll certainly be recommending this book to clients. I wish I had this book 14 years ago!"-Russ Miles, CEO, OpenCredo

Developing children's writing abilities boosts their confidence, creates enjoyment and relevance in the task and cultivates a range of decision-making and problem-solving skills that can then be applied across the curriculum. The Countdown series provides all the support you need in helping children to improve their prose, poetry and non-fiction writing. Countdown to Non-Fiction Writing is a comprehensive and flexible resource which you can use in different ways. It includes: 37 stand-alone modules which cover all aspects of writing and understanding non-fiction texts, including the nature of language, logical thinking, recognising ‘facts’ and planning; A countdown flowchart provides an overview, showing how modules are linked and allowing teachers and pupils to track their progress; Photocopiable activity sheets for each module that show how to make decisions and solve problems which writers face on the journey to a finished piece of work; Teachers’ notes for each module with tips and guidance, including how modules can be used in the classroom, links to other modules and curriculum links, and advice on helping and guiding pupils in their writing; A self-study component so pupils can make their own progress through the material. This option gives young writers a sense of independence in thinking about their work and through offering a scaffolding of tasks, encourages confident and effective writing; 'Headers' for each module showing where along the 'countdown path' you are at that point; Contents page for quick access to particular modules and relevant aspects of writing. In short, Countdown to Non-Fiction Writing saves valuable planning time and gives you all the flexibility you need in helping pupils to prepare for, understand, and write non-fiction. The structure of the book allows teachers to utilise the modules for ‘self-study’, as a longer programme following the ‘countdown’ structure, or to dip into the book for individual lesson activities and ideas to fit in with wider programmes of study.

'Steps to Success' books provide expert instruction and drills to help adult learners master the basic skills of the featured sporting activity, in this case badminton.