Teaching Writing : Balancing Process and Product

by Tompkins, Gail E.

• ISBN13: 9780131121874
• ISBN10: 0131121871
• Additional ISBN(s): 9780131584167, 9780139554698
• Edition: 4th
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-01-01
• Publisher: Prentice Hall
• More Book Details
• Purchase Benefits

Summary

Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Product continues to be the definitive book on how to teach writing in grades K-8, as it is the only text with comprehensive coverage of both process and product. NEW!Teacher's Notes: Supporting Struggling Writers are special features that help teachers adapt chapter content specifically for struggling students. NEW!Teacher's Notes: Assisting English Language Learners point out the best ways for teachers to support these student writers. Vignettes open every chapter to illustrate how real teachers have used the chapter content in their elementary classrooms. Minilessons in every chapter model skills and strategies instruction for use in the classroom. NEW!Instructional Previews help ground readers in chapter content, best addressing the question of what to teach and when. Step-by-Step features clearly illustrate instructional procedures. Rubrics throughout chapters help readers address and clarify assessment issues. NEW!A Descriptive Writing chapter addresses descriptive writing as a specific genre as well as an essential component of narrative writing, poetic writing, and other genres.

Author Biography

Gail E. Tompkins is a Professor at California State University, Fresno, in the Department of Literacy and Early Education.

Table of Contents

PART ONE Process and Product	1	(184)
Teaching Children to Write	3	(38)
Writing About Weather	4	(5)
The Writing Process	9	(19)
Stage 1: Prewriting	10	(7)
Stage 2: Drafting	17	(1)
Stage 3: Revising	18	(4)
Stage 4: Editing	22	(3)
Stage 5: Publishing	25	(3)
Supporting Children As They Learn to Write	28	(10)
Modeled Writing	29	(2)
Shared Writing	31	(1)
Interactive Writing	31	(5)
Guided Writing	36	(1)
Independent Writing	36	(2)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Teaching Children to Write	38	(3)
Writing Workshop	41	(34)
Reading and Writing About Families	42	(5)
The Components of Writing Workshop	47	(6)
Writing	49	(1)
Sharing	50	(1)
Minilessons	51	(1)
Reading Aloud to Children	52	(1)
Comparing Writing Workshop to Reading Workshop	52	(1)
Implementing Writing Workshop	53	(20)
Introducing the Writing Process	55	(8)
Arranging the Classroom for Writing Workshop	63	(1)
Adapting Writing Workshop for Emergent Writers	64	(1)
Incorporating Writing Workshop into Units	65	(5)
Monitoring Children's Progress	70	(3)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Writing Workshop	73	(2)
Writing Strategies and Skills	75	(32)
Working With Novice Writers	76	(4)
Strategies and Skills	80	(18)
Writing Strategies	82	(5)
Writing Skills	87	(11)
Teaching Strategies and Skills	98	(6)
Minilessons	100	(1)
Demonstrations and Other Teachable Moments	100	(1)
Why Teach Strategies and Skills?	101	(3)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Writing Strategies and Skills	104	(3)
Writers' Tools	107	(42)
Writing Pen Pal Letters	108	(5)
Spelling	113	(21)
Invented Spelling	114	(1)
Stages of Spelling Development	114	(4)
Analyzing Children's Spelling Development	118	(5)
Teaching Children to Spell Conventionally	123	(11)
Handwriting	134	(7)
The Goal of Handwriting	134	(1)
Teaching Handwriting through Writing	134	(4)
The Handwriting-Writing Connection	138	(3)
Computers	141	(5)
Word Processing and Other Computer Programs for Writers	141	(4)
Using the Internet	145	(1)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Writers' Tools	146	(3)
Assessing Students' Writing	149	(36)
Using Portfolios	150	(3)
Informal Monitoring of Student Writing	153	(6)
Observing	154	(1)
Conferencing	154	(2)
Collecting Writing Samples	156	(1)
Keeping Records	157	(2)
Process Measures	159	(9)
Writing Process Checklists	161	(2)
Assessment Conferences	163	(2)
Self-Assessment	165	(3)
Product Measures	168	(11)
Holistic Scoring	168	(1)
Primary Trait Scoring	169	(1)
Analytic Scoring	170	(2)
Rubrics	172	(5)
Responding to Student Writing	177	(1)
Assigning Grades	178	(1)
Reporting to Parents	179	(3)
Explaining the Rationale	179	(1)
Demonstrating the Program	180	(1)
Displaying the Results	181	(1)
Communicating Through Report Cards	181	(1)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Assessing Students' Writing	182	(3)
PART TWO Writing Genres	185	(268)
Journal Writing	187	(38)
Responding in a Reading Log	189	(3)
Types of Journals	192	(19)
Personal Journals	194	(1)
Dialogue Journals	195	(4)
Reading Logs	199	(2)
Learning Logs	201	(5)
Double-Entry Journals	206	(2)
Simulated Journals	208	(3)
Young Children's Journals	211	(1)
Teaching Students to Write in Journals	211	(11)
Introducing Children to Journal Writing	213	(1)
Instructional Procedures for Journal Writing	213	(5)
Sustaining Journal Writing	218	(3)
Assessing Children's Journals	221	(1)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Journal Writing	222	(3)
Letter Writing	225	(24)
Writing About Favorite Books	227	(3)
Types of Letters	230	(11)
Friendly Letters	230	(9)
Business Letters	239	(1)
Simulated Letters	240	(1)
Teaching Students to Write Letters	241	(6)
Introducing Letter Writing	241	(1)
Writing Letters	242	(1)
Assessing Students' Letters	242	(5)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Letter Writing	247	(2)
Descriptive Writing	249	(28)
Writing Vivid Descriptions	251	(3)
Descriptive Techniques	254	(6)
Specific Information	255	(1)
Word Choice	255	(2)
Sensory Images	257	(1)
Comparisons	258	(2)
Dialogue	260	(1)
Teaching Students to Write Descriptively	260	(14)
Teaching Minilessons	261	(9)
Using the Writing Process	270	(1)
In Theme Studies	270	(2)
In Writing Workshop	272	(1)
Assessing Students' Writing	272	(2)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Descriptive Writing	274	(3)
Biographical Writing	277	(26)
Writing a Class Biography	279	(3)
Types of Biographical Writing	282	(14)
Personal Narratives	282	(3)
Autobiographies	285	(4)
Biographies	289	(7)
Teaching Children to Write Biographies	296	(6)
Introducing Biography with Personal Narratives	297	(1)
Writing Biographies and Autobiographies	297	(1)
Assessing Students' Biographies	297	(5)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Biographical Writing	302	(1)
Expository Writing	303	(36)
Traveling the Oregon Trail	305	(5)
Expository Text Structures	310	(4)
Description	310	(1)
Sequence	311	(1)
Comparison	311	(1)
Cause and Effect	311	(1)
Problem and Solution	311	(3)
How Children Apply the Patterns	314	(1)
Types of Expository Writing	314	(16)
``All About . . .'' Books	314	(5)
Collaborative Reports	319	(1)
Individual Reports	320	(3)
Abc Books	323	(1)
Riddles	323	(1)
Posters, Diagrams, and Charts	323	(2)
Cubes	325	(1)
Multigenre Projects	325	(5)
Teaching Children About Expository Writing	330	(7)
Introducing the Expository Text Structures	330	(1)
Writing Collaborative Reports	330	(4)
Writing Individual Reports	334	(1)
Assessing Children's Expository Writing	334	(3)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Expository Writing	337	(2)
Narrative Writing	339	(38)
Retelling and Writing Stories	342	(6)
Elements of Story Structure	348	(15)
Plot	348	(5)
Setting	353	(1)
Characters	354	(5)
Theme	359	(1)
Point of View	359	(3)
Literary Devices	362	(1)
Teaching Children to Write Stories	363	(11)
Teaching an Element of Story Structure	364	(1)
Exploration Activities	364	(7)
Assessing Stories That Children Write	371	(3)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Narrative Writing	374	(3)
Poetry Writing	377	(44)
Reading and Writing Poetry	380	(4)
Wordplay	384	(11)
Learning the Meaning of Words	384	(6)
Laughing with Language	390	(1)
Creating Word Pictures	391	(2)
Playing with Rhyme	393	(2)
Poetic Forms	395	(19)
Formula Poems	396	(4)
Free-Form Poems	400	(4)
Syllable and Word-Count Poems	404	(2)
Rhymed Verse Poems	406	(1)
Model Poems	407	(2)
Poetic Devices	409	(5)
Teaching Children to Write Poems	414	(4)
Introducing Children to Poetry	414	(2)
Teaching Children to Write Poems Using a Poetic Form	416	(2)
Assessing Children's Poems	418	(1)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Poetry Writing	418	(3)
Persuasive Writing	421	(32)
Writing Mother's Day Cards	423	(3)
Persuasion	426	(6)
Three Ways to Persuade	427	(1)
Propaganda	428	(2)
Organization of an Argument	430	(2)
Types of Persuasive Writing	432	(6)
Persuasive Posters	432	(2)
Persuasive Letters	434	(2)
Persuasive Essays	436	(2)
Advertisements and Commercials	438	(1)
Teaching Children to Write Persuasively	438	(12)
Introducing Persuasive Writing	439	(2)
Writing Persuasive Letters and Essays	441	(1)
Writing Advertisements	441	(7)
Assessing Children's Persuasive Writing	448	(2)
Answering Teachers' Questions About . . . Persuasive Writing	450	(3)
References	453	(14)
Author Index	467	(4)
Subject Index	471

Excerpts

Teaching Writing: Balancing Process and Productcontinues to be the definitive book on how to teach writing, as it is the only text with comprehensive coverage of bothprocess and product.This is because I understand that teachers in kindergarten through eighth grade must balance the attention paid to both the process that children use as they write and the quality of their compositions. Overview of the Fourth Edition My new edition focuses on writing process, collaborative learning, reading and writing connections, writing genres, and writing across the curriculum. The text provides practical strategies for teaching and assessing writing--with step-by-step directions--presenting more than 100 student samples to illustrate the teaching strategies. This edition is divided into two parts. The first part, "Process and Product," focuses on the writing process that children use as they write and on ways to assess children's writing. Readers will learn about the stages in the writing process--involving prewriting, drafting, revising, editing, and publishing--and how to teach elementary students to use these stages as a recursive cycle when they write during writing workshop, literature focus units, and thematic units. Readers will also learn how to teach students to develop ideas, organize their writing, choose vocabulary, apply stylistic devices, and correct mechanical errors in order to create high-quality compositions. The second part, "Writing Genres," includes chapters on eight writing forms: journal writing, letter writing, descriptive writing, biograpical writing, expository writing, narrative writing, poetic writing, and persuasive writing. At the beginning of each chapter, I delineate an instructional sequence with goals and activities for teaching each genre in kindergarten through eighth grade. I emphasize five levels of composition instruction that vary according to how much scaffolding the teacher provides: modeled writing, shard writing, interactive writing, guided writing, and independent writing. Through this sequence, teachers vary the amount of support they provide student writers, and students increasingly assume more responsibility for their own writing. Special Features of the Fourth Edition These features increase the effectiveness of this text and provide support for teachers as they teach writing, encourage students to assume more responsibility for using the writing process, and assess the quality of students' finished products. NEW!Teacher's Notes: Supporting Struggling Writersare special features that help teachers adapt chapter content specifically for struggling students. NEW!Teacher's Notes: Assisting English Language Learnerspoint out the best ways for teachers to support these student writers. Vignettesopen every chapter to illustrate how real teachers have used the chapter content in their elementary classrooms. Minilessonsin every chapter model skills and strategies instruction for use in the classroom. NEW!Instructional Previewshelp ground readers in chapter content, best addressing the question of what to teach and when. Step-by-Stepfeatures clearly illustrate instructional procedures. Rubricsthroughout chapters help readers address and clarify assessment issues. NEW!A Descriptive Writing chapteraddresses descriptive writing as a specific genre as well as an essential component of narrative writing, poetic writing, and other genres.