Strategic Writing Mini-Lessons for All Students, Grades 4-8

Janet C. Richards is a Professor of Literacy and Research at the University of South Florida, Tampa, where she teaches graduate courses in qualitative and transdisciplinary research, academic writing, literacy, and multicultural literature. She publishes extensively and was selected as a Lansdowne Visiting Scholar, University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. She also served as an International Reading Association Volunteer Literacy Scholar in emerging Eastern European and Central Asian nations, and is the Senior Editor of the Journal of Reading Education.

Foreword by Jane Hansen Introduction: Meeting Your Students' Needs With Specific Writing Strategies by Janet C. Richards, Cynthia A. Lassonde Section I. Strategic Inventing: Contemplating Ideas 1. Color-Coding Sources by Cynthia A. Lassonde 2. Developing Students' Awareness of Their Strengths as Writers with an I-Can! Chart by Joanne Durham 3. Using a Blueprint Graphic Organizer to Build a Story by Jennifer A. Fontenot 4. Using Genre Charts to Guide Planning and Writing by Gabe Horn, Susan D. Martin 5. Reciprocal Text Structure Mapping for Expository Writing by Joyce C. Fine 6. Thanks for the Memories! Using a Sensory-Details Chart to Prepare to Write by Sandra Gandy, Mariah Kraus 7. Organizing an Expository Essay: Using Big Idea Checklists to Support Writers by Allison Stone, Joyce C. Fine Section II. Strategic Drafting: Putting Ideas on Paper 8. Quilting Together an Expository Paper in Four Steps by Cynthia A. Lassonde 9. Team Writing to Foster Students' Motivation to Write: Moving From Group Work to Independence by Janet C. Richards 10. Use Your Words: Learning to Paraphrase by Janet C. Richards 11. Creating Rounded Characters through Cartoon Connections by Krishna Seunarinesingh 12. Applying the Structure Strategy to Write Persuasive Texts by Bonnie J. F. Meyer, Jennifer Ireland, Melissa Ray 13. Buddies Build It Stronger: A Sentence-Combining Strategy by Todd Sundeen Section III. Strategic Revising: Attending to Organization and Cohesiveness 14. Deconstruct Then Reconstruct a First Draft by Cynthia A. Lassonde 15. Portal Writing: A Strategy to Help Writers Rethink Their Writing by S. Rebecca Leigh 16. Conferring with an Avatar by Chase Young, Lynda Swanner 17. Writing Aloud: A Sound-Savvy Approach to Writing by Sandra K. Athans 18. A Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words: Revising With Photographs by Noreen S. Moore Section IV. Strategic Editing: The Finishing Touch 19. Revising and Editing Through Primary Sources by Nancy Williams, Kathleen Muir 20. Code Switching, an Editing Strategy by Rebecca Wheeler 21. The Imagine, Describe, Resolve, and Confrim (IDRC) Strategy by Lindsay Sheronick Yearta, Katie Stover, Lynne Newton, Karen Wood 22. Probable Passages: Using Story Structure to Write and Revise a Predictive Passage by Katie Stover, Jean Vintinner, Crystal Glover, Karen Wood References Index About the Authors About the Contributors

"Teachers often worry about how to teach writing to students at different levels, especially to students who seem to struggle as writers. With those teachers in mind, this book provides tips about how to tailor instruction." -- Jane Hanson, Director "This book is the most useful writing resource I have encountered in all my years of teaching. It is filled with practical strategies to produce writers with high-quality work product and high interest in the craft of writing." -- Linda Sarver, Teacher "A true resource for the teacher of writing. The plethora of strategies is accessible and appropriate for each grade level and learning ability." -- Gary L. Willhite, Associate Professor "Great resource! A variety of helpful strategies are offered by teachers in authentic classroom situations. Modifications of these lessons for struggling, ELL, and advanced students enable all to benefit." -- Marsha Basanda, Fifth-Grade Teacher "As a Middle School Literacy Specialist with many years of experience in teaching reading and writing, I appreciate this book and highly recommend it as a tool for educators. The authors have compiled the most reliable and best proven practices for teaching writing and made them easily accessible for students' immediate use. This book not only has tested methods that work for teaching writing, it has modifications for all students, including struggling and advanced writers. Best of all, you'll discover practical approaches that provide actual mini-lessons with integrated Common Core Standards and ideas to generate purpose for writer motivation. Whether you teach English, Science, Reading, or any other area, your students can benefit from learning the writing strategies in this book." -- Bonnie Snyder, Literacy Specialist