A Fresh Look at Writing

In an era when teachers struggle for quality time with their students, Donald Graves introduces a text that creates lifetime writers as well as responsible learners--a text that focuses on teaching that lasts.

A Fresh Look at Writing is Graves's most comprehensive book yet. In it, he expands on many of his earlier approaches, examining portfolios, record keeping, methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and a rich range of genre including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He demonstrates how to bring writing into your own life and experience the joys of the craft along with the students.

"Actions," glossed objectives appearing throughout the book, provide new ways to understand yourself and reach your students. With them, Graves helps you profit from your own history as learner, listen to children more effectively, discover their potential, yet expect more from them.

A Fresh Look at Writing is a true resource for professionals who want the latest ideas on the teaching of writing, as well as for preservice teachers about to step into the classroom for the first time.

The accompanying Professional's Guide assists those who want to build a writing or language arts course around the text. It features a detailed, week-by-week description of fourteen sessions, including guidelines for background preparation in writing; reading and working with children; classroom demonstration; and journal reflection. In addition, the guide shows how A Fresh Look at Writing can be used as a supplement to reading courses, research studies, summer courses, and workshops.

To learn more about Donald Graves, visit www.donaldgraves.org.

e with their students, Donald Graves introduces a text that creates lifetime writers as well as responsible learners.

In an era when teachers struggle for quality time with their students, Donald Graves introduces a text that creates lifetime writers as well as responsible learners--a text that focuses on teaching that lasts. A Fresh Look at Writing is Graves's most comprehensive book yet. In it, he expands on many of his earlier approaches, examining portfolios, record keeping, methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and a rich range of genre including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He demonstrates how to bring writing into your own life and experience the joys of the craft along with the students. "Actions," glossed objectives appearing throughout the book, provide new ways to understand yourself and reach your students. With them, Graves helps you profit from your own history as learner, listen to children more effectively, discover their potential, yet expect more from them. A Fresh Look at Writing is a true resource for professionals who want the latest ideas on the teaching of writing, as

Includes bibliographical references (p. 385-387) and index.

Donald H. Graves has been involved in writing research for two decades. His books Writing: Teachers &Children at Work (Heinemann, 1983) and A Fresh Look at Writing (Heinemann, 1994) are best-sellers throughout the English-speaking world and have revolutionized the way writing is taught in schools. Dr. Graves has been a teacher, school principal, and language supervisor, education director, and a director of language in bilingual, ESL, and special programs. He has also been a co-director of an undergraduate urban teacher preparation program and a professor of an early childhood program. He is currently Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire and lives in Jackson, New Hampshire.

Make a Fresh Start

1. Consider Your Roots

Learn from the Children

Why Would Anyone Ever Want to Write?

Day One: Help Children to Write and Keep Writing

Understand Children When They Write

Expect More of Your Writers

Establish the Essentials for Child Responsibility

7. Conditions for Effective Writing

Begin to Organize Your Classroom

Help Children to Share Their Writing

Evaluate Your Own Classroom

Experiment with Portfolios

Teach the Fundamentals of Writing

12. Help Children Learn Conventions

Help Children to Read Their Own Work

Help Children to Revise Their Work

How to Keep Handwriting in Perspective

Spell to Communicate

Answers to Frequent Questions Teachers Ask About Teaching Writing

Broaden the Children's Repertoire for Writing

18. Help Children Read and Write Fiction

Show the Children How to Write Nonfiction

Uncover the World Through Poetry

Continue to Learn with Others

21. Work with Parents and Administrators

Live the Professional Life