Creating Young Writers Using the Six Traits to Enrich Writing Process in Primary Classrooms

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Creating Young Writers by Vicki SpandelThis long-awaited text offers a most comprehensive exploration of Spandel's effective 6-trait approach to writing for K-3 teachers. The perfect complement to its phenomenally successful parent text, Creating Writers, Third Edition, this new text provides clear guidelines on helping young students draft, assess, and revise their writing, as well as explicit criteria to show students precisely what they must do to succeed as writers in virtually any situation-including state tests.FeaturesLoaded with lesson ideas suitable for students K-3 will help teachers understand exactly how to teach writing to very beginning writers. (Chs. 3 & 4.) Samples of actual student work, both text and art, offers teachers a clear understanding of how to recognize strengths and growth in student work (Chs. 2 & 5). Specific examples of how to model writing for students encourage teachers to try modeling and to write with students as a teaching technique (Ch. 6). Samples of simple student portfolios take the mystery out of creating student portfolios by showing that portfolios need not be complex or long to work (Ch. 5). Explanation of how revision looks/works at beginning levels gives teachers (and students) in-depth understanding of what revision is and how to teach it (Ch. 5). Step-by-step review of the publishing process offers teachers and students options for "publishing" text at the classroom level (Ch. 5). Recommended books for teaching key traits of writing at primary level reinforce the link between reading and writing and gives even non-writers a way into the traits (Ch. 7). Analysis of classroom versus large-scale assessment from a primary education perspective strengthens teachers' understanding of what good assessment should look like at various levels (Ch. 8). Inside look at four classrooms that use process and trait-based writing in various ways helps current or prospective teachers see how many individual forms trait-based writing can take (Ch. 9)."I really enjoyed reading this book...I think this is an essential read for primary writing teachers!" Wendy Ellis, Literacy Specialist, Arkansas State Dept. of Education'Creating Young Writers will be a powerful resource for the primary teachers in my class...I find so many great ideas that I can also recommend this text to my 4-8 teachers. So much applies directly to the needs of students in middle grades.' Dennis O'Connor, Certified Online Instructor, Milken National EducatorAuthor BioVicki Spandel is a former language arts teacher, journalist, technical writer, and co-director of the teacher team that developed the original 6-trait model. She has written or co-authored more than 25 books for teachers and students, including-most recently-Creating Writers, 3rd edition (Allyn and Bacon), the Daybooks of Critical Reading and Writing for Grades 2-5 (Great Source Education Group) and The Write Traits Classroom Kits, Grades 3-8 (also published by Great Source). In the course of developing educational materials, Vicki serves as a visiting teacher in classrooms K-12. She has been the scoring director for more than 80 state, county and district writing assessments. She is currently the lead trainer for Write Traits, teacher in-service specialists who offer training and consultation in process-based 6-trait instruction and assessment throughout the country.