The Writing Revolution: A Guide to Advancing Thinking Through Writing in All Subjects and Grades
Product ID: 45757298
Why you need a writing revolution in your classroom and how to lead it The Writing Revolution (TWR) provides a clear method of instruction that you can use no matter what subject or grade level you teach. The model, also known as The Hochman Method, has demonstrated, over and over, that it can turn weak writers into strong communicators by focusing on specific techniques that match their needs and by providing them with targeted feedback. Insurmountable as the challenges faced by many students may seem, The Writing Revolution can make a dramatic difference. And the method does more than improve writing skills. It also helps: Boost reading comprehension Improve organizational and study skills Enhance speaking abilities Develop analytical capabilities The Writing Revolution is as much a method of teaching content as it is a method of teaching writing. There's no separate writing block and no separate writing curriculum. Instead, teachers of all subjects adapt the TWR strategies and activities to their current curriculum and weave them into their content instruction. But perhaps what's most revolutionary about the TWR method is that it takes the mystery out of learning to write well. It breaks the writing process down into manageable chunks and then has students practice the chunks they need, repeatedly, while also learning content. Review: Great resource for content area writing in homeschool setting - I found The Writing Revolution while searching for “content area writing” and “writing across the curriculum” resources to use in homeschooling my daughter. While some materials that are written for the classroom are hard to put into practice in a homeschooling situation, such is not the case with this book. Rather, having tried several homeschool writing curricula, and not having found anything that really “clicked” for us, I feel like I have found what I have been looking for in this book. Some of the things that this book advocates and that work well in the homeschool setting are: starting with what the student is able to do, not what they “should” be able to do according to age or grade level; using the student’s work to inform instruction; using a “gradual release of responsibility” model (I don’t remember this exact term being used in the book, but it addresses starting with modeling, then doing activities together, and gradually moving towards students being able to do things independently); and writing in the content areas to reinforce what is being learned in subject areas such as history and science, rather than having a separate writing curriculum that is unrelated to what is being studied in other areas. In some ways, I think this method would be easier to apply in the homeschool than the classroom, because it is easier to differentiate instruction when you are working with fewer students, who are usually different ages, and homeschooling parents are more likely to be teaching multiple subjects to their children, so integrating writing instruction with content area learning makes sense and is easier to implement than in a school setting where, at least at the secondary level, you are more likely to have different teachers for different subjects. The only drawback I can see in a homeschool setting is that more teacher preparation is required compared to other homeschool writing curricula, because the lessons are meant to be integrated into the content areas, and are not all pre-planned. This might make it difficult for a homeschooling parent who is juggling multiple children of various ages, especially if they have babies and toddlers in the mix (I only have two kids, ages 12 and 16, and am only homeschooling my 12 year old). But the benefit of this method is that it will help you to provide a very individualized writing program that can be easily adapted to your child’s needs and abilities. Review: The best guide to teaching writing skills! - This is an excellent book containing a wealth of practical wisdom on teaching writing. The approach is grounded in research on best practices and the activities and strategies are explained in a clear, straighforward way that is very accessible to anyone implementing them. The methods are simultaneously both highly structured and flexible. The sentence level work is so valuable for students and often missing from other approaches to writing instruction. Explicitly teaching and providing deliberate practice with high impact grammatical structures like appositives and subordinate clauses is a brilliant move, effectively giving students important tools for thinking. The outlining template is excellent and makes a whole lot more sense than the multitude of graphic organizers students are often given and too often confused by. The sharp focus on embedding writing instruction in the content of the curriculum is critically important. This guide provides not only the broad strokes and a detailed blueprint for putting it into practice, but also a number of valuable nuggets of guidance and tips (how to prevent unintended confusion when giving students sentence expansion activiites; avoiding highlighters because students tend to highlight too much when using them; asking students to create multiple topic sentences for the same topic, etc.). The book also contains many useful photocopiable resources. It deserves a spot on every teacher's shelf; I know I'll be referring to it often!
| Best Sellers Rank | #51,832 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #50 in Common Core #122 in Language Arts Teaching Materials #139 in Educational Certification & Development |
| Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 2,395 Reviews |
A**R
Great resource for content area writing in homeschool setting
I found The Writing Revolution while searching for “content area writing” and “writing across the curriculum” resources to use in homeschooling my daughter. While some materials that are written for the classroom are hard to put into practice in a homeschooling situation, such is not the case with this book. Rather, having tried several homeschool writing curricula, and not having found anything that really “clicked” for us, I feel like I have found what I have been looking for in this book. Some of the things that this book advocates and that work well in the homeschool setting are: starting with what the student is able to do, not what they “should” be able to do according to age or grade level; using the student’s work to inform instruction; using a “gradual release of responsibility” model (I don’t remember this exact term being used in the book, but it addresses starting with modeling, then doing activities together, and gradually moving towards students being able to do things independently); and writing in the content areas to reinforce what is being learned in subject areas such as history and science, rather than having a separate writing curriculum that is unrelated to what is being studied in other areas. In some ways, I think this method would be easier to apply in the homeschool than the classroom, because it is easier to differentiate instruction when you are working with fewer students, who are usually different ages, and homeschooling parents are more likely to be teaching multiple subjects to their children, so integrating writing instruction with content area learning makes sense and is easier to implement than in a school setting where, at least at the secondary level, you are more likely to have different teachers for different subjects. The only drawback I can see in a homeschool setting is that more teacher preparation is required compared to other homeschool writing curricula, because the lessons are meant to be integrated into the content areas, and are not all pre-planned. This might make it difficult for a homeschooling parent who is juggling multiple children of various ages, especially if they have babies and toddlers in the mix (I only have two kids, ages 12 and 16, and am only homeschooling my 12 year old). But the benefit of this method is that it will help you to provide a very individualized writing program that can be easily adapted to your child’s needs and abilities.
Y**A
The best guide to teaching writing skills!
This is an excellent book containing a wealth of practical wisdom on teaching writing. The approach is grounded in research on best practices and the activities and strategies are explained in a clear, straighforward way that is very accessible to anyone implementing them. The methods are simultaneously both highly structured and flexible. The sentence level work is so valuable for students and often missing from other approaches to writing instruction. Explicitly teaching and providing deliberate practice with high impact grammatical structures like appositives and subordinate clauses is a brilliant move, effectively giving students important tools for thinking. The outlining template is excellent and makes a whole lot more sense than the multitude of graphic organizers students are often given and too often confused by. The sharp focus on embedding writing instruction in the content of the curriculum is critically important. This guide provides not only the broad strokes and a detailed blueprint for putting it into practice, but also a number of valuable nuggets of guidance and tips (how to prevent unintended confusion when giving students sentence expansion activiites; avoiding highlighters because students tend to highlight too much when using them; asking students to create multiple topic sentences for the same topic, etc.). The book also contains many useful photocopiable resources. It deserves a spot on every teacher's shelf; I know I'll be referring to it often!
T**Y
This should be on every teacher's required reading.
This makes year 37 for me, and I have taught ELA for the entirety of my career. There are a lot of techniques and procedures in this book that I had been using for years, but this past year one of my colleagues suggested this book to me. Of course, I ordered it immediately, and I am blown away! This book makes writing instruction so approachable, no matter what discipline you teach. The author addresses building blocks to help alleviate the monumental task of writing for students and even suggests ways for teachers to avoid the grading essays plague. This is a must-have for teachers, no matter what grade level or class subject!
J**.
Teach writing more effectively!
Excellent book for a teacher learning new strategies for teaching writing to their students. Science and research based.
B**4
Writing Club Book Rec!
This is an excellent book to use for a book club if you teach writing at the elementary level. It really made me pause and reflect on my current practices and helped me see where I could improve to better support my students’ writing development. The strategies are practical and thought-provoking, and it’s sparked some great professional discussions. Highly recommend for any educator wanting to strengthen their writing instruction!
N**M
I've bought two copies now.... GAME CHANGER FOR TEACHING WRITING!
This book is absolutely amazing! I read it over the summer and come to find out, we are doing a book study with this book this fall at my school. My principal was so excited to hear that I am familiar with it. It has helped me to change my entire philosophy and approach to teaching writing. I would recommend this book to everyone that struggles to teach writing effectively, no matter the grade level!!!
S**E
Fantastic Resource
I highly recommend this resource for all English teachers and for anyone who wants to improve their own writing or help someone else improve theirs. Great and easy to follow ideas and suggestions.
C**R
Essential
I bought this book because I was concerned about my son's writing skills as he was heading into high school. I tried a few different writing guides but this one made the rest irrelevant. I was so impressed that we read it twice! It starts out by teaching strategies for creating more complex sentences. Next, it lays out the process for constructing a single paragraph outline in order to write an organized paragraph. Then it focuses on how to compose a multi-paragraph essay. I've seen improvements in his writing already. I can't believe he wasn't given the skills he needed in his first 8 years of school. Now he has some catching up to do!
D**T
Great addition to teacher toolkit
Developing literacy while covering course content? Tick! Readable and clear? Tick! Comes with helpful extra online materials at no extra cost? Tick! Even though this is a US book, it is still highly applicable in an Australian teaching environment. I would recommend it to teachers of any subject on the Australian curriculum, particularly in secondary education (my area), but I know primary teachers would also find this helpful, too. Highly recommended.
D**M
Superb!
The Writing Revolution is exactly as the title describes, a book that supports teachers to fundamentally change how they think about teaching writing for the better. Talking the reader through how to break the writing process down into steps, starting with sentence-level activities and building strategies whilst learning content at the same time, this book offers practical advice and examples throughout for all teachers. It has had a huge positive impact on our teaching as well as the teaching of many of our colleagues and friends in education, we highly recommend it. Dave Tushingham and Rhiannon Rainbow- Authors of The Edu-Book Club
K**A
Not impressed
Not impressed
N**K
A must read
Great book
A**Z
Excelente método
Lo mejor del libro es la claridad con la que se explica el método. Además, contiene muchos ejemplos que facilitan la aplicación para diferentes niveles.
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