Key Practices To Observe
"Reading Like a Writer" and "Reading/Writing Connections" explore how teachers use literature to help students become better writers. They feature commentary from experts on teaching writing at the elementary level, as well as classroom illustrations highlighting the practices of several teachers. See Profiles
As you watch, look for the following key practices:
- Teachers think about texts from the viewpoint of a reader, a writer, and a teacher.
- Teachers demonstrate strategies that help students learn to read as writers.
- Teachers use "touchstone texts" to help illustrate and clarify writing craft for students.
- Students choose "mentor texts" by authors they admire and/or with whom they identify.
- Teachers and students look for specific "craft moves": what writers have done to make the text work for readers.
- Students identify with the choices made by professional writers.
- Teachers give students the opportunity to write the kinds of texts they like to read.
- Students experiment with the craft moves they observe in their reading.
- Students identify and critique craft moves in their own writing and analyze how their writing will affect the reader.