The Art of Teaching Writing

Rating:
Summary: Excellence in Teaching, Excellence in Writing
Review: Lucy McCalkins' book is inspirational, full of valuable information, and examples drawn from experience in teaching, learning and writing. She tells each teacher to remember just how much they love writing, so they can effectively teach children how to write. And, in this book, she presents guidelines on how to create such lesson plans for every level (from pre-schoolers to adults). Her recommended readings for children and teaching-writing professionals are also priceless! This is definitely a "MUST BUY" book!

Rating:
Summary: Good Book for Elementary School Teachers
Review: The Art of Teaching and Writing by Lucy Calkins is a book that I would recommend for new Elementary School Teachers. This book makes an attempt at illustrating how teachers can create creative writing lesson plans for young students.
I must admit the size of this book was a little intimidating. It isn't really the type of book that you would read straight through, but perhaps skim through picking out material that pertains to what you want to convey to your students. The material in each chapter did not always flow well and a few times I found myself having to reread what I had just read. However I did enjoy the short stories the author included and the idea of students forming their writing around their own lives.
The fundamentals of good writing are clearly identified. The author goes through great pains to stress the importance of writing rough drafts, revising and allowing others to review the work and edit it. This book encourages creativity as long as it follows the fundamentals of good writing.

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Summary: The Art of Teaching Writing- Review
Review: The Art of Teaching Writing by Luck McCormick Calkin is a book that would be great for new teachers. It is also for teachers who need to come out of their shell when they are writing. After reading this, you will get a feel of what good writing is. It makes a teacher want to get up and start writing with her class and teach the fundamentals that were in the book. In this book there is an ample book list, which is great for reading out loud and silently. Even though this book is wordy and lengthy, it is a good idea for a teacher to read before teacher writing.

Rating:
Summary: The Art of Teaching Writing- Review
Review: The Art of Teaching Writing by Luck McCormick Calkin is a book that would be great for new teachers. It is also for teachers who need to come out of their shell when they are writing. After reading this, you will get a feel of what good writing is. It makes a teacher want to get up and start writing with her class and teach the fundamentals that were in the book. In this book there is an ample book list, which is great for reading out loud and silently. Even though this book is wordy and lengthy, it is a good idea for a teacher to read before teacher writing.

Rating:
Summary: Worthwhile Read
Review: The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy McCormick Calkins
I would reccomend this book to anyone who must assist a child in learning to write, escially teachers, but also parents who want to better assist thier children. Calkins keeps the focus in the "why" rather then simply the "how". She allows the reader to see the importance of each of the different strategies and methods and the skills that they produce. Throughout the book she inserts stories about students and even her own child to illustrate how the methods work and the benefits they can provide. Her inclusion of real-life occurances make the book very readable. While many books of this type end up with a text-book feel, simply relaying factual information, this book has a warmth to it which makes it feel more like a novel then a manuel for teaching writing. This book is worth buying, I know that I will turn to it in the future as both a teacher and a student reference

Rating:
Summary: Good book for teachers
Review: The Art of Teaching Writing, by Lucy McCormick Calkins is an enlightening read for new teachers everywhere. It provides challenges for teachers to develope personalized teaching skills, discusses many aspects of the feild that teachers find while working in education, as well as discusses modern ways of teaching writing skills instead of the "old style." Not an easy read at all, hard to keep interest throughout the book, and very intimidating in size

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Summary: To Teach Writing---Read About The Art of Teaching Writing
Review: This book was used in the two summer sessions of the Colorado Writing Project that I have taken. It is geared more towards elementary teachers, yet I teach middle school & have learned so much from Calkins. It gives great scenarios of teachers not giving proper feedback to child writers & gives examples of what is better. As teachers, we know that even constructive criticism is not always taken well by children. Calkins knows it's hard to teach writing without the criticism, but she helps us learn to conference better with our kids. Being able to say the write thing(pun intended) at the right time is crucial. The book reteaches the stages of writing and gives hundreds of samples of student writing. It's a great book to go along with the book What A Writer Needs. Also, Calkins just came out with The Art of Teaching Reading...I just got a copy & can't wait to have the same great experience as I have had with The Art of Teaching Writing. Of course, these are books we are done reading...never done learning!

Rating:
Summary: To Teach Writing---Read About The Art of Teaching Writing
Review: This book was used in the two summer sessions of the Colorado Writing Project that I have taken. It is geared more towards elementary teachers, yet I teach middle school & have learned so much from Calkins. It gives great scenarios of teachers not giving proper feedback to child writers & gives examples of what is better. As teachers, we know that even constructive criticism is not always taken well by children. Calkins knows it's hard to teach writing without the criticism, but she helps us learn to conference better with our kids. Being able to say the write thing(pun intended) at the right time is crucial. The book reteaches the stages of writing and gives hundreds of samples of student writing. It's a great book to go along with the book What A Writer Needs. Also, Calkins just came out with The Art of Teaching Reading...I just got a copy & can't wait to have the same great experience as I have had with The Art of Teaching Writing. Of course, these are books we are done reading...never done learning!

Rating:
Summary: A Must Have for All Writing Teachers
Review: This widely encompassing book includes chapters on poetry, fiction, and report writing. It includes extensive sections on reading-writing connections, writing development, and teacher-student conferences. This book is truly a a must have in your professional libray. You'll wonder how you taught writing all these years without it!

Rating:
Summary: Too narrative for an informative text
Review: While as a writing consultant and presenter, I do recommend many of the strategies mentioned in this book, I also find that a majority of my audiences (inservice teachers) admit that reading Lucy Calkins is difficult. Finding her important ideas is like looking for treasure without a map! What about clarity and conciseness? Despite the focus on story-telling, the book is worth reading - particularly if you enjoy Mitchner novels.