Teaching Nonfiction Revision

What happens when a bestselling nonfiction children's book author pairs up with a nationally known writing teacher to discuss revision strategies? Magic. Sneed B. Collard III and Vicki Spandel blow the roof off everything you thought you knew about teaching nonfiction writing and the purposes for revision. Dozens of strategy lessons pulled from Sneed's professional writing experience followed by Vicki's classroom-savvy tips and exercises give you the nuts and bolts of teaching revision to make nonfiction writing more meaningful, useful, and enjoyable for the reader. Using a "big-to-small" process of revision, from Big Picture ideas down to individual words, Sneed and Vicki demystify revision and help students become clear, persuasive, compelling-even entertaining-writers. "With your encouragement and guidance," they write, "students will discover the joy of turning their first rough ideas into something readers cannot put down."

Presents practical techniques designed to help teachers of upper elementary grades and up discover and share the power of revision.

"You mean I have to change my writing?" Georgia Heard frequently hears this question from students. With Revision Toolbox, Second Edition, you'll lead students to see that revision is a natural part of narrative and nonfiction writing. Heard writes that students need to be able to bring the tools of revision to writing the way a carpenter comes equipped for a job with a toolbox. So she shares three revision toolboxes--structure, words, and voice--each with dozens of teaching ideas and strategies. They'll help writers: re-envision revision as an engaging process, not as a punishment; craft a piece along the way instead of editing only at the end; learn and apply revision strategies for work in any genre; and reread their writing with specific revision goals in mind. This second edition brings Heard's lessons and strategies--new and familiar--into the Common Core era with a focus on narrative, informational, and opinion genres. She also includes tools for targeted instruction such as strategic conferences, reproducible planning templates for narrative and essays, and reproducible revision checklists.

Revision is often a confusing and difficult process for students, but it's also the most important part of the writing process. If students leave our classrooms not knowing how to move a piece of writing forward, we've failed them. Revision Decisions: Talking Through Sentences and Beyond will help teachers develop the skills students need in an ever-evolving writing, language, and reading world. Jeff Anderson and Deborah Dean have written a book that engages writers in the tinkering, playing, and thinking that are essential to clarify and elevate writing. Focusing on sentences, the authors use mentor texts to show the myriad possibilities that exist for revision. Essential to their process is the concept of classroom talk. Readers will be shown how revision lessons can be discussed in a generative way, and how each student can benefit from talking through the revision process as a group. Revision Decisions focuses on developing both the writing and the writer. The easy-to-follow lessons make clear and accessible the rigorous thinking and the challenging process of making writing work. Narratives, setup lessons, templates, and details about how to move students toward independence round out this essential book. Additionally, the authors weave the language, reading, and writing goals of the Common Core and other standards into an integrated and connected practice. The noted language arts teacher James Britton once said that good writing floats on a sea of talk. Revision Decisions supports those genuine conversations we naturally have as readers and writers, leading the way to the essential goal of making meaning.

Barry Lane's bestselling After THE END helped teachers see revision in a whole new light, and inspired a generation of students to not only embrace revision, but to realize that writing is revision. The long-awaited second edition keeps Barry's humorous and endearing tone and updates his ideas, lessons, and activities for teaching writing with heart, even in the Common Core era. New material in this edition includes: How to teach argument and informational writing for authentic, powerful results Integrating technology into literacy lessons for today's students, using tablets, smart phones and apps Qr Code links to video clips that help teachers model Barry's ideas in the classroom Interviews with professional writers and master teachers about their own writing and revising processes and best lessons Nonfiction connections that help students learn to creatively revise any genre. Updated appendices with professional resources and mentor texts Rediscover why Barry Lane is a beloved and inspirational teacher, writer, and storyteller. And "after the end," know that it's really only a great new beginning for your students and their writing.

Suggesting that all phases of writing, including revision, have a great deal in common across age groups and levels of accomplishment, this book presents 196 specific revision exercises, as well as numerous examples from students and from literature. The first part of the book looks at how the ability to revise develops, and at how people can use one another's responses to improve their writing. The second part of the book offers techniques for adding more material and deepening existing material. The third part of the book is about form, structure, and finishing. Chapters in the book are: (1) A Look at Some Revised Pieces; (2) Revision as a Natural Process; (3) Learning to Revise by Editing Other People's Writing; (4) Learning to Revise by Using Other People's Comments on Your Writing; (5) Going Deeper by Adding; (6) Changing Media for Deep Revision; (7) Deep Revision and Fiction; (8) Revising Nonfiction with Techniques of Fiction; (9) Revising as a Response to Literature; (10) Beginning and Polishing; and (11) Structuring the Longer Work. Examples from literature, a 19-item annotated bibliography, and an index of authors is attached. (RS)

The beautiful Martina Josefina Catalina Cucaracha doesn't know coffee beans about love and marriage, so when suitors come calling, what is she to do? Luckily, she has her Cuban family to help! While some of the Cucarachas offer Martina gifts to make her more attractive, only Abuela, her grandmother, gives her some useful advice: spill coffee on his shoes to see how he handles anger. At first, Martina is skeptical of her Abuela's suggestion, but when suitor after suitor fails the Coffee Test, she wonders if a little green cockroach can ever find true love. After reading this award-winning retelling of the Cuban folktale, readers will never look at a cockroach the same way again. Carmen Agra Deedy delivers a delightfully inventive Cuban twist on the beloved Martina folktale, complete with a dash of café Cubano.

TEACH YOUR STUDENTS TO READ WITH PRECISION AND INSIGHT The world we are preparing our students to succeed in is one bound together by words and phrases. Our students learn their literature, history, math, science, or art via a firm foundation of strong reading skills. When we teach students to read with precision, rigor, and insight, we are truly handing over the key to the kingdom. Of all the subjects we teach reading is first among equals. Grounded in advice from effective classrooms nationwide, enhanced with more than 40 video clips, Reading Reconsidered takes you into the trenches with actionable guidance from real-life educators and instructional champions. The authors address the anxiety-inducing world of Common Core State Standards, distilling from those standards four key ideas that help hone teaching practices both generally and in preparation for assessments. This 'Core of the Core' comprises the first half of the book and instructs educators on how to teach students to: read harder texts, 'closely read' texts rigorously and intentionally, read nonfiction more effectively, and write more effectively in direct response to texts. The second half of Reading Reconsidered reinforces these principles, coupling them with the 'fundamentals' of reading instruction—a host of techniques and subject specific tools to reconsider how teachers approach such essential topics as vocabulary, interactive reading, and student autonomy. Reading Reconsidered breaks an overly broad issue into clear, easy-to-implement approaches. Filled with practical tools, including: 44 video clips of exemplar teachers demonstrating the techniques and principles in their classrooms (note: for online access of this content, please visit my.teachlikeachampion.com) Recommended book lists Downloadable tips and templates on key topics like reading nonfiction, vocabulary instruction, and literary terms and definitions. Reading Reconsidered provides the framework necessary for teachers to ensure that students forge futures as lifelong readers.

A guide to bringing nonfiction into the curriculum in third through eighth-grade classrooms, with strategies and ideas for reading nonfiction, conducting research, and writing reports.

The fifteenth volume in the Art of series takes an expansive view of revision—on the page and in life In The Art of Revision: The Last Word, Peter Ho Davies takes up an often discussed yet frequently misunderstood subject. He begins by addressing the invisibility of revision—even though it’s an essential part of the writing process, readers typically only see a final draft, leaving the practice shrouded in mystery. To combat this, Davies pulls examples from his novels The Welsh Girl and The Fortunes, as well as from the work of other writers, including Flannery O’Connor, Carmen Machado, and Raymond Carver, shedding light on this slippery subject. Davies also looks beyond literature to work that has been adapted or rewritten, such as books made into films, stories rewritten by another author, and the practice of retconning in comics and film. In an affecting frame story, Davies recounts the story of a violent encounter in his youth, which he then retells over the years, culminating in a final telling at the funeral of his father. In this way, the book arrives at an exhilarating mode of thinking about revision—that it is the writer who must change, as well as the writing. The result is a book that is as useful as it is moving, one that asks writers to reflect upon themselves and their writing.