Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop [Paperback]

Kathryn Johnson (Author), Pamela Westcott (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 159363000X | ISBN-13: 978-1593630003 | Publication Date: February 1, 2004

Build a classroom of excited, talented young writers. This wonderful teaching resource offers a complete approach to creating a classroom of enthusiastic, skillful student writers.

The authors provide a comprehensive approach to teaching writing in the classroom. This book offers the strategies teachers need to teach writing skills that meet national standards and produce excellent results from children.

Topics addressed in this guidebook include:

• creating the writing classroom,
  
• teaching the writing process,
  
• teaching effective writing strategies,
  
• teaching elements of story structure,
  
• teaching the advanced craft of writing, and
  
• using a writers' workshop to teach good writing.

Writing is a great differentiator. During the writers' workshop, each student is engaged in meaningful ways. Pulling together more than three decades of practical experience and research on the best strategies for teaching writing, Writing Like Writers offers a friendly, easy-to-use guide for any teacher seeking to build a classroom of successful writers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Kathryn L. Johnson lives in the small rural village of Kingston, RI, with her husband, Paul de Mesquita, and two sons, Jacob and Cliff. Currently, Kay teaches Language Arts Methods and supervises student teachers at the University of Rhode Island. With a lifelong passion for literature and the written word, Kay is a calligrapher, bookbinder, and creator of original, one-of-a-kind books. Other interests include traveling blue highways, bicycling, camping and hiking, and playing music.

Pamela V. Westkott has been teaching third grade most of her teaching career. She lives with her husband and teaches in a suburban Rhode Island seaside town. Her three grown sons live and work in the area. Pam enjoys teaching, reading, gardening, hiking, and traveling.

Product Details

• Paperback: 300 pages
• Publisher: Prufrock Press Inc. (February 1, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 159363000X
• ISBN-13: 978-1593630003
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #581,039 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A terrific resource for every teacher and homeschooler..., July 3, 2004

By 

Carolyn K. "Mrs. Hoagie" (Hoagies' Gifted Education Page) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop (Paperback)

Writing Like Writers guides students through the writing process in a step-by-step fashion that's interesting, and full of different ideas for different writers. Students try each step along the way, and can work out the writing process that suits them best.

Writing Like Writers is complete, with samples and reproducible worksheets throughout. Every aspect of writing is covered: characters, plot, setting, point of view, theme, dialogue, and much more. But far more important than the definition of each aspect, are the examples for teachers to share with their writers. Writing styles and details from repeated words, precise language, onomatopoeia, and more are discussed and tried. Techniques are discussed for use in both fiction and nonfiction writing.

By the time they finish this book, your students will be interested and experienced writers, with many great tools at their fingertips. For teachers, Writing Like Writers provides assesment tools for both teacher- and self-assessment of students' writing. Finally, the book includes "Teaching Children to Write" - a conceptual framework for writing instruction, or how to encourage all the kids in your class to be writers.

Writing Like Writers says that it's for elementary children, but many middle school students who would benefit just as much from this great guide.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How to Teach Writing to Elementary Children, May 10, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop (Paperback)

As a novice teacher, I have embraced Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop as my primary source for understanding and teaching the writing process. The book has an easy to use format. It provides step by step models for teachers to use to demonstrate the crafts, skills and strategies of writing. I wanted to set up a Writer's Workshop in my classroom that would address the reality that my students are often at different stages of the writing process. This book provided me with the structure and the content to do just that. It's helping me to become a more effective teacher of writing and therefore my students to become better writers.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Writer's Workshop Works Wonders, February 26, 2006

By 

Jillian L. Kearney - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Writing Like Writers: Guiding Elementary Children Through a Writer's Workshop (Paperback)

This outstanding book is perfect for both novice and veteran teachers. It provides an organized and creative approach to implementing a writer's workshop. Within the book you'll find lesson ideas, reproducables, assessment criteria, workshop format, tips, and just about everything you need to create a successful writing program within your classroom. I use this book in my classroom as the foundation for my writing program. My collegues were so impressed with the results and ease with which it can be used, that the rest of the school will be adopting the approach and using this book as the corner stone! I can not say enough good things about this book. It is a must buy.