Through teaching fabulous lessons teachers can help children to discover stories, create worlds, record events, mould characters and inspire each other as writers. This book provides the guidance and examples to help achieve this.

Teachers in English schools have now had ten years of prescriptive national literacy strategies and it is time for a new approach. This book encourages children from their early years to think of themselves as writers who have something to write and know how to write it. Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom offers an exciting and refreshing approach to teaching writing in the primary school with very practical suggestions to help build a community of writers in your school where everyone writes and loves writing. Building on the research of recent years and with whole-curriculum provision, it shows teachers how to actively engage children in the writing process, excite them about what they can achieve and help all children to think of themselves as writers. The book begins with a clear analysis of what real writers really need and has chapters on working outdoors, using the very best of children’s literature, drama and imaginative play, as well as sounds and images. It also features a chapter on practical, productive planning, including two case studies that show the approaches in use at schools. Creating Writers in the Primary Classroom is packed with practical advice, games and strategies for the classroom based on the authors’ successful experience as teachers and in-service providers. These new approaches will enable teachers to get their children up and moving, experiencing what writers experience, feeling what writers feel and, most important of all, writing how writers write.

This book explores what writing for pleasure means, and how it can be realised as a much-needed pedagogy whose aim is to develop children, young people, and their teachers as extraordinary and life-long writers. The approach described is grounded in what global research has long been telling us are the most effective ways of teaching writing and contains a description of the authors’ own research project into what exceptional teachers of writing do that makes the difference. The authors describe ways of building communities of committed and successful writers who write with purpose, power, and pleasure, and they underline the importance of the affective aspects of writing teaching, including promoting in apprentice writers a sense of self-efficacy, agency, self-regulation, volition, motivation, and writer-identity. They define and discuss 14 research-informed principles which constitute a Writing for Pleasure pedagogy and show how they are applied by teachers in classroom practice. Case studies of outstanding teachers across the globe further illustrate what world-class writing teaching is. This ground-breaking text is essential reading for anyone who is concerned about the current status and nature of writing teaching in schools. The rich Writing for Pleasure pedagogy presented here is a radical new conception of what it means to teach young writers effectively today.

This essential text for primary trainees and teachers examines the key skill of writing beyond the earliest school years. Teaching writing involves much more than simply teaching the mechanics of spelling, grammar and punctuation, important though these are. There are particular issues around writing in school, including the fact that children’s writing consistently lags behind their reading in external tests such as SATs, boys’ relative lack of success and teachers’ lack of confidence in modelling writing. This book addresses these topics as well as focusing on other pertinent practice issues such as working with proficient writers, engaging disengaged writers and working with children who have EAL and SEN.

When writing workshops first blossomed in classrooms, its hallmarks were genuine curiosity, individual choice, quality conversations, and engaging children's literature. A joyous hum of intention, creativity, and craft enlivened the school day. Today's teachers are often faced with a range of obstacles, as new initiatives are embraced, mandates handed down, and scripted programs are purchased. Sometimes teachers must sacrifice the original principles of the writing workshop and lose the creative venue they provide. Above and Beyond the Writing Workshop is filled with original writing challenges designed to bring back the spirit of the original writing workshop model and encourage teachers to enhance it with invention, innovation, and inspiration. Teaching creative writing is not only possible, but an important process in their instruction. Author Shelley Harwayne invites teachers to keep the workshop spirit alive by: Encouraging professional conversations on classroom ideas and methods between colleagues; Developing writing cues that allow young writers to be inquisitive, outspoken, and independent; Showing how high quality writing can make a difference; Offering an inspired and stimulating outlet for students to express their passions. Harwayne's book will help teachers encourage students to write the world around them, which can generate more critical thinking and make for a more well-rounded child.