A Fresh Look at Writing

by Donald H. Graves

In an era when teachers struggle for quality time with their students, Donald Graves introduces a text that creates lifetime writers as well as responsible learners--a text that focuses on teaching that lasts. A Fresh Look at Writing is Graves's most comprehensive book yet. In it, he expands on many of his earlier approaches, examining portfolios, record keeping, methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and a rich range of genre including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He demonstrates how to bring writing into your own life and experience the joys of the craft along with the students. "Actions," glossed objectives appearing throughout the book, provide new ways to understand yourself and reach your students. With them, Graves helps you profit from your own history as learner, listen to children more effectively, discover their potential, yet expect more from them. A Fresh Look at Writing is a true resource for professionals who want the latest ideas on the teaching of writing, as well as for preservice teachers about to step into the classroom for the first time. The accompanying Professional's Guide assists those who want to build a writing or language arts course around the text. It features a detailed, week-by-week description of fourteen sessions, including guidelines for background preparation in writing; reading and working with children; classroom demonstration; and journal reflection. In addition, the guide shows how A Fresh Look at Writing can be used as a supplement to reading courses, research studies, summer courses, and workshops. To learn more about Donald Graves, visit .

Genres: Education, Teaching, Writing, Professional Development

432 pages, Paperback

First published October 24, 1994

About the author

Donald Graves was one of the greatest voices of his generation, a plain spoken, thoughtful genius. He was an educator, a writer, an outspoken advocate for educational best practices. His death was a loss too great to put into words for people the world over, whether they were aware of it or not. A Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire, Donald Graves, with the help of mentor Donald Murray and contemporaries like Lucy Calkins and Ralph Fletcher, revolutionized writing instruction in the U.S. with the widespread practice of practical workshop-based language arts instruction. In his decades at the forefront of writing instruction research, Donald offered numerous works that continue to shape the face of instruction today and for the foreseeable future.

Reviews

[Sara · Rating 2 out of 5]

I skimmed it. Although it would be great for a lot of people, it wasn't revolutionary to me-- other authors from our M.Ed. program have said similar things in ways that are more applicable to adolescents.

[Mark · Rating 2 out of 5]

Although this book at times is unnecessarily long, I appreciate Mr. Graves's approach to writing as a process and his interest in getting to know students.

[Diana Sarao]

Why?- conferencing examples