Teaching the Neglected "R": Rethinking Writing Instruction in Secondary Classrooms

by Thomas Newkirk (Editor), Richard Burt Kent (Editor)

Writing is how students connect the dots in their knowledge. Although many models of effective ways to teach writing exist, both the teaching and practice of writing are increasingly shortchanged throughout the school and college years. From The Neglected R The National Commission on Writing Every writing teacher wants to cut through the curricular clutter and get down to the matter of teaching writing well. At the same time, the rules of what writing is, what it does, and how its done are changing with each new wrinkle in digital technology. In Teaching The Neglected R some of the fields most important teachers and thinkers take on the new realities of writing instruction, offering smart advice and penetrating insight into what good teaching looks like today. Teaching The Neglected R contains the combined wisdom and practice of twenty-four outstanding teachers and researchers, including Nancie Atwell, Jeffrey Wilhelm, Michael Smith, Maureen Barbieri, Jim Burke, Donald Murray, and Kim Stafford. Writing expressly for this volume, they address key topics, helping you re-imagine traditional genres and understand digital ones. They also focus on key constituencies, exploring ways to connect with English language learners, African Americans, and boys. And with chapters from Barry Lane on revision, Sara Kajder on integrating technology, and Tom Romano on multigenre papers, Teaching The Neglected R spans and expands the possibilities of writing instruction to offer both inspiration and day-to-day teaching suggestions. Teaching The Neglected R will help you see new ways to increase the prominence of writing in your teaching and remember the real goal of writing instructionto truly engage students in purposeful writing. No matter what form that writing takes.

Genres: Education, Professional Development, Writing

296 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2007

About the author

Thomas Newkirk is a teacher and author who worked for 39 years at the University of New Hampshire.

Reviews

[Diana Pettis · Rating 3 out of 5]

In this text it was arranged in six topics that surround writing. There were between four to five chapters on each topic. I feel as though even though the title of the book discusses secondary instruction teachers at other levels can get a lot out of this text and adapt it to their teaching situations. As I was reading this text I had to stop several times and make notes in the margin, ask myself questions, make happy faces about things I want to try with my Title I students. Many of the authors in this text stated that writing is about thinking. Two quotes that really stuck with me were

*Everybody is talented, original, and has something important to say.

*Kids are digital immigrants to when it comes to purposeful and powerful uses of emergent technologies as readers and writers.

The second quote made me think about how teachers use technology in their classrooms and that it needs to be tied into authentic learning not just learning a technology tool for the purposes of learning that tool. I feel I have done this with the blog I have created as part of the Southern Maine Writing Project. I want to share my knowledge of level text with all teachers and have a forum where parents can communicate with me about books for their children. Also one last plug for this book is page 276 where there is a wealth of models to teach children to respond in writing.

As a sidenote, I have been reading this book on and off all summer. It is not a book to just read through you really need to break it up over time and find the areas of interest that you have in your own practice.

[Carol · Rating 4 out of 5]

Newkirk seldom disappoints. This collection of writing about writing has something for everyone. It's a good reference when I'm thinking through a writing cycle.