Learning the Landscape: Inquiry-Based Activities for Comprehending and Composing

by Mary Frances Claggett, Ruth Vinz, Louann Reid

Learning the Landscape is based on two self evident that writing and reading are interactive processes that when combined in meaningful ways generate the most powerful learning experiences the classroom can provide; and that a major part of such learning comes from students discovering the uniqueness and validity of their own perspectives as readers and writers. In this refreshingly different text, students engage in a variety of learning activities. Each asks them to examine how they observe, perceive, and respond to literature. Each invites discussion, comparison, and reading and responding with peers. Each generates writing-poems, stories, essays, scripts. The book is interactive, encouraging students to become naturalists, ethnographers, as they observe, read, record, and write about their internal and external worlds. Learning the Landscape is neither a reader nor a composition text. It is a rational and refreshing blend of the two. This book is designed for use across the grades, ideally from ninth to eleventh, and across a wide range of intellectual talent and persuasion.

204 pages, Paperback

First published November 18, 1996