Writing at the Threshold: Featuring 56 Ways to Prepare High School and College Students to Think and Write at the College Level

by Larry Weinstein

Writing at the Threshold offers both an eloquent philosophy of composition instruction and an immediately useful set of classroom-tested teaching ideas distilled from the author’s 28 years of teaching writing. Two aims underlie all (1) tapping every student’s inborn ability to think extensively and well and (2) helping every student develop the skills he or she will need in order to communicate good thinking. Weinstein moves easily from brief, lively reflections on inquiry-based learning to highly engaging strategies for translating theory into practice in the classroom. In closing, he offers a set of five course sequences, each proposing a markedly different way to shape a whole writing course using methods discussed in the book. As a bonus, the author frequently refers to additional materials on his companion website, where teachers can “point and click” for resources to use or adapt in the classroom.

Genres: Teaching

125 pages, Spiral-bound

First published August 1, 2001

Reviews

[Andrea Holck · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is saving my life. This is my first year teaching a new senior English class at YIS. The focus of the course is inquiry and composition. These are college-bound students, so my goal is to make every section of the course relevant to the kinds of things they're going to be expected to do on their own next year.

I intended to use this as an occasional reference, but I am currently using it to shape my introduction unit on inquiry. Weinstein lays out step-by-step processes that are engaging, varied, and ultimately lend students the skills and steps they need to critique and analyze sources that will be synthesized in their own paper.

Weinstein starts out by breaking down the thought processes that lead to good writing, later doing the same for the composition process. He offers several ways to organize the course as a whole, depending upon the needs and goals of the students, each with a common goal: to mobilize students as independent thinkers and writers. And just four weeks in, it's already working.

[Mary Vermillion · Rating 5 out of 5]

Incredibly helpful! Cannot wait to implement some of the ideas in my composition course, Writing and Social Issues!