Closing the Writing Gap

by Alex Quigley

This book explains seven critical steps to improve children's writing. Though seemingly ‘natural’, writing proves devilishly difficult for far too many school pupils and closing this gap can have a lasting impact on their academic and life success. With the goal of giving every teacher the knowledge and skill to teach writing with confidence, it makes sense of the history and ‘science’ of writing, synthesising the debates and presenting a wealth of usable evidence about how children develop most efficiently as successful writers. It trains teachers to be an expert in how pupils learn to write, from the big picture of planning, editing and revising your writing, to the vital importance of grammar and spelling with accuracy. Highly practical strategies and easy-to use classroom activities are included to help teachers seize opportunities across the curriculum every school day to teach the critical writing process. Closing the Writing Gap will guide teachers at every stage of their career and when used with Alex Quigley’s much-loved books on Vocabulary and Reading gives school leaders evidence-based approaches to literacy that can be applied across a school or a group of schools.

Genres: Nonfiction

198 pages, Paperback

Published May 17, 2022

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I always find Alex Quigley's books interesting and so informative working in education, especially teaching daily literacy. I enjoyed Closing the Reading Gap most out of all 3 but took many ideas and concepts from this to use.

[Daniel Hicklin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve been reading Alex Quigley’s blog for a while so I thought I’d grab his book. A super helpful look at supporting children with their writing. Nothing I’ve not heard or seen before but a nice, practical reminder nonetheless.

[Robbie Burns · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alex Quigley’s best one yet. His passion comes through alongside the usual down to earthiness that he does so well.

Bravo.

Reviewed for schools week.

[Tracey · Rating 3 out of 5]

**3.5** This was a great little read about how to teach writing. I loved that it focused on strategies that worked in the past - right back to Quintillian - rather than continually pushing the progressive strategies that simply aren't working. It was a pretty thorough book, although it wasn't terribly detailed in each section, but it gives you a good overview of where teachers should be headed.

[Wouter · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this as an ESL teacher and it offers less than hoped for. Yes, there were some interesting bits that I would use or got me thinking.

The book is accessible and can be helpful as a starting point, but covering so many years of a pupil's school career in so many subjects in about 200 pages is bound to only scratching the surface.

[Russio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of demystification, guidance for how to start changing a school's reading culture. Lots of information, so that a non-expert can grasp what they need to know in rolling out changes. The volume of suggestions makes it daunting in knowing where to start.