This text models for teachers how to help children learn and write by establishing comfort with writing, building confidence, and developing competence. Several themes run through the learning-to-write-process presented in this text:
* Writing is communication;
* Writing is a powerful tool for learning;
* How children feel about their writing and themselves as writers affects how they learn to write;
* Teachers are coworkers with students; children from many backgrounds can learn to write together.
The text sythesizes what we know about how children learn, how we write, and what we write into a process of teaching children to write. It is intended to serve as a starting place for developing theories of how to best teach writing.
"There are many good language arts texts on the market but this is the first to include both teachers and students in the writing process....Bratcher doesn't tell teachers what to do--she models for them....Bratcher easily connects the processes of writing with theories from child development and socio-cognitive learning perspectives....The writing style is informal and reader-friendly....Bratcher writes from the heart--and from years of experience both as a writer and as a teacher of writing."
-Janet Richards
University of Southern Mississippi
"The contribution of this book is to orient readers toward a believable and achievable pedagogy....I congratulate Bratcher on her smoothness of integrating theory in ways that do not alienate or intimidate, but inform the reader....Bratcher's voice is clear, sincere, down-to-earth, and intelligent. Any teacher could find ideas to put into action."
-Judith A. Doherty
University of Massachusetts and Co-Director, Boston Writing Project
"Particularly good for new teachers....This text gives specific suggestions and has an excellent chapter at the end to help new teachers design their year-long curriculum."
-Sharon Evans Brockman
California State University, Stanislaus