A Fresh Look at Writing

In an era when teachers struggle for quality time with their students, Donald Graves introduces a text that creates lifetime writers as well as responsible learners--a text that focuses on teaching that lasts. A Fresh Look at Writing is Graves's most comprehensive book yet. In it, he expands on many of his earlier approaches, examining portfolios, record keeping, methods for teaching conventions, spelling, and a rich range of genre including fiction, poetry, and nonfiction. He demonstrates how to bring writing into your own life and experience the joys of the craft along with the students. "Actions," glossed objectives appearing throughout the book, provide new ways to understand yourself and reach your students. With them, Graves helps you profit from your own history as learner, listen to children more effectively, discover their potential, yet expect more from them. A Fresh Look at Writing is a true resource for professionals who want the latest ideas on the teaching of writing, as well as for preservice teachers about to step into the classroom for the first time. The accompanying Professional's Guide assists those who want to build a writing or language arts course around the text. It features a detailed, week-by-week description of fourteen sessions, including guidelines for background preparation in writing; reading and working with children; classroom demonstration; and journal reflection. In addition, the guide shows how A Fresh Look at Writing can be used as a supplement to reading courses, research studies, summer courses, and workshops.

About Author

Donald H. Graves was involved in writing research for decades. His books Writing: Teachers & Children at Work (Heinemann, 1983) and A Fresh Look at Writing (Heinemann, 1994) are bestsellers throughout the English-speaking world and have revolutionized the way writing is taught in schools. Don was a teacher, school principal, and language supervisor, education director, and a director of language in bilingual, ESL, and special programs. He was also the codirector of an undergraduate urban teacher preparation program and a professor of an early childhood program. He was Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire. Donald H. Graves 9.11.1930 - 9.28.2010 Heinemann is deeply saddened by the news that Donald Graves has passed away. We, and the entire field, have lost a giant and one of our greatest friends. Our thoughts and prayers are with his widow, Betty, their family, and the many friends he made in his long career. We are honored to have been Don's publishing partner for more than three decades and over more than a dozen books-to have watched his research and vision become not only a classroom reality but the core of our publishing philosophy. His influence is so vast that we will meet him again and again on the pages of every book and resource we publish. His spirit pervades each of our books-in the conviction that children want to write and read if given the chance; in the flourishing of the workshop model of instruction that he pioneered; and in his abiding faith in teachers' ability to make sound instructional decisions. Don touched so many teachers' lives with his smile, his unflagging encouragement, and his generosity of spirit. We hope you will take a brief moment to remember how he touched your life. Watch a recent interview with Don » Remembering how Don touched your life » The Donald Graves memorial fund » Eight Children Teach Donald Graves Nine pencils break the surface of awareness, jutting into the air, slanted back like yellow, orange-tipped shark fins, entering chartless white, exploring hazy depths. Nine voices search a scent, suddenly lurch, lose the line, pause, pick it up again, and move from cloudy, roiling waters of new thought through warm currents of reception, straits of questioning, and tidal imbalances on to a clear, precise sea of meaning. - Tom Romano (Language Arts, 62,2 (Feb.) 1985: 142