Writers Read Better: Nonfiction
50+ Paired Lessons That Turn Writing Craft Work Into Powerful Genre Reading
Corwin Literacy
We know that writing skills reinforce reading skills, but what’s the best way to capitalize on this beneficial relationship? By flipping the traditional “reading lesson first, writing lesson second” sequence, Colleen Cruz ingeniously helps you make the most of the writing-to-reading connection with carefully matched, conceptually connected lesson pairs. The result is a healthy reciprocity that effectively and efficiently develops students’ literacy skills.
Backed by long-term academic and field research, Writers Read Better presents a series of 50 tightly interconnected lesson pairs that can be implemented either as supplement existing curriculum or as a stand alone module. Each pairing leads with a writing lesson, used as a springboard for the reading lesson that will follow.
Throughout the book’s four sections, organized to cover distinct and complementary phases of working with non-fiction texts, you’ll discover
- Helpful insights on preparing for the section’s overarching goals
- Clear guidance on the intention of each lesson, what materials are required, and step-by-step plans for leading the activity
- Sample teacher language for leading the lesson
- Tips on building and organizing your classroom library, and how you can incorporate the tools, technology and media available in your classroom to make each lesson most effective
- Sample student work, online videos and other supporting resources
Complete with practical suggestions on adapting the lessons to suit the particular needs of your classroom as well as individual students, Writers Reader Better offers a solid foundation for giving your students the advantage of powerful, transferable literacy skills.
Free resources
Strong Writers are Wise Readers: Using Writing to Teach Critical Reading
Colleen Cruz, author of Writers Read Better: Nonfiction and Narrative, writes in her Corwin Connect blog: "We know that the students we teach, without the benefit of years or even fully formed pre-frontal cortexes, are particularly vulnerable to being convinced to think, buy, or do any number of things—especially when they see it online or in social media. One of the most effective ways, if not the most effective way to counteract this is by actively teaching students first to write whatever material we want them to read critically."
Writers Read Better: Lessons for Drafting Nonfiction
These lessons from Writers Read Better: Nonfiction focus on drafting nonfiction pieces, which will help students to decide for themselves the best ways to present their information to their readers.