Writing: Part 3: Background Information

Writing and reading are closely connected. The literary elements and genre are the same whether a person is reading them or writing them. Since a person’s writing vocabulary consists of words that are more firmly established in his/her mind than his/her listening vocabulary, writing reflects known vocabulary.

Writing clarifies thinking and reinforces concepts. The process of writing helps us organize our thoughts and ideas. Writing something down also helps us remember it, especially those of us who are more visual in our learning style.

Lucy McCormack Caulkins is one of the best known writing educators. For more information about her and the Teacher’s College Columbia Reading and Writing Project, see http://rwproject.tc.columbia.edu/.

Another notable writing educator is Donald Graves. For more information on him and his books, see http://books.heinemann.com/authors/998.aspx.

The National Writing Project is a national effort to improve the teaching of writing. See http://www.writingproject.org/ for more complete information. The National Writing Project is validated by research available on the website.

The Institute for Elementary and Secondary Education at Brown University has a portal with links to many, many writing resources. See http://www.brown.edu/Departments/IESE/resources/writing.html.

Teaching Ideas Websites:
http://www.teachingideas.co.uk/english/contents2.htm is the website of the Downs Primary School in the United Kingdom.

http://www.teach-nology.com/ideas/subjects/writing/ is the TeAchnology website, a rich resource of teaching ideas.

For an online resource where students can post their work for review by others, try Inkspot.com at http://www.writing.com/?rfrc=inkspot.com.