Learning About Writing

Drawing insights and evidence from the National Writing Project, this book explores the ways in which we can best support the development of children's writing. But before looking at effective ways to develop the writing curriculum, it explores some fundamental questions in learning about literacy. It shows, for example, that teaching needs to reflect the varying uses and values of literacy in the community. Teachers too need a sense of organization of the English writing system to better understand the learning task facing the young child. They must also understand how children set about the process of learning to write. Against this theoretical background, the book looks at the writing curriculum, discussing examples of successful practice from teachers' work. It describes and explains different approaches to the teaching of writing, assesses their underlying assumptions and suggests how they might be put to use and developed.