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Writers Read Better: Nonfiction
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Writers Read Better: Nonfiction
50+ Paired Lessons That Turn Writing Craft Work Into Powerful Genre Reading

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July 2018 | 248 pages | Corwin

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.


 
List of Videos
 
Acknowledgments
 
Introduction
 
How to Use This Book
 
PART 1. LESSONS FOR GENERATING IDEAS—AND INTERPRETING AUTHOR’S PURPOSE
What You Will Find in This Section

 
When to Use These Lessons

 
Preparing to Use the Lessons

 
 
LESSON 1
Writing: An Author’s Expertise Matters

 
Reading: Considering the Source

 
 
LESSON 2
Writing: Write About What You Take for Granted

 
Reading: Learning Unexpected Things From Familiar Topics

 
 
LESSON 3
Writing: The Relationship Between an Author’s Passions and Stance

 
Reading: Identifying an Author’s Stance

 
 
LESSON 4
Writing: Narrowing Down a Broad Topic

 
Reading: Understanding Topics and Subtopics

 
 
LESSON 5
Writing: The Role of Structure in Informational Texts

 
Reading: Considering How Choices in Structure Affect Meaning

 
 
LESSON 6
Writing: Using Structure to Convey the Writer’s Intent

 
Reading: Inferring the Author’s Intent by Noticing Structure

 
 
FOR DIGITAL CLASSROOMS
Writing: Choosing the Best Platform for Your Information and Audience

 
Reading: Considering Why Authors Might Choose Analogue or Digital Mediums

 
 
PART 2. LESSONS FOR DRAFTING—AND UNDERSTANDING AUTHOR’S CRAFT
What You Will Find in This Section

 
When to Use These Lessons

 
Preparing to Use the Lessons

 
 
LESSON 7
Writing: Drafting What You’re Most Ready to Write

 
Reading: Spotting What’s Most Important to an Author

 
 
LESSON 8
Writing: Structure Within Sections: Stacking Information

 
Reading: Identifying the Way Information Is Stacked

 
 
LESSON 9
Writing: Drafting With Placeholders for Later Facts

 
Reading: Using Jots to Note Facts Quickly

 
 
LESSON 10
Writing: Taking a Draft Break to Research

 
Reading: Noticing the Various Ways Authors Use Quotation Marks

 
 
LESSON 11
Writing: Drafting With an Audience in Mind

 
Reading: Noticing the Different Genres of Various Publications on the Same Topic

 
 
LESSON 12
Writing: Drafting in a Mood or Tone That Matches the Content

 
Reading: Noticing When the Tone Doesn’t Match the Topic

 
 
LESSON 13
Writing: Drafting to Someone Else’s Specifications

 
Reading: Noticing a Publisher’s Approach

 
 
FOR DIGITAL CLASSROOMS
Writing: Fact-Checking Digital Information for Accuracy

 
Reading: Identifying False Information

 
 
PART 3. LESSONS FOR REVISING FOR POWER, CRAFT, ANALYSIS, AND CRITIQUE
What You Will Find in This Section

 
When to Use These Lessons

 
Preparing to Use the Lessons

 
 
LESSON 14
Writing: Deciding What’s Most Important to Revise

 
Reading: Identifying and Questioning the Author’s Values

 
 
LESSON 15
Writing: Reordering Information With Intention

 
Reading: Noticing the Effect of Information’s Placement

 
 
LESSON 16
Writing: Exploring How Writers Weight Information to Signal Import

 
Reading: Looking at Texts to See How Volume Can Signify Importance

 
 
LESSON 17
Writing: The Power of Story

 
Reading: Switching Strategies When Authors Use Story in Expository Text

 
 
LESSON 18
Writing: Connections and Disconnections Across Paragraphs and Pages

 
Reading: Tracing Connections and Disconnections in Transitions

 
 
LESSON 19
Writing: Vocabulary’s Starring Role in Informational Texts

 
Reading: Expecting and Responding to the Subject’s Vocabulary

 
 
LESSON 20
Writing: The Slipperiness of Facts

 
Reading: Reading With Eyes Wide Open for Bias

 
 
FOR DIGITAL CLASSROOMS
Writing: Adding Dimensions to Writing Through Multimodal Features

 
Reading: Multimodal Readers Prioritize Synthesis

 
 
PART 4. LESSONS TO PREPARE FOR PUBLICATION AND THE SCHOLARLY STUDY OF TEXTS
What You Will Find in This Section

 
When to Use These Lessons

 
Preparing to Use These Lessons

 
 
LESSON 21
Writing: First and Last Words: Intros and Conclusions That Attract and Linger

 
Reading: Studying an Author’s First and Last Words

 
 
LESSON 22
Writing: Choosing When to Quote, Describe, or Summarize

 
Reading: Identifying Sources and Considering Their Reliability

 
 
LESSON 23
Writing: Creating Text Features to Enhance and Add Information

 
Reading: Integrating Text Features Within and Across Texts

 
 
LESSON 24
Writing: Creating Strong Titles and Subtitles

 
Reading: Titles and Subtitles That Convey Meaning

 
 
LESSON 25
Writing: The Many Purposes of Paragraphs

 
Reading: Seeing Paragraphs as an Author’s Organizational Tool

 
 
LESSON 26
Writing: Punctuating With Intention

 
Reading: Looking Across Texts With an Eye to Punctuation

 
 
LESSON 27
Writing: Using Meaning to Make Smart Spelling Decisions

 
Reading: The Role of Etymology for Readers

 
 
LESSON 28
Writing: Making Publishing Decisions Based on the Intended Audience

 
Reading: Judging the Effectiveness of an Author’s Decisions

 
 
FOR DIGITAL CLASSROOMS
Writing: Opening and Maintaining a Conversation With Audiences

 
Reading: Responding Digitally to the Texts to Deepen Understanding

 
 
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
 
Resources
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

Lots of books teach us the reasons why writing matters, yet Colleen adds a new reason to the list: Writing can be a lever that lifts our kids' reading work. And that can happen even when kids are not writing about reading, but are, instead, doing their own important writing work. Once again, Colleen nudges us forward.

Lucy Calkins
Founding Director of the Teachers College Writing and Reading Project

Colleen offers literacy teachers a valuable comprehension instruction ‘hack’: help students get inside the brains of the writers they read by doing the same kind of writing themselves before they read. She argues convincingly that the more students understand how something was made, the better they’ll understand it when they encounter it as readers. She doesn’t just offer compelling research to prove it; she offers teachers dozens of paired lessons so that students will read and write information texts with more power. The lessons are streamlined to allow students maximum time for practice and application, and to help the busy teacher go from the page to the classroom quickly and almost effortlessly. I encourage all upper elementary and middle school teachers to give these lesson sets a try!

Jennifer Serravallo
Author of "Teaching Reading in Small Groups" and "Conferring with Readers"

Most professional books on teaching nonfiction focus on teaching writing or reading, but not both. In this unique book, Colleen Cruz shows us how to teach complementary writing and reading lessons that will help students use what they’re learning about nonfiction writing to help them become more powerful nonfiction readers
.

Carl Anderson
Author of "How's It Going?" and "The Teacher's Guide to Writing Conferences"

This book refuels your energy to think about the way you plan and teach reading and writing. Colleen holds strong to the tenets of workshop—choice, voice, and agency—then beautifully blends the lessons and theory with her vast experience in classrooms, new research on writing and reading, and the dance we do with it all now in the digital world. The structure of the book and the lessons are completely accessible for all teachers, the way Colleen believes the learning and craft to be accessible for all students. It’s a gamechanger for those looking to augment and reflect on their current workshop model and for those who are going to give it a go. Colleen is with you every step of the way. 

Sara K. Ahmed
NIST International School, Bangkok, Thailand

For instructors

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