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The Writing Rope: A Framework for Explicit Writing Instruction in All Subjects
Writing is a task as complex and multifaceted as reading—but it’s often taught as a single skill. Discover how to plan and deliver comprehensive, explicit, and evidence-based writing instruction with this groundbreaking book, aligned with IDA’s Structured Literacy approach and based on the latest research.
Joan Sedita's innovative Writing Rope weaves multiple skills and strategies into five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentences), text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers of Grades 4-8 will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. And with dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources—available for download online—teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.
Perfect for professional development, this invaluable planning guide will help teachers apply the science of reading to the skill of writing—and help students master a critically important aspect of literacy.
TEACHERS
Learn the fundamentals of effective writing instruction. Get research-based background knowledge about writing development, the five components of the Writing Rope framework, the role of fluent transcription skills in proficient writing, and the intentional choices proficient writers make about writing craft.
Apply evidence-based practices in the classroom. Teach essential skills all students must learn to become proficient writers, focusing on critical thinking strategies for generating ideas and gathering information before writing, strategies for each stage of the writing process, syntactic awareness and sentence writing, paragraph writing, and skillful structuring of different types of text.
Help students “write to learn.” Teach students how to use writing to enhance their learning across different content areas. Learn how to plan effective writing assignments in different content areas, and explicitly teach students skills for summarizing texts and writing about narrative and expository text. PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Apply the Writing Rope framework to support your students’ writing skills with classroom activities, Connect to Your Classroom questions, suggestions for scaffolding, a Writing Assignment Guide to use with any grade or content area, and 40+ reproducible instructional resources for students and teachers.
Joan Sedita's innovative Writing Rope weaves multiple skills and strategies into five fundamentals of a comprehensive writing curriculum: critical thinking, syntax (sentences), text structure, writing craft, and transcription (spelling and handwriting). Teachers of Grades 4-8 will get crystal-clear guidelines that demystify the process of helping students learn to write and write to learn across academic content areas. And with dozens of included templates, handouts, and other resources—available for download online—teachers will have all the tools they need to design and deliver explicit, high-quality writing instruction.
Perfect for professional development, this invaluable planning guide will help teachers apply the science of reading to the skill of writing—and help students master a critically important aspect of literacy.
TEACHERS
Learn the fundamentals of effective writing instruction. Get research-based background knowledge about writing development, the five components of the Writing Rope framework, the role of fluent transcription skills in proficient writing, and the intentional choices proficient writers make about writing craft.
Apply evidence-based practices in the classroom. Teach essential skills all students must learn to become proficient writers, focusing on critical thinking strategies for generating ideas and gathering information before writing, strategies for each stage of the writing process, syntactic awareness and sentence writing, paragraph writing, and skillful structuring of different types of text.
Help students “write to learn.” Teach students how to use writing to enhance their learning across different content areas. Learn how to plan effective writing assignments in different content areas, and explicitly teach students skills for summarizing texts and writing about narrative and expository text. PRACTICAL MATERIALS: Apply the Writing Rope framework to support your students’ writing skills with classroom activities, Connect to Your Classroom questions, suggestions for scaffolding, a Writing Assignment Guide to use with any grade or content area, and 40+ reproducible instructional resources for students and teachers.
244 pages, Kindle Edition
Published July 28, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
July 27, 2023
Wonderful book to help revamp your writing instruction. I had the pleasure to attend a zoom talk with the author and I am excited to read other books she has written on the topic and continue to work on my writing instruction. This is worth the read for all teacher not just those direct instruct writing.
May 28, 2024
A good overview of the science of writing instruction and the writing rope with a good amount of useful reproducibles as well.
July 22, 2024
A great resource to help make what I find to be the most difficult skill to teach a little less difficult. Includes many practical ways to teach writing. From handwriting, to sentence basics, to multi-paragraph essays, it has it all. The book also includes a code to gain access to many free downloadable resources on the resource hub.
January 31, 2024
this was a very practical volume of information about the many parts that go into writing-- more than you'd expect, especially if you've not struggled with writing like some have. the five strands are critical thinking, syntax, text structure, writing craft, and transcription-- each of which could be the stumbling point for a student. v helpful as a high school english teacher who loves writing and reading, but struggles sometimes to make sure students are doing the work of decoding too. pairing this with scarborough's reading rope really gives a full breakdown of the crazy complicated process our brains adapt to in order to (as the kids would say) hallucinate crazy images just from some symbols we see (interpret) as letters and words and sentences. langauge is the coolest and this is a helpful tool for sure. be aware that this is angled slightly toward the education of younger students, but does include an okay amount of reference to middle school age / high school education.
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January 7, 2024This one has all the write stuff. See what I did there? I can only assume that anyone reading this review will have something to do with education and therefore thoroughly enjoy the pun. Teachers with a sense of humor may find The Writing Rope comical as it is clearly a ripoff of Scarborough’s Reading Rope. Thankfully, Sedita is equally clear in her statements regarding the importance of the well known Reading Rope and insightfully created a much needed writing version of this powerful teaching tool. The humor ends here as the text is very much a textbook and not written with any regard for cute teacher fluff. A fluff free textbook! Sign me up! I read this textbook during Winter Break. I never fell asleep while reading. It’s THAT good! Go forth, read about writing and prepare to thank your primary teacher friends for knowing all about the Reading Rope. Proficient writing cannot be accomplished without a strong foundation of handwriting and spelling. Thank you systematic and explicit PHONICS instruction!
July 13, 2024
The sad fact of the matter is that teacher preparation programs in the United States do not provide one course on how to teach writing. Surprising as it may seem, this is true for teachers seeking and English credential. If you are a brand new English teacher, this book is as good a place to start as any. (Please also check out Kelly Gallagher and Penny Kittle. If your district will pay for it, go get trained by Teachers College.) It would also be great for elementary and secondary subject matter teachers who have no formal writing training. There are strategies in this book that I would be interested in trying. However, if you are a secondary English teacher, and have any training in how to teach writing, this book will not be revelatory.
April 30, 2024
I read this book in 2024 with a Speech-Language Pathology (SLP) book club that I organize. This book is clearly written for classroom teachers, but as a SLP who works with literacy clients one-on-one, I still found this book to be very informative and filled with practical activities and strategies that I can implement in my literacy instruction. I immediately started putting what I learned into practice, especially when it comes to writing craft and syntax. I also like the provided organizers and writing templates!
Read my full review and summary on my blog: https://www.slpliteracycorner.ca/blog...
Read my full review and summary on my blog: https://www.slpliteracycorner.ca/blog...
December 26, 2023
Pros: Steps, templates, and examples to aid in instruction, all of which are very helpful
Cons: Dry. As. Hell. Reads more like a college textbook than a teacher-friendly manual for writing instruction.
End Result: Good as a general resource. Not good for gaining new insight into how writing should be taught.
Cons: Dry. As. Hell. Reads more like a college textbook than a teacher-friendly manual for writing instruction.
End Result: Good as a general resource. Not good for gaining new insight into how writing should be taught.
July 8, 2024
If you are a teacher and you teach writing this is a MUST READ. I’ve been to many writing PDs and often felt overwhelmed. However, this book has a way of supplying information in such an easy way to understand. Not to mention all the reproducibles at the end of the book. I know I will find myself referencing this book throughout my entire career. It’s truly phenomenal.
October 11, 2022
Thorough and informative, with lots of great instructional resources.
October 19, 2022
Great resource for elementary teachers!
February 5, 2023
This book is truly incredible. Research-based, accessible, and practical. I loved absolutely everything about it.
July 16, 2023
A great resource for older elementary grades. The earlier chapters are helpful for younger grades.
July 30, 2023
I really enjoyed this as an upper elementary resource.
January 25, 2024
Insightful and practical. A great resource for any teacher.
June 15, 2024
Decent read for a PD class.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews