From Ideas to Words ─ Writing Strategies for English Language Learners

Laman (instruction and teacher education, U. of South Carolina) enumerates writing tools and strategies that educators can use with English language learners in a workshop format that incorporates the students' first languages. She argues that writing must be taught while children are learning to speak, read, and write in English, and shows educators how to engage multilingual students in a workshop process. She explains how to set up a workshop that engages all levels of learners, build community through shared language practices, adapt focused mini-lessons for multilingual students, scaffold independent practice for a variety of learners, tailor conferences to support independent writing, and facilitate and encourage students to share and reflect. Annotation c2013 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Tasha Tropp Laman is an associate professor in the department of Instruction and Teacher Education at the University of South Carolina where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in reading, writing, and critical literacy. Her research focuses on multilingual students' literacy learning and their literate identities. Collaboration with classroom teachers is at the heart of her research and her practice. Tasha has been an educator for 20 years including time as a classroom teacher in the Navajo Nation in New Mexico, where she taught kindergarten and third grade and as a teacher educator in the Peace Corps in Belize where she worked in rural multilingual communities. She presents at national conferences, writing institutes, and consults in K-5 classrooms regarding writing instruction in general and English language learners in particular.