Introduce the Qualities of Writing ― Getting Started With Teaching the Qualities of Writing, Grades 3-6

"Our goal is to support and develop your professional skill as you make continual decisions about what and how to teach. It's our hope thatTQW will make your classroom hum with writing!"
-JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher

Learn how to improve your students' writing and how JoAnn Portalupi and Ralph Fletcher introduce students to the qualities of writing-ideas, design, language, presentation-and the power of their own voice. Through a practicalTeacher's Guide, thirteen launch lessons, and eleven online video clips, JoAnn and Ralphintroduce you to the strategies students need to improve the quality of their writing and at the same time develops your ability to read and assess your students' writing.

Through their concise Teacher's Guide JoAnn and Ralph introduce the four qualities of writing and describes the role of voice in effective writing; offer strategies for choosing lessons based on genre cycles or on student and teacher needs and interests; and provide a broad array of assessment and record-keeping forms.

Thirteen select launch lessons introduce you and your students to writing and help create the sense of community necessary to nurture their growth. This launch cycle offers students a chance to begin working within each of the four qualities while stressing the more important goal of developing in them an eagerness to keep writing. By the end of this six-week cycle, your students will have a notion of how writers find topics and will have taken several of their own pieces to final form. If you've built in time for sharing, they will understand the value of giving and receiving response. They are now ready for new challenges-information and strategies that will help them improve the quality of their writing.

Through eleven accompanying video clips, JoAnn and Ralph provide practical advice on how to organize and teach with TQW. Plus, an innovative electronic presentation allows you to listen in and observe the authors as the analyze eight student writing samples. (Video clips are free for 6 months upon registration. You must register within 6 months of purchase.)

Learn more about these resources at www.teachingthequalitiesofwriting.com.

This pack is part of firsthand's Getting Started series.

Bridging the gap between educational theory and practice, firsthand classroom materials model the carefully crafted techniques and language of master teachers in ways that help teachers refine their practice and reinvent their own teaching. The most comprehensive of these resources span more than a year of instruction. Firsthand's Getting Started Packs were created for teachers in training and professional book study groups who want a compact, affordable way to study and tryout these transformative classroom materials. EachGetting Started Pack includes an overview book, a complete unit of study, online video clips provided free of charge for 6 months, and an accompanying study guide.

Getting Started packs include:Launch a Primary Writing Workshop,Grades K-2; Launch an Intermediate Writing Workshop, Grades 3-5;Launch an Intermediate Reading Workshop,Grades 3-5; Introduce the Qualities of Writing, Grades 3-6;Monitor Comprehension with Primary Students, Grades K-2;Monitor Comprehension with Intermediate Students, Grades 3-6;Investigate the Number System, Grades K-3;Investigate Multiplication, Grades 3-5;Investigate Fractions, Grades 4-6.

Ralph Fletcher has been a mentor to teachers and young writers everywhere. Ralph's latest Heinemann books continue this tradition. His newest book, Joy Write, shares the whys and the how of giving students time and autonomy for the playful, low-stakes writing that leads to surprising, high-level growth. What a Writer Needs, Second Edition mentors teachers and writers in the elements and craft of writing. Mentor Author, Mentor Texts brings inspiration to teachers and students by sharing Ralph's own writing across numerous genres plus writer's notes that reveal his thinking. Ralph frequently works with young writers in schools, and speaks at education conferences in the U.S. and abroad, helping teachers find wiser ways of teaching writing. Ralph is the beloved author of many bestselling teacher professional books including Writing Workshop: The Essential Guide; Craft Lessons; and Breathing In, Breathing Out as well as the author of firsthand classroom materials such as Teaching the Qualities of Writing and Lessons for the Writer's Notebook. Students know Ralph as the award-winning author of more than 20 books for children and young adults, including Fig Pudding, Twilight Comes Twice, The Writer's Notebook, and Marshfield Dreams: When I Was a Kid. Ralph Fletcher online ? Listen to a recent Heinemann podcast where Ralph talks about Joy Write (17:31). ? Read Ralph's latest thoughts at his blog: Living the Writing Life. ? Listen to an interview with Ralph on Education Talk Radio (38:29). ? Learn more about Ralph at his website RalphFletcher.com and follow him on Twitter @FletcherRalph.JoAnn Portalupi has helped teachers all over the U.S. find wiser ways of teaching writing. This is Ralph and JoAnn's third collaboration as a follow-up to Craft Lessons and Nonfiction Craft Lessons, which they coauthored for Stenhouse.