Sharing the Pen: Interactive Writing with Young Children

This engaging book, co-authored by one of the most respected literacy and language arts authors today, is the resource for teaching interactive writing to children. Everything you need to know in order to gain these instructional skills is presented in a clearly written, interesting format. Step-by-step implementation ideas, relevant student feedback, and an easy-to-use chart of teacher guidelines clearly illustrate how phonemic awareness, phonics, print awareness, and vocabulary can be incorporated into writing lessons; how this system can be used with ESL learners; and how it can be adapted to meet your specific goals. Dozens of lessons that are ideal for sparking the interest of early writers are accompanied by a description of why and how it improves writing. Topics covered include: the writing continuum, grouping options, building on favorite words, creating research murals, current events skills, illustrations and context, story innovations, writing poetry, science and interactive writing, recycled writing, using the computer, teaching revision, interactive writing as an assessment tool, and writing with older novice writers. An excellent resource for elementary school educators.