Because Writing Matters

This updated edition of the best-selling book Because Writing Matters reflects the most recent research and reports on the need for teaching writing, and it includes new sections on writing and English language learners, technology, and the writing process.

Preface ix

The Authors xi

INTRODUCTION Why Writing Matters 1

ONE Improving Student Writing: Challenges and Expectations 9

TWO Learning to Write 19

THREE Writing to Learn 43

FOUR Professional Development 57

FIVE Standards and Assessments for Writing 71

SIX What Administrators Can Do to Create

Effective Writing Programs 87

Notes 105

Bibliography 115

Index 123

The National Writing Project (NWP) is a nationwide professional development program for teachers begun in 1974 at the University of California, Berkeley. Through its extensive network of teachers, the NWP seeks to promote exemplary instruction of writing in every classroom in America.

Carl Nagin is a journalist, editor, and teacher. He has worked for the PBS series Frontline, and his articles have appeared in such national publications as The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Art and Antiques where his writing was nominated for a National Magazine Award. He taught writing at both the high school and college level for more than fifteen years as a faculty member at Harvard University and the New England Conservatory of Music.

The Definitive Guide to Teaching Writing in Our Schools

This updated edition of the best-selling book Because Writing Matters reflects the most recent research and reports on the need for teaching writing, and it includes new sections on writing and English language learners, technology, and the writing process.

PRAISE FOR BECAUSE WRITING MATTERS

"Because Writing Matters has sweeping appeal to teachers, administrators, and parents alike. It is full of pragmatic tools to increase both the quantity and the quality of writing in schools. Not haughty or esoteric, it is relevant, accessible and, above all, a practical guidebook that presents ways by which writing within the educational landscape can be improved." —Essays in Education

"I just finished a fantastic book about writing. In about 120 pages, the authors synthesize years of insights into writing, instruction, professional development, and assessment… I felt like I learned something new with each page, or found on each page some important new validation for what I already do in my own classroom." —Jim Burke, moderator, CATENet, and author, The Reader's Handbook and The English Teacher's Companion

"This book is must-reading for teachers, school district leaders, and policy makers who wish to restore writing to its rightful place in student learning." —Donald Graves, Professor Emeritus, Education, University of New Hampshire "Because Writing Matters has sweeping appeal to teachers, administrators, and parents alike. It is full of pragmatic tools to increase both the quantity and the quality of writing in schools. Not haughty or esoteric, it is relevant, accessible and, above all, a practical guidebook that presents ways by which writing within the educational landscape can be improved."
—Aiken Essays in Education

"I just finished a fantastic book about writing. In about 120 pages, the authors synthesize years of insights into writing, instruction, professional development, and assessment…I felt like I learned something new with each page, or found on each page some important new validation for what I already do in my own classroom."
—Jim Burke, Burlington High Scholl, California, CATEnet

"You would have to read hundreds of books and articles to acquire knowledge comparable to what you can get by reading this slim but full packed volume developed by the National Writing Project and written by a journalist and writing teacher."
—AP Central

"Once I started reading, I could not put the book down until I had finished. My copy of Because Writing Matters is riddled with sticky notes to myself about how I can enhance my own efforts to bring writing and the teaching of writing to the foreground."
—Voices from the Middle

"For the first time, in a reader-friendly format, those strategies of successful school writing programs have been documented in a new book titled Because Writing Matters."
—Town Talk Newspapers

"Timely and persuasive, Because Writing Matters offers classroom teachers, administrators, and those who work with pre-service teachers more than encouragement; it provides a ‘so what’ plus the ‘how to’ necessary to make real changes in the ways writing is taught and assessed. One of the book’s greatest strengths is the way relevant information is succinctly presented.
—English Journal

"If you want or need to know more about teaching writing, the bibliography is a comprehensive source. The great writing teachers and well-known researchers listed here have built a knowledge base for a discipline many of us have taken for granted."
—English Leadership Quarterly

"The NWP and Nagin have written a concise, well-organized primer that introduces school leaders to writing as a thinking and learning tool."
—Bryn Mawr/Haverford College Journal of Teacher Education