The Art of Teaching Writing Review

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(More customer reviews)Elementary and high school English teachers looking for a quick fix or complete list of how-to lessons and activities for hooking young writers will be disappointed by The Art of Teaching Writing by Lucy McCormick Calkins. What readers will find, however, is a coherent and thorough argument that challenges teachers to develop their own vision of excellence. On the opening page she states in no uncertain terms her definition of good teaching: "To teach well, we do not need more techniques and strategies as much as we need a vision of what is essential" (3). Through five sections and 29 chapters, it is her vision of what is essential that emerges as the overarching theme. Calkins helps students to experience a "wide-awakeness and curiosity" (516) of the world by placing their lives at the centre of their writing. The writing workshop is lauded throughout as a model that makes such an experience possible. Insightful anecdotes and glimpses into elementary and high school classrooms show how all phases of the writing process, including prewriting, drafting, sharing, revising, editing, are managed. Practical discussions on standardized testing, curriculum planning, and assessment are also included. The Art of Teaching Writing is comparable to other landmark texts in the field of writing instruction, including Nancie Atwell's In the Middle (1998) and Linda Rief's Seeking Diversity (1992). However, few texts offer the breadth and passion evident in Calkins' book. Although the book's length (and weight) might be initially daunting, it is a must read for anyone wanting to improve their understanding and use of the writing process and writing workshop. For more than twenty years, Lucy McCormack Calkins has been one of the most respected voices in the field of writing instruction. The Art of Teaching Writing is a testament to why this is the case.

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When Lucy Calkins wrote the first edition of The Art of Teaching Writing, the writing workshop was a fledgling idea, piloted by a few brave innovators. Now, as she brings us this new edition, the writing workshop is at the foundation of language arts education throughout the English-speaking world. This new edition, then, could easily have been a restatement, in grander, more confident tones, of the original classic. Instead, it is an almost entirely new book. Clearly, during the time in which Calkins's original ideas have spread like wildfire, her focus has not been on articulating and defending those ideas, but on developing and rethinking them. Respecting and responding to the questions which have arisen as thousands of teachers establish writing workshops in their classrooms, and drawing upon the latest knowledge in the field and her own intimate understanding of classroom life, Calkins has re-thought every line and every facet of her original text. In this new edition, Lucy has major new chapters on assessment, thematic studies, writing throughout the day, reading/writing relationships, publication, curriculum development, nonfiction writing and home/school connections. More than this, she has deepened her understanding of the writing process itself: "When I wrote the first edition, I saw writing as a process of choosing a topic, turning the topic into the best possible draft, sharing the draft with friends, then revising it. But I've come to think that it's very important that writing is a process not only of recording, but also of developing a story or an idea. Now, in this new edition, I describe writing episodes that do not begin with a topic and a draft but instead with something noticed or something wondered about. When writing begins with something that has not yet found its significance, it is more apt to become a process of growing meaning."

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